In the process of patent application or transfer of rights, changes in bibliographic data are common, and special attention should be paid to the types of supporting documents that should be provided during the transfer of rights. According to Section 6.7.2 of the Examination Guidelines, when a transfer of rights or gift occurs, a transfer or gift contract must be submitted; If there are multiple applicants or patent holders, proof of consent from all rights holders for transfer or gift should also be submitted. If there is a transfer of rights due to other reasons (such as company merger or inheritance), a certificate issued by the relevant competent department must be submitted, such as a business merger certificate from the industrial and commercial department or an inheritance certificate from the notary department.

1、 Requirements for proof documents of rights transfer

Ordinary transfer/gift

A transfer or gift contract must be submitted, and if there are joint rights holders, proof of unanimous consent must be provided.

company merger

Proof of business merger must be submitted in both Chinese and English versions.

2、 Common Problems and Cases

Incomplete supporting materials result in 'deemed not presented'. For example, if a company fails to provide the signature of the right holder before and after the change of applicant name, or fails to submit a complete contract, the Patent Office will issue a "Notice of deemed non submission". Within one month after receiving the notice, the company needs to submit the necessary materials and resubmit the procedures for changing the recorded items.

3、 Foreign transfer

For foreign-related transfers involving Chinese companies as transferors and foreign companies as transferees, it is necessary to prepare materials that distinguish the type of technology, and all documents must indicate the patent application number or patent number:

Restricted technology

Technology export license, data sheet of technology export contract, and transfer contract signed by both parties need to be submitted.

Free technology

The registration certificate of technology export contract, data sheet of technology export contract, and transfer contract signed by both parties need to be submitted.

Reference for foreign-related cases:

Internal to external (enterprise)

When Siemens (China) Co., Ltd. transfers patents to Siemens AG, a list of patents must be included in the data sheet of the technology export contract, specifying the patent number and scope of transfer. The contract must clearly indicate the information of the supplier (Chinese side) and the foreign side.

Internal to external (individual)

When Dongguan individual Wan Zhiguo transfers a patent to a British company, in addition to the basic materials, the agency also needs to change from a local office in Dongguan to a relevant agency in Hong Kong to ensure the integration of foreign-related processes.

Internal and external joint acquisition

When Baitai Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. transferred its patent, the transferee included a Cuban molecular immunization center (a foreign enterprise), which was rejected by the Patent Office for not submitting the technology export license in advance. The change was only completed after the supplementary certificate was issued.

In addition, if the transferee includes both mainland and overseas entities, the names of all transferees must be fully recorded in the contract. Only writing the name of the overseas company will be deemed as material failure.

4、 Time nodes and procedural requirements

Inventor's name publicly disclosed

Before the publication of the invention patent application or the authorization announcement, a statement signed by all inventors may be submitted requesting the disclosure of their names; For requests made after publication and before authorization, the name will be announced during the authorization announcement; Utility models and exterior designs must be applied for before the authorization announcement, otherwise the original information will be disclosed by default.

Failure status cannot be changed

If the patent is deemed withdrawn due to failure to respond to the examination opinion (such as issuing a notice of deemed withdrawal in November 2014 and applying for transfer before the restoration of rights in January 2015), or terminated due to non payment of annual fees (such as terminating the announcement in April 2019 and applying for transfer in September), the original rights holder has no right to dispose of it, and the request for change will be deemed not to have been made.

Continuous changes must be consistent

If the applicant changes from A to A1 and then transfers from A1 to B, they need to submit proof of "A changing its name to A1" and a contract for "A1 transferring to B" separately; If two declaration forms are submitted at the same time but only the materials for "A transfer B" are provided, due to the inconsistency between the change process and the supporting documents, they will be required to make corrections.

5、 Summary

The above are the core points and typical case sharing in the practical operation of recording item changes. From material preparation to time management, from domestic changes to foreign transfers, every detail may affect the progress of procedures. Missing a signature, omitting a patent number, or ignoring the expiration status restrictions may all result in the change procedure being considered as not proposed. I hope these practical experiences can help everyone avoid common pitfalls, make patent rights transfer more efficient and smooth, and avoid application delays caused by omissions in the change process.