Time Has Run Out For China's 15-Day Mailing Rule

As of January 20, 2024, applicants are no longer able to enjoy a 15-day grace period for most response deadlines pertaining to patent applications being pursued in the Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). This change was announced in Order 769 on December 21, 2023, and took effect on January 20, 2024. CNIPA's elimination of this grace period is similar to the European Patent Office's (EPO) recent elimination of its 10-day rule, which we wrote about here.

The change in China eliminates the 15-day grace period for responding to communications sent electronically, which includes most CNIPA correspondence. With the elimination of the grace period, an electronic communication is considered delivered on the date printed on the correspondence, and response deadlines are measured from the printed date.