In December 2025, the China National Intellectual Property Administration issued the "Guidelines for Patent Applications of Product Designs Involving Graphical User Interfaces" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), which sorts out the relevant provisions and examples of Designs involving graphical user interfaces (hereinafter referred to as "interfaces"). We have analyzed these Guidelines, combined with the current practice of Design examination in China and common application issues of European and American applicants, and prepared this introduction to facilitate clients' understanding of the key points. Meanwhile, the English translation of the Guidelines is attached hereto for applicants' reference.

I. Protected Subject Matter

1. Must be bound to a product (Section 1.2.1 of the Guidelines): A pure GUI pattern (without specific products such as mobile phones or computers) shall not be protected. The product to which the interface applies must be clearly specified (e.g., "mobile payment GUI for mobile phones" or "GUI for electronic devices"), and the submission of an independent interface alone shall be avoided.

2. Limited to "human-computer interaction" interfaces (Section 1.2.3 of the Guidelines): Interfaces without interactive functions, such as wallpapers, boot screens, and pure graphic-text webpages, are not within the scope of protection; applications for partial GUIs must also meet interactive requirements such as clicking and sliding.

3. Game interfaces are completely excluded (Section 1.2.5 of the Guidelines): Neither the overall game scene nor local parts such as functional modules and parameter windows within the game constitute protected subject matter are allowed.

II. Partial GUIs Relevants

1. A partial GUI must be "complete and independent" (Section 1.2.4 of the Guidelines): The part to be protected shall form a visually independent area and a complete design unit (randomly intercepted fragments are not allowed).

2. A partial GUI must "have obvious differences" (Section 1.2.2 of the Guidelines): Since the current examination of Designs includes the examination on whether they are obviously inconsistent with the provisions of Article 23, Paragraph 2 of the Patent Law, a design shall have obvious difference from conventional shapes. In current examinations, overly simple partial GUIs (such as a single rounded rectangular button or linear arrangement of conventional components) are likely to be rejected on the ground that "they belong to conventional shapes and do not have obvious differences" (the core requirement of "shall be a new design" in Section 1.2.2 of the Guidelines). In addition, conventional designs with only minor changes in color or size shall be avoided. Unique elements (such as exclusive textures, asymmetric corners) shall be added, or the shape shall be deeply bound to interactive functions to ensure compliance with the "new design" requirement and avoid the risk of being identified as a "conventional shape".

3. Application choices (Section 2.3.2 of the Guidelines): If the design points lie only in the GUI (no new design in the product), it is recommended to submit it as a "partial Design"; for a GUI applicable to any electronic device, it can be submitted "without a product" (the product name shall be written as "electronic device").

III. Combined Applications and Compliance

1. Restrictions on combined applications (Sections 3.2.2 and 3.3 of the Guidelines): The number of similar GUIs of the same product applied for in a combined application shall not exceed 10; vertical interfaces (sequential jumps, same function) can be applied for in

combination, while parallel interfaces (same level, different functions) shall be applied for separately.

2. Key compliance points (Sections 4.1-4.4 of the Guidelines): The front view/changed state diagrams shall not contain "content screens" (reference views can reflect them with annotations, Section 4.1 of the Guidelines); maps shall use standard Chinese maps (Section 4.2 of the Guidelines); permission certificates shall be provided for the use of trademarks and portraits (Sections 4.3-4.4 of the Guidelines), and privacy information in reference views shall be blurred.

The Guidelines provide detailed and clear guidance on Designs involving GUIs. Due to the special provisions of the CNIPA on Designs including GUI, these Guidelines help applicants make better use of China's Design system and greatly reduce the risk of rejection when submitting applications for Designs of GUI.