China: SIPO’s fee payment information now available in English

2016-09-02 patent

        With the recent relaunch of the "China and Global Patent Examination Information Inquiry", the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) has also made fee payment information for Chinese patents, utility models and designs searchable online. While the file wrapper information in this online file inspection tool only covers applications from 10 February 2010 onwards, the fee payment data goes back to as early as 1985. The data coverage of this source is even more comprehensive than SIPO's Chinese language fee payment database, which includes data from August 2005 onwards. The fee payment information is updated on a weekly basis.