How long does it take to apply for a patent substantive examination
According to my country's patent According to the provisions of the law, the preliminary examination of a patent should be completed within 18 months of filing the application, and the substantive examination should be completed within three years of filing the patent application.
"Patent Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 35 Within three years from the date of application for an invention patent, the patent administration department of the State Council may conduct a substantive examination of the application upon request made by the applicant at any time; application If a person fails to request substantive examination within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application will be deemed to have been withdrawn.
When the patent administration department of the State Council deems it necessary, it may conduct a substantive examination of an invention patent application on its own.
Article 36: When an applicant for an invention patent requests substantive examination, he shall submit reference materials related to his invention before the filing date.
If an invention patent application has been filed in a foreign country, the patent administration department of the State Council may require the applicant to submit within a specified period of time the information that the country will search for to review the application. or review results; if the application is not submitted within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application will be deemed to have been withdrawn.
When is the substantive examination fee for invention patent paid
Application After obtaining an invention patent, you will need to pay a patent substantive examination fee during the review stage. If this fee is not paid, the relevant departments will not review the patent you applied for. So when should the substantive examination fees for invention patents be paid? The request for substantive examination should be submitted within three years from the date of application (if there is priority, the priority date), and the substantive examination fee should be paid within this period.
Because the examination steps for invention patents are preliminary examination first, and then substantive examination after passing the examination. Therefore, the application for substantive examination to the Patent Office should be made after passing the preliminary examination, so the substantive examination fee The payment deadline is from the initial approval to three years from the filing date (priority date).
In addition, according to Article 35 of the Patent Law, within three years from the filing date of an invention patent application, the Patent Administration Department of the State Council may, upon request made by the applicant at any time, A substantive examination will be conducted on the application; if the applicant fails to request a substantive examination within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application will be deemed to have been withdrawn.
So the substantive examination of a patent is generally initiated only when the applicant takes the initiative. If the patentee does not make a request, the Patent Office will initiate the substantive examination request three months before the expiration of the deadline. month, a letter of approval is issued before the expiration of the time limit.
After the invention patent application is published, if the applicant has completed the substantive examination request procedures, the application will enter the substantive examination process, and the Patent Office will issue to the applicant " Notice of entering the substantive examination stage." If the applicant has not completed the substantive examination request procedures, the Patent Office will wait for the applicant to complete the substantive examination request procedures; if three years have passed from the application date, and the applicant has not submitted a substantive examination request or the substantive examination request has not taken effect, the application will be deemed invalid. considered withdrawn.
Legal liability for patent infringement
According to patent law According to the provisions of relevant laws and regulations, the legal liabilities that infringers should bear include civil liability, administrative liability and criminal liability.
1. Administrative responsibility
For patent infringement, the department managing patent work has the right to Order the infringer to stop the infringement, order corrections, impose fines, etc. The patent management department may also mediate the amount of compensation for patent infringement at the request of the party concerned.
2. Civil liability
(1) Stop infringement
Stop infringement means that the patent infringer shall immediately stop the ongoing patent infringement according to the decision of the patent management department or the judgment of the people's court.
(2) Compensation for losses
The amount of compensation for patent infringement shall be determined based on the losses suffered by the patentee due to the infringement or the benefits obtained by the infringer; the losses suffered by the infringed party or the benefits obtained by the infringer If it is difficult to determine, it can be reasonably determined by referring to the multiple of the patent license fee.(3) Eliminate the impact
When the infringer implements the infringement act, the patented product will When goodwill in the market is damaged, the infringer should take appropriate measures to bear the legal responsibility for eliminating the impact and admit his or her infringement in order to eliminate the adverse impact on the patented product.
3. Criminal liability
In accordance with the provisions of the Patent Law and Criminal Law, counterfeiting other people’s patents, If the circumstances are serious, the person directly responsible should be held criminally responsible.
The above knowledge is the editor’s answer to the question “How long does it take to apply for a patent substantive examination procedure?” According to the provisions of my country’s patent law, a patent is preliminary The examination should be completed within eighteen months of filing the application, and the substantive examination period should be completed within three years of filing the patent application. If readers need legal help, they are welcome to go to the Legal Savior Network for legal consultation.