We are pleased to provide you the following information about the revision of the Numbering Rules for the Patent Application Number.

To fit in with the needs of the rapidly increasing number of patent applications in China and improve the quality of service, the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China revised the Numbering Rules for the Patent Application Number effective since April 1, 1985 and formulated the current Standard for the Patent Application Number.

The Standard for the Patent Application Number was adopted by SIPO on June 13, 2003, hereby promulgated on the July 14 and shall enter into force as of October 1, 2003. The main revisions read as follows (extract from page 6 of the Standard),

4. The Numbering Rules for the Patent Application Number

4.1 The structure of the Patent Application Number
Taking the form of a 12-digit Arabic numerals, the patent application number is composed of three parts, namely the number designating the filing year, the number designating the application type and the serial number for the application.

According to the sequence from left to right, the 1-4 digits indicates the year in which the patent application was filed, the fifth digit indicates the type of the patent application, the 6-12 digits (7 digits in all) indicates the serial number of the application and shows the relative sequence of the filing of the patent application.

4.2 The number designates the filing year
Designating the filing year of the patent application by using Gregorian Calendar. For example, 2004 designates the filing year of the patent application is A.D.2004.

4.3 The number designates the application type
The number that designates the application type is a one-digit number.
1 represents patent application for invention, 2 represents patent application for utility model, 3 represents patent application for design application, 8 represents PCT patent application for invention entering China national phase, 9 represents PCT patent application for utility model entering China national phase.
When Arabic numerals other than the above-mentioned ones used as type number, SIPO will provide its meaning separately.

4.4 The serial number for application
The serial number for application is indicated by a seven-digit successive numeral and usually used as rising sequence. For instance, beginning from 0000001 and increasing successively to 9999999.
The serial numbers of applications are rearranged annually, namely beginning from January 1st of each year, newly issued serial numbers of applications don't follow the serial numbers of the previous year, but rearrange from 0000001 once again.

4.5 The illustration of the Numbering Rules for the Patent Application Number

xxxx x xxxxxxx

xxxx      The serial number for application. Details see also  4.4 of the current standard.
x           The number designating the application type. Details see also 4.3 of the current standard.
xxxxxxx    The number designating the filing year. Details see also 4.2 of the current standard.

          August 11, 2003

2003-09-16

2003-09-16