Recently, the China National Intellectual Property Administration(CNIPA) issued a guide for handling delayed examination of invention patent applications. The full text is as follows:

1. Benefits of the "delayed examination"
Delayed examination of invention patent applications has the following benefits:
(1) By interfering with competitors' technological research and development in related fields and increasing the economic and time costs of entering the market through pending invention patent applications with multiple possible modification claims.
(2) In the process of formulating international, national, and industry standards, there is an opportunity to adaptively modify the scope of protection of claims and benchmark them with relevant standards.
(3) Have the opportunity to enjoy the convenience of the latest examination policies, such as supplementing experimental data, storing media in the computer field, and protecting program products.
(4) Consider whether to continue the patent examination process based on changes in product lifecycle and market situation.
(5) The timing of patent acquisition should be better coordinated with the market-oriented operation of patents.

2. Is there a fee charged for requesting 'delayed examination'?
No fee will be charged for requesting a delayed examination.

3. Who and when can propose "delayed examination"?
The request for delayed examination of an invention patent application shall be submitted by the applicant simultaneously with the request for substantive examination.

4. How long can the invention patent application be delayed?
1 year, 2 years, or 3 years from the effective date of the request for delayed examination. The request for delayed examination of an invention patent application shall take effect from the date on which the substantive examination request takes effect.
By combining the strategy of delaying examination with delaying the submission of substantive examination requests, invention patent applications can receive a maximum delay period of 6 years from the application date (priority date for those with priority, parent application date for divisional applications, and international application date for PCT applications). After the expiration of the delay period, patent applications will be queued for examination in order based on the expiration date and will not be immediately delivered to the examiner.

5. How to make a request for "delayed examination"?
The requester needs to tick the fourth column when submitting the "substantive examination request" of the invention patent application.

6. Does "delayed examination" need to be examined?
No, it will automatically take effect when the substantive examination takes effect, and the applicant will be notified in the notice of entering the substantive examination stage.

7. Matters need attention
According to current regulations, applicants should pay attention to the following matters when requesting a delayed examination:
(1) The request for delayed examination must be made together with the request for substantive examination. Once missed, it cannot be requested in the future;
(2) The delay in examination of an invention patent application extends the waiting time for examination after the actual examination takes effect, and does not affect other deadlines during the examination process;
(3) There are three options for delaying the examination of invention patent applications, i.e. 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years. Applicants can choose according to their actual needs;
(4) If necessary, CNIPA may initiate the examination process on its own and notify the applicant, and the extension of the examination period requested by the applicant shall terminate.