What are the regulations for patent applications?
The patent system is in the market economy A legal system that protects intellectual property rights of inventions and creations under certain conditions. Article 9, paragraph 2, of the Patent Law stipulates that “if two or more applicants apply for a patent for the same invention, the patent right shall be granted to the person who applies first.” This is the “first-to-file principle.” Therefore, all inventions and innovations that meet patent conditions should apply for patents as early as possible to obtain national legal protection.
To apply for a patent, you must submit necessary application documents to the State Intellectual Property Office in accordance with regulations. To apply for an invention or utility model patent, a request, description, claims, abstract of the description, necessary drawings and other documents must be submitted. To apply for a design patent, you should submit a request, pictures or photos of the design, a brief description and other documents. Patent application documents can be written by the applicant himself, or he can entrust a patent attorney to write them.
Materials required to apply for a patent
1. Apply for an invention For patents, the application documents shall include: invention patent request, description (if the description has drawings, the description and drawings shall be submitted), claims, abstract (abstract and drawings shall be attached if necessary) and other documents.
2. For invention patent applications involving amino acid or nucleotide sequences, the sequence list should be included in the description and the sequence list should be regarded as a separate part of the description. Submit together with a computer-readable copy of the sequence listing that complies with the provisions of the State Intellectual Property Office.
3. When applying for a utility model patent, the application documents should include: utility model patent request, description, description drawings, claims, abstract and appendices. Pictures and other files.
4. When applying for a design patent, the application documents should include: design patent request letter, pictures orThe applicant’s photos and a brief description of the design and other documents. If color protection is required, color pictures or photos should also be submitted. Orthographic views of the same design of the same product should be made using the same expression method, that is, they should all be drawing views or all rendering views or all photo views. Mixing of different expression methods is not allowed.
Entrust a patent agency to apply for a patent Procedure
(1) Consultation
1. Determine the content of the invention and creation Whether it is content that can be patented? For this consultation, it is recommended to consult several patent agencies and compare it to determine the correct conclusion. Because the salaries of information receptionists in many patent agencies are currently based on commission, due to the volume of business, they sometimes give inappropriate responses to inquiries.
2. Determine which patent type (invention, utility model, design) can be applied for for the content of the invention and creation
(2) Sign the agency agreement
The purpose of signing the agency agreement at this time is to clarify the relationship between the applicant and the patent agency The rights and obligations between the parties mainly restrict the patent agent’s obligation to keep the applicant’s inventions and creations confidential.
(3) Technical disclosure
1. The applicant provides relevant inventions to the patent agent Background information of the invention or entrusted retrieval of relevant content;
2. The applicant introduces the content of the invention and creation in detail to help the patent agent fully understand the content of the invention and creation.
(4) Determine the application plan
The agent shall base on his understanding of the invention and creation , will make a preliminary judgment on the prospects of the patent application, and will recommend the applicant to withdraw the application with little possibility of patent authorization. At this time, the agency will charge a small consulting