1. How long does it take to apply for a design patent
Approximately from the application date After completing the review in 6 to 8 months, you will receive an authorization notice from the Patent Office, notifying you to pay the certificate fee and annual fee. About two months after the payment, you will receive the design patent certificate from the Patent Office. The whole process takes about 8 months to 1 year. If there are problems with the application documents during the review period and require corrections, responses, etc., the authorization time will be postponed accordingly.
China implements a preliminary examination system for design patent applications. During the preliminary review process, the examiner will issue a notice of correction to address formal issues in the application documents. The applicant makes supplements and corrections to the notice. At the same time, the examiner will examine whether the client is a client of design patent protection. If there is a client who is not protected by design patent, the examiner will issue an examination opinion notice, and the applicant will respond to the examination opinion notice or review the application documents. Revise.
Article 40 of the "Patent Law" If no reason for rejection of a utility model or design patent application is found after preliminary examination, the patent administration department of the State Council shall make a decision to grant a utility model For decisions on patent rights or design patent rights, a corresponding patent certificate will be issued, and it will be registered and announced at the same time. Utility model patent rights and design patent rights take effect from the date of announcement.
Article 41 The patent administration department of the State Council shall establish a patent reexamination committee. If a patent applicant is dissatisfied with the decision of the Patent Administration Department of the State Council to reject the application, he may request a reexamination to the Patent Reexamination Board within three months from the date of receipt of the notice. After review, the Patent Reexamination Board will make a decision and notify the patent applicant.
If a patent applicant is dissatisfied with the reexamination decision of the Patent Reexamination Board, he may file a lawsuit with the People's Court within three months from the date of receipt of the notice.
2. Obtaining a design patentConditions
1. It must be novelty
Novelty is the appearance design The basic condition for obtaining patent rights is that the patented design must be unprecedented. my country's patent law stipulates that for the judgment of novelty: the time standard is based on the filing date; the regional standard, disclosure in publications adopts world standards, and disclosure in use adopts domestic standards. In other words, the patented design “should be different from and similar to the design that has been publicly published in domestic and foreign publications or publicly used domestically before the filing date.”
2. It should be original
Many countries regard whether the design is original as a A condition for whether to grant a patent right. Originality mainly means that the design for which patent rights are granted should have obvious characteristics compared with existing designs, or be "not similar". To determine whether two designs are similar, two similar products using the design should be compared to see whether they are similar overall. Patent rights cannot be granted for similar designs.
3. It should be aesthetically pleasing
Countries around the world consider aesthetics as a basis for granting design patents The regulations are different. The United States, the United Kingdom, etc. do not regard aesthetics as a condition for granting a design patent. Countries such as Germany and Japan regard the person as a condition for granting a design patent. The Implementing Rules of my country’s Patent Law stipulate that the design should be aesthetically pleasing.
4. It should be suitable for industrial applications
Since the purpose of design patent is to promote products Communication and economic development, therefore, the design granted a patent must be suitable for industrial application, that is, the design can be placed on the product through industrial production.
The editor of Legal Savior Network answered this question as above. For a design patent application, it takes about 6 to 8 months from the application date to complete the review and you will receive It is possible that the authorization notice issued by the Patent Office may take some patent applications one year or even one and a half years. This is one of the main reasons why many companies entrust patent applications to specialized agencies. Welcome to the Legal Savior Network online legal consultation.