INVENTION PATENT APPLICA-TION NUMBERS

01/01/2003

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The 2001 amendments to the Patent Law intro-duced for the first time the practices of early laying-open of invention patent applications, and of substantive examination on request. These practices apply to invention patent applications filed on or after 26 October 2002. For ease of identifying applications to which the new prac-tices apply, the IPO announced the following on 26 November 2002:

For invention patent applications, filed on or after 26 October 2002, their serial numbers start from Application No. 91132001.

For invention patent application filed on or before 25 October 2002, their serial numbers end at Application No. 91125438.