Notice of the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Further Promoting the Use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) Format to Submit Electronic Patent Application Documents

The author of this article

Lv Guofang, Saienbeiji, China Process and Information Department

On May 20, 2025, the China National Intellectual Property Administration issued a notice on further promoting the use of extensible markup language (XML) format to submit electronic patent application documents (click here to view).

The good news brought by this confession is that the patent electronic application file submitted in XML format is a readable structured data format, suitable for machine reading and processing. In other words, this form of document program can directly parse, extract, and modify data, making it easy to automate processing and improving the examination cycle of patent application files.

The bad news is that there are still many areas that need to be improved in the XML format conversion tool of the State Intellectual Property Administration. For example, if an application file contains formulas, tables, or graphics, it is prone to conversion loss or incorrect or blurry formula formats after conversion. However, adjusting the format of these issues is extremely time-consuming, which involves a large number of formulas, tables, and graphic files. It is recommended that applicants submit their application documents to the agency as early as possible to ensure that their rights are not affected.

Let’s take a closer look at the content of the notification adjustment:

1、 From the date of filing on October 1, 2025, priority examination and expedited pre-approval are required PPH、 Patent applications with delayed examination and centralized examination must be submitted electronically in XML format

  • Patent applications filed after October 1, 2025 (inclusive) that request priority examination, expedited examination, patent examination highway (PPH), deferred examination, and centralized examination must be submitted in XML format. In 2026, our bureau’s system will gradually upgrade to only accept electronic patent application files submitted in XML format.

2、 Starting from October 1, 2025, the content promoted by XML includes domestic applications, invalid applications for reexamination, PCT/Hague national segment applications, and patent defenses

  • The electronic patent application documents targeted by this promotion work include Chinese national applications for inventions, utility models, and designs, invalid applications for reexamination, and patent applications entering the Chinese national phase through PCT, including requests, claims, specifications, drawings, abstracts, external design drawings, brief explanations, and their modified and replaced documents.

3、 Patent electronic applications that are not submitted in XML format from October 1, 2025 shall be deemed to automatically waive the right to enjoy relevant examination policies

  • If the applicant fails to submit an electronic patent application file in XML format, or subsequently submits a modified or replaced file in non XML format, it shall be deemed that the applicant automatically waives the right to enjoy relevant examination policies. The supporting documents, modified reference pages, sequence tables, and other documents submitted together with the application documents that are not specified in Article 2 of this notice may continue to be submitted in electronic file formats acceptable to our bureau.

4、To facilitate applicants and agencies, the Patent Business Handling System of the National Intellectual Property Administration (http://cponline.cnipa.gov.cn) provides, in its tool download section, standards and specifications for patent electronic application data, XML format conversion tools, and user operation manuals. Applicants and agencies may use the conversion tools provided by our Administration or the application document editing function of the Patent Business Handling System to create XML format files, or they may use third-party tools to produce XML format files that comply with the data standards and specifications of our Administration.

5、 Applicants and agencies should fulfill necessary proofreading obligations to ensure the correctness of the submitted patent application documents.