In order to fully implement the central government's decision on promoting the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and support Macao SAR residents in more convenient and effective protection of their intellectual property rights on the mainland, the State Intellectual Property Office will, on a pilot basis, facilitate the preferential examination of invention patents in the Mainland by Macao SAR applicants.

According to the pilot project, starting from July 1, 2023, permanent residents of the Macao Special Administrative Region, companies established in accordance with the Commercial Code of the Macao Special Administrative Region, and other legal persons or organizations of the Macao Special Administrative Region can apply for registration by: The Guangzhou Office of the Patent Office of the State Intellectual Property Office submits relevant application materials to the Shenzhen representative Office, so that the invention patent applications that meet the relevant conditions are given priority examination in the mainland.

The invention patent application applicable to this pilot program must be an invention patent application of an applicant from the Macao SAR in the Mainland at the stage of substantive examination, and its technical field belongs to the Administrative Measures for Priority Examination of Patents (Order No. 76 of the State Intellectual Property Office). The relevant application classification number belongs to the Reference Relation Table of Strategic Emerging Industries Classification and International Patent Classification (2021) (Trial).

The Macao SAR applicant may submit the application materials for patent priority examination to the Guangzhou Office of the Patent Office of the State Intellectual Property Office or the Shenzhen Office of the Patent Office of the State Intellectual Property Office by mail or in person, but cannot submit the request for priority examination of the same patent application to the two offices repeatedly. For details of the application process, please refer to the website of the Guangzhou Agency or the Shenzhen Agency and the Application Guide for Priority Examination of invention patents in the Mainland for applicants of the Macao SAR.