Prioritized patent examination is an effective way in shortening the examination cycle, benefits patent applicants, and may contribute to economic development,and it is often called a “green path”.Since the State Intellectual Property Office of China (hereafter referred to as “SIPO”) issued an “Administrative Regulations of Prioritized Patent Examination” (hereafter referred to as “Regulations”) which took effect as of August 1, 2017, more and more domestic and foreign patent applicants are taking advantage of this prioritized patent examination system. As of the end of 2017, 29 patents have entered the procedure of prioritized patent examination in front of the Reexamination Board of SIPO, and two design patents survived in validations. Furthermore,according to statistics available at the website of Zhongguancun State Intellectual Property Model Park which represents the Beijing Intellectual Property Office to preliminary review on the qualification for prioritized patent examination in Beijing area, 1,090 applications met the criteria and passed preliminary examination. And as far as learnt by the authors, some applications have been granted with a patent by utilizing this green path.

The majority of applications entering this system are domestic ones.Foreign applicants also possess the desire to make use of and pass this “green path”. In this article, we will introduce the recent update on prioritized patent examination and advise how foreign applicant may apply this system.

(2) PAPP的T5%为305 °C，高于PA6的加工温度，并且在800 °C的残炭量为10.6%，高温区热稳定较好，表明PAPP具有良好的成炭效果。

Which option(s) may be applicable by foreign applicants?

The Regulations prescribes that, if a Chinese patent application measures up one of the six options as follows, it will qualify to request the prioritized examination:

1. It involves the national key development industries, including but not limited to energy conservation and environment protection, new generation of information technology,biotech, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials, new energy vehicles, intelligent manufacturing;

2. It involves key development industries which are encouraged by the provincial governments and prefecturelevel city government;

评语域的赞成比例=得票数/5。以1#猕猴桃酒样为例，可建立外观、色泽、香气和滋味4个单因素的模糊评价矩阵：

4. Te patent applicant or the applicant requesting re-examination gets everything ready to implement or has already started to implement, or has shown that a third party is implementing its invention-creation;

3. It involves the fields of technologies relating to internet, big data, cloud computing and that technologies or products evolve rapidly;

5. It should be the first filing in China and be claimed as the priority for the filing a patent application in another country or region on the same subject matter;

菲式春卷（Lumpia）还有芭露特煮鸭蛋（Balut）也自不用多说。其中，芭露特煮鸭蛋在菲律宾的必食清单中更是名列前茅，甚至被誉为“黑暗料理”中的代表（就是即将孵化的鸭蛋），不过也有不少人对它敬而远之，反倒是口味清淡的菲式春卷得到更多中国游客的支持。

轻型木结构材料成本低，标准化、装配化程度高，施工便捷，适用于低成本、大规模的生产建造。但由于其结构构件被围护体包裹隐匿，木结构本身的表现力相对较弱。而胶合木结构不受天然木材强度及尺寸限制，可以满足各种结构构件的形态及尺寸，灵活多变，为木结构建筑形态的多样性提供了可能；另一方面，其承重结构与围护体相分离，可裸露于外，更能突显木结构的力与美。但由于其木构件产品的多样性以及现阶段市场规模所限，与轻型木结构相比，胶合木结构的模数化标准化程度较低，更适合小批量定制化的项目采用。方木原木结构则是传统井干式木结构体系的传承和发展，木混合结构建筑主要用于高层木构建筑的建造。

If the invention of a patent application has been implemented or is going to be implemented, or it has a risk of being infringed in the future, for instance, competitors are manufacturing the product covered by the application,Option 4 may be suitable. This may provide some solutions for inventions having prospects on the market.

6. Other situations that has significant interests for China and the public,and therefore need to be examined as a priority.

No matter which option is adopted, one common document requested is a request form. Some basic information shall be included in the form, including application number,type of invention, name of the petitioner, contact person as well as the phone number and address of the contact person. Further, the ground for prioritized examination shall be indicated. If the above Option 5 is applied and if the Chinese application is the first filed application of a PCT application, the PCT application number shall be laid out. If other options other than Option 5 is chosen,the opinion of the recommendation authority shall be provided. Last but not the least, information on supporting materials, such as prior art references, shall be set forth in the request form.

