Is there an announcement period for appearance patent applications?
Is there an announcement period for appearance patent applications? During the period, when applying for a design patent, if it passes the examination, the patent management department should make an announcement so that others can raise objections to the patent.
"Patent Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 23: The design for which a patent right is granted shall not be an existing design; no unit or individual has reported to the State Council the same design before the filing date. The patent administrative department has filed an application and it has been recorded in the patent documents published after the application date.
The design for which patent rights are granted should be significantly different from existing designs or combinations of existing design features.
The design for which patent rights are granted shall not conflict with the legal rights that others have acquired before the filing date.
Existing designs as mentioned in this Law refer to designs that are known to the public at home and abroad before the date of application.
Article 40 If no reason for rejection is found after preliminary examination of a utility model or design patent application, the patent administration department of the State Council shall make a decision to grant the utility model patent right or design patent right. The decision on the design patent right shall be issued with a corresponding patent certificate, and shall be registered and announced at the same time. Utility model patent rights and design patent rights take effect from the date of announcement.
How long is the protection period of a design patent?
my country The protection period of design patent rights is 10 years. Among the designs applied for in 1993, the ones that were patented and had a patent protection period of 10 years wereTo 10%. Most people apply for patents just to obtain a patent certificate, thereby obtaining professional titles, taxation and other benefits. [⑤] Therefore, after obtaining the patent rights, they did not have the awareness to apply the patents to the production of industrial goods. Many patents lost their patent rights due to the reasons of the patentee. Some patent holders only seek short-term commercial benefits and do not use their patents to occupy the market for a long time as one of their own brand products. For some large companies with strong strength and strategic vision, they hope that their products can occupy the market for a long time and obtain effective legal protection. For them, the 10-year protection period is relatively short.
For designs, the protection period varies according to the laws of various countries: the protection period for designs in Japan is 15 years from the date of approval of registration; In Germany, the protection period is 20 years from the date of application; in the UK, the protection period is 5 years from the date of registration, which can be extended 4 times, each time for 5 years; in the United States, the protection period is from the issuance of the certificate 14 years from the date of application; in France, the protection period is 25 years from the date of application, and can be extended for an additional 25 years upon declaration by the registrant. It can be seen that the design patent protection period in my country is shorter than that in developed countries.
The editor believes that since we advocate the implementation of a protection mechanism in which registration and non-registration systems coexist, the protection period for design patents approved for registration can be set as self-application. It is valid for 5 years from the date of registration and can be renewed 4 times for 5 years each time. This can not only meet the needs of rights holders who only need short-term protection for their designs, but also meet the requirements of large enterprises that require long-term design patent protection.
What are the characteristics of the appearance design?
The appearance design has the following Two characteristics.
First, appearance design is the design of the appearance of the product. The so-called products are all items manufactured by humans. A case in the United States once said based on the dictionary definition: "A product refers to any item made by human hands from raw materials, whether the item is made directly by hand or by using a machine." From this point of view, Products include virtually everything except natural items.
Appearance design is a design made for the appearance of a product, which also implies the industrial practicality of the design, that is, using a certain appearance design or having Products with a certain design can be copied and produced in batches. If it cannot be reproduced in batches and has no industrial applicability, it cannot apply for a patent.
Second, the appearance design isRefers to the design of shape, pattern, color or their combination. Among them, shape refers to the shape of three-dimensional products, such as the appearance of televisions and cars. Pattern generally refers to two-dimensional graphic design, such as bed sheets, carpet patterns, etc. Color can be part of a pattern or part of a shape. In this way, the appearance design can be a three-dimensional shape, a flat pattern, supplemented by appropriate colors, or an organic combination of the three.
The above knowledge is the editor's answer to the question "Is there an announcement period for appearance patent application?". There is an announcement period for appearance patent application. Apply for a design patent If it passes the review, the patent management department should make an announcement so that others can raise objections to the patent. If readers need legal help, they are welcome to go to the Legal Savior Network for legal consultation.
