The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) is officially launching the "Belt and Road" IP Cooperation (BRIPC) Pilot Program for Accelerated Patent Examination (hereinafter referred to as “the BRIPC Pilot Program”) on January 20, 2025. This initiative, set to run for two years until January 19, 2027, allows applicants from participating countries that meet the requirements to request accelerated examination with CNIPA under the BRIPC Pilot Program procedures without incurring any additional official fees.

The essential concept of the BRIPC Pilot Program is that if a participating office (BRIPC Participating Office, BRIPCPO) as the office of first filing deems at least one or more claims of a patent application to be patentable/allowable, the applicant may then request accelerated examination for the corresponding Chinese patent application with CNIPA. CNIPA will conduct an accelerated examination for the eligible applications.

During this pilot project, CNIPA will accept a total of 1,000 requests for accelerated examination per year, with each participating office (BRIPCPO) limited to 100 requests annually. Upon the conclusion of the pilot, CNIPA and the participating offices will evaluate the possibility of an extension of the project.

At present, the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office has joined as the first participating office. CNIPA intends to deepen its cooperation with patent examination agencies from more countries involved in the "Belt and Road" initiative, providing a faster examination process for eligible applicants from these countries for their patent applications in China.

For more information about the specific request procedures and further details, please follow and contact Irene Wang on LinkedIn @ Changtsi Partners.