For foreign applicants (which means that all applicants are outside of China), the most probable way for a foreign application is Option 5. Namely, for the Chinese patent applications applied for the first time, the foreign entities should feel free to request prioritized examination, given that they have their creation-invention or designs firstly filed in China and claim the first-filing Chinese patent application to other countries or regions.

In addition, for an invalidation case, prioritized examination may be initiated: (1) if it involves a patent in-fringement case, the parties in action have already requested the local patent department to settle, or submit the case to the court, or request the Arbitration mediation organization for arbitration and mediation; or (2) the patent to be invalidated has significant interests for China and the public.

On the other hand, a Chinese patent application jointly owned by both a Chinese and a foreign entity shall also enjoy prioritized examination, so that all the sufficient documents for requesting the prioritized examination can be in good preparation by the Chinese coowner. In practice, foreign applicants with Chinese subsidiaries or affiliates,given that their Chinese applications/patents belong to any of the applicable situations, may take this measure to accelerate the examination. In case of the joint applicants, the request for the prioritized examination shall be consented by all the co-applicants.

非液化土层13层；液化土层4层，液化等级从轻微到严重都有，地下水位埋深1～3 m，液化砂土层埋深2～11 m。

相对于人们对大数据的各种各样的定义，笔者认为大数据首先具有超大的数据储存功能，其次是利用高新科技对大数据做出处理、分析、归类、管理等。简单概括，大数据的构成主要有三部分，它们分别为：数据存储、数据处理、数据分析。首先，搜集到的数据需要通过存储层予以存储，其次，再根据人们的具体的需求对所搜集到的数据进行处理归纳，最后把归纳好的数据与指标体系中的数据进行分析得出正确的裁决。通过大数据任何一个集团都可以用最少的时间是来做出最正确的策略方案。有学者认为，大数据是目前超过了一台计算机处理能力的数据量。大数据具有以下几个特点：

In recent years, foreign patentees are active in enforcing IP rights in China. A fast decision made by the Reexamination Board may favor enforcement. As reported by the Reexamination Board, in the two invalidation cases which were examined via prioritized examination, decisions were issued in around two months from receipt of the request for prioritized examination.This is a good sign for patentees, especially when the patents are stable and of great value on the market.

Procedures and documents requested for filing a request for prioritized examination

The prerequisite for a Chinese patent application to be qualified for prioritized examination is that the application shall be an E-filing case,and the application has been published and entered into substantive examination. By taking different options, the documents requested may differ to some extent. Take an invention patent as an example.

Options 1 and 3 are also possible for foreign applicants. If the invention belongs to the technical fields exemplified in Option 3, it can be entered into prioritized examination. As for whether an invention belongs to national key development industries, it is suggested to check documents issued by the government, for instance, “the guidance catalogue of the strategic emerging industries and key products&service” issued by Chinese National Development and Reform Commission, which may be updated annually.Further, SIPO also issued a “Catalog of Industries Mainly Supported by Intellectual Property” (2018 version)on January 17, 2018, which may serve as a reference.

Other common documents are prior art references relevant to the Chinese patent application. It is worth noting that prior art references are used to facilitate the examiner to accelerate the examination. For Patent documents, only the documentation serial numbers and published date,indicating the relevant paragraph or picture numbers, are sufficient; and for non-patent documentation, such as magazines or books, it is suggested to provide full pages or relevant pages.

要输出二叉树，采用层次遍历，即需要链队列结构来实现，因此先声明链队列每个结点的抽象数据类型LKQueNode，包括两个成员，指向二叉链表的结点类型bitree的data指针和指向LKQueNode类型的指针。为方便操作链队列，再声明链队列的抽象数据类型LKQue，包括两个指向链队列队头队尾的front和rear指针。代码如图4所示。

＊Acceptance: time from receiving the Request for prioritized examination as well as the documents in support to permit or reject prioritized examination;

#Duration: time from the receipt of a request for prioritized examination to make a final decision

Besides the request form, other supporting materials will be requested.

For instance, other relevant supporting documents, which refers to the documents that would prove that the case falls into one of the situations described in the Regulations. Some examples are listed in the form below.

Timelines for prioritized examination

Bearing critical timelines in mind may help better utilization of the system and monitor progress. Some important timelines have been listed in the table below for reference (only for patent applications).

In conclusion, the prioritized examination is an effective way for foreign applicants to obtain a patent in a significantly shortened period, and also beneficial for patent owners who desire to enforce patents in an expedited manner.