CNIPA to Revise Guidelines for Patent Examination

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) has issued the Decision on Revising the Guidelines for Patent Examination (the "Decision"), effective from January 1, 2026.

The Decision mainly proposes the following revisions: (1) improving the protection system for new areas and new business forms to further encourage industrial innovation; (2) optimizing examination standards and rules to address urgent issues in examination practice; and (3) institutionalizing mature examination practices to better serve innovators. Notably, the Decision incorporates considerations and judgments on artificial intelligence (AI) ethics, provides examples for inventive step examination, and clarifies requirements for drafting application documents, in order to align with the development needs of AI technology. In response to the rapid development of the streaming media industry, specific provisions on the examination of bitstream patent applications are also added to clarify the circumstances under which patent rights may be granted.



(Source: https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2025/11/13/art_74_202560.html)

Note: The link to the Chinese official website of the document is for your reference.