What are the legal issues in design patent protection?

The year-by-year increase in the number of design patent applications has shown that quite a few companies in our country are no longer satisfied with imitating other people's product designs, but are paying more and more attention to relying on their own unique designs to occupy a certain market share and achieve social benefits. At the same time, it also obtains satisfactory economic benefits. What are the legal issues involved in design patent protection? Please follow the editor of Legal Savior Network to learn more below.

What are the legal issues in design patent protection

As we all know, any right is limited by its scope, and the right only Valid within its scope. Patent right is an exclusive monopoly right, and it is particularly important to limit the scope of its rights. If the scope of rights is determined too narrowly, it will be detrimental to the rights holders, and if the scope of rights is determined too wide, it may cause the rights holders to abuse their rights, thus being detrimental to the public.

So, it is appropriate to determine the validity of a design patent The scope of protection is the first issue we must solve when protecting design patents, and it is also one of the difficulties in protecting design patents.

Article 2, Paragraph 3 of the Implementing Rules of my country’s Patent Law Regulations: Appearance design refers to a new design of a product’s shape, pattern, color or their combination that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application. Article 59 of the Patent Law limits the scope of protection of a design patent. The scope of protection of a design patent shall be based on the design product shown in pictures or photos. This provision of the law establishes a fairly objective standard for determining the scope of design patent protection. This standard indicates that when determining the scope of protection of a design patent, we must strive to eliminate subjective factors and strive to be objective.

But in fact, in the implementation of the law, the scope of the exclusive right of a design patent and the scope of its prohibition are different Although Article 59 of the Patent Law relatively smoothly solves the issue of the scope of exclusive rights of design patents, it is not yet sufficient to solve the scope of the prohibition rights of design patents.

For example: the appearance design drawing of an animal-shaped "clock" can clearly indicate that it is a The shape, color and pattern of the clock or their combination, thus confirming that the patent exclusive right granted by the China Patent Office is "this" animal-shaped alarm clock, but the product design represented in the drawings of this design cannot yet be shown. When this animal-shaped design is used as a pen holder and toy, does the right holder of the animal-shaped "clock" have the right to exercise the right of prohibition? This requires us to classify it when determining the exclusive rights of the animal-shaped "clock" Determine the scope of exclusive prohibition rights, thereby drawing a line between the rights of the patentee and the public interest, and appropriately determining the legitimate rights and interests boundary between the two.

Article 60 of the Patent Law: Implementing the patent without the permission of the patentee shall infringe the patent right and cause Disputes shall be resolved through negotiation between the parties; if they are unwilling to negotiate or cannot reach an agreement, the patentee or interested party may file a lawsuit in the People's Court or request the patent administration department to handle the matter. When the patent administration department handles the matter, it shall determine the infringement. If established, the infringer may be ordered to immediately stop the infringement. If the party is dissatisfied, he may file a lawsuit with the People's Court in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the handling notice; if the infringer does not file a lawsuit upon expiration of the time limit, he will not If the infringement ceases, the patent management department may apply to the People's Court for compulsory enforcement. The handling patent management department may, at the request of the parties, mediate on the amount of compensation for patent infringement; if mediation fails, the parties may mediate in accordance with the "China File a lawsuit in the People's Court under the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China.

If you still have any questions, the Legal Savior Network also provides online lawyer consultation services. You are welcome to consult with lawyers.consult.