Numbering system - China

1. DOCUMENT TYPES AND KIND CODES

INVENTION PATENTS:

Laid-open publications

GONGKAI (1985 to April 2010) - enlarge

• unexamined patent publication (A)
  
  

SHENQING GONGBU (from April 2010) - enlarge

• publication of application (A)
• re-issue of front page of A document (A8)
• re-issue of complete A document (A9)
  
  

Examined/granted documents

SHENDING GONGGAO (1985 to 1993) - enlarge

• examined patent publication (B)
  
  

SHOUQUAN GONGGAO (1983 to April 2010) - enlarge

• granted patent publication (C)
  
  

SHOUQUAN GONGGAO (from April 2010) - enlarge

• granted patent publication (B)
• re-issue of front page of B document (B8)
• re-issue of complete B document (B9)
• amended B document after partial invalidation (C1-C7)
  
  

UTILITY MODELS:

GONGGAO (1985 to 1993) - enlarge

• pre-grant utility model publication (U)
  
  

SHOUQUAN GONGGAO (1993 to April 2010) - enlarge

• registered utility model publication (Y)
  
  

SHOUQUAN GONGGAO (from April 2010) - enlarge

• registered utility model publication (U)
• re-issue of front page of U document (U8)
• re-issue of complete U document (U9)
• amended U document after partial invalidation (Y1-Y7)
  
  

DESIGNS:

GONGGAO (1985 to 1993) - enlarge

• pre-grant design publication (S)
  
  

SHOUQUAN GONGGAO (1993 to April 2010) - enlarge

• registered design publication (D)
  

SHOUQUAN GONGGAO (from April 2010) - enlarge

• registered design publication (S)
• re-issue of design publication (S9)
• amended design publication after partial invalidation (S1-S7)
  
  

2. NUMBER FORMATS

 
yyyy t nnnnnnn.n application numbers

• four digits for the year (y)
• one digit for the type of patent right (t)
• seven digits for the serial number (n)
• one check digit (.n)

(before October 2003: yy t nnnnn.n)

t nnnnnnnn publication numbers

• one digit for the type of patent right (t)
• eight digits for the serial number (n), no year

(before August 2007: t nnnnnn*)

(*NOTE: Before April 2010, applications and granted documents were published with different numbers. Nowadays, the same number is used for both publication stages. Therefore, in cases where the application was published before August 2007, the old number format is kept for the granted document.) 

3. Types of patent right (t)

1 - patent for invention

2 - patent for utility model

3 - patent for design

8* - PCT application (patent) entering national phase in China

9* - PCT application (utility model) entering national phase in China

(* types 8 and 9 are only used in application numbers)