In a bid to encourage domestic applicants to file patent applications abroad, since 2009, the Ministry of Finance has begun to grant special government funding to patentees submitting their patent applications in foreign countries and formulated the Interim Measures for the Administration for Special Government Funding Granted to Patentees Filing International Patent Applications thereof. Three years later, the MOF decided to amend the Interim Measures on the strength of current scenario to intensify the management of financial funding.

Under the amended Interim Measures, the special government funding is mainly used to subsidize patent applicants filing international applications when official charges prescribed occur, including fees in the process of filing and searching, service expenses paid to patent agencies, and fixed fees paid to patent examination organs three years (including the year when the patent is issued) after the patent is issued. 

The special government funding is mainly rendered to patent applications which follow the guidance of national intellectual property strategies, help increase innovation capabilities, or prop up the development of high-tech and emerging industries. [Chinese version is available on mof.gov.cn]