China’s National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance on March 25 jointly issued a notice about the rates of the maintenance annuity of design patents and the individual designation fee for both international design patent applications and first renewals of international registrations in which China is designated under the Hague System.

The maintenance fees and individual designation fees are payable to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). In the notice, the annual rate of the maintenance fee of a design patent in the extended five years is set to be 3,000 yuan ($472); the annual rate of the individual designation fee in connection with international design patent applications and renewals payable to China in the first five years is set to be 4,100 yuan ($645), 7,600 yuan ($1,195) in the next five years, and 15,000 yuan ($2,359) in the extended five years.

In China, the term of protection of a patented design has been extended from 10 years to 15 years, according to the provisions of Article 42 of the 4th Amendments to the Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China effective on June 1, 2021. It was a legislative effort made by the country to prepare for its accession to the 1999 Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement on February 5.

While a Chinese patent is in the pending application stage, no maintenance fees are due. Once it is granted, the patent owner is obliged to pay a recurring renewal fee to maintain the patent. The first annuity after the grant of a patent is paid within two months from the date of receipt of the Notice of Allowance from the CNIPA. The renewal due date for all subsequent renewals will fall on the anniversary of the filing date.

Under the Hague System, a single design patent application is filed at the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization, with the nations where protection is sought being designated. Designation fees are payable and vary depending on the designated nations. However, large costs are saved by avoiding separate filings in multiple nations. The minimum fee for any patent owner from a contracting nation to the Hague System to obtain international protection for a design under the system includes a basic fee, a publication fee, and a standard or individual designation fee.

The rates issued by the Chinese government agencies will be effective on May 5, on which the Hague Agreement will come into force in China as well.

The full text is available here.