In Chinese administrative law, every application made to an administrative agency is assigned an application number. Due to the long waiting times, this particular number is of crucial importance in intellectual property law.

Intellectual Property

The China Intellectual Property Association will determine the application date and assign an application number when an intellectual property filing is made. In Chinese law, the application number is often used to enforce temporary protection and for patent lookups.

The application filing date is used for applications that pass the initial criteria to be accepted for examination. Mailed applications use the time shown on the parcel’s timestamp, but if the timestamp cannot be read and there is no other documentation, the date the office received the application is used.