Legal basis: Detailed Rules for the Implementation of People's Republic of China (PRC) Patent Law.
Article 51 An applicant for a patent for invention may, within three months from the date of receiving the notice from the patent administration department of the State Council that the application for a patent for invention has entered the substantive examination stage, take the initiative to propose amendments to the application for a patent for invention.
An applicant for a patent for utility model or design may, within 2 months from the date of application, put forward amendments to the application for a patent for utility model or design.
Where the applicant modifies the patent application documents after receiving the notice of examination opinions issued by the patent administrative department of the State Council, it shall modify the defects pointed out in the notice.
The patent administration department in the State Council can correct the obvious errors of words and symbols in the patent application documents by itself. Where the administrative department for patent in the State Council modifies it by itself, it shall notify the applicant.
Article 52. In the modified part of the specification or the claims of an application for a patent for invention or utility model, a replacement page shall be submitted in the prescribed format, except for individual text modification or addition or deletion. Where a picture or photograph of an application for a patent for design is modified, a replacement page shall be submitted in accordance with the provisions.
Article 53 According to Article 38 of the Patent Law, the circumstances in which an application for a patent for invention should be rejected after substantive examination refer to:
(1) The application falls under the circumstances specified in Articles 5 and 25 of the Patent Law, or the patent right cannot be obtained in accordance with Article 9 of the Patent Law;
(2) The application does not conform to the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 2, the first and third paragraphs of Article 20, the fourth and fifth paragraphs of Article 26, the first paragraph of Article 31 or the second paragraph of Article 20 of these Rules;
(3) The amendment of the application does not conform to the provisions of Article 33 of the Patent Law, or the divisional application does not conform to the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 43 of these Rules.