The Ins And Outs Of Reconsideration

In patent prosecution, reexamination or invalidation proceedings, the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) or the Patent Reexamination Board (PRB) undertakes examinations and informs the applicant, petitioner or patentee of its decisions (in essence "specific administrative acts") by various notifications in different phases.

Against those decisions, unless otherwise specified by the laws or regulations, the applicant may either initiate legal proceedings before the Beijing Intellectual Property Court or file a request for administrative reconsideration with SIPO.

Some decisions, such as rejection decisions of SIPO, reexamination decisions and invalidation decisions of the PRB, are not subject to administrative reconsideration. If an applicant is not satisfied with a rejection decision, it can only file a request for reexamination with the PRB. If an applicant is not satisfied with a reexamination decision or a party is not satisfied with