Announcement on Adjustments to the Conditions for Reducing Patent and Trademark Registration Fees (Mainland China)

Joyce Wen

The State Intellectual Property Office issued the Announcement on Adjustments to the Conditions for Reducing Patent and Trademark Registration Fees (the “Announcement”) on June 28, 2019.  The Announcement is aimed for reducing taxes and fees to reduce social burden and promote the development of the substantive economy.  The Announcement is highlighted below:

1. The Announcement amends Article 3 of the Circular of the National Development and Reform Commission on the Circulation of the Patent Fee Reduction Measures (Cai Shui [2016] No. 78) so that the eligible patent applicants patent holders for patent fee reduction are expanded from individuals whose average monthly income in the previous year is lower than RMB 3,500 (RMB 42,000 per year) to individuals whose average monthly income in the previous year is lower than RMB 5,000 (RMB 60,000 per year); and for enterprises, it is expanded from a taxable income of lower than RMB 300,000 for the previous year to lower than RMB 1,000,000 for the previous year.

2. The Announcement reduces the trademark renewal registration fee from RMB 1,000 to RMB 500 and the amendment fee from RMB 250 to RMB 150.  For trademark services involving online submissions and electronic issuance of documents, no amendment fee is charged.  The other fees, including the trademark registration fee, the fee for reissuing trademark registration certificates, the fee for the transfer of a registered trademark, the trademark renewal registration fee, the late fee for renewal registration, the trademark examination fee, the trademark certificate issuance fee, the collective trademark registration fee, the certification mark registration fee, the trademark opposition fee, the trademark invalidation fee, and fee for recordation of a trademark use licensing agreement, are all collected at 90% of the current standard.