The China National Intellectual Property Administration (“CNIPA”) announced on 31 December 2019 the latest revision of the Patent Examination Guidelines of China (“the Guidelines”), which will come into effect on 1 February 2020.

 

This revision of the Guidelines, by adding a Section 6 to Chapter 9 of Part II thereof, provides examination rules on invention patent applications involving such new technology areas as artificial intelligence, the Internet Plus, big data, and blockchain, which usually contain algorithm features or business rules and methods features. 

 

The newly added provisions touch upon the examination basis and the drafting of the description and claims for this type of patent applications, along with nine exemplary cases to illustrate the analytical rationale and outcomes in the examination of these patent applications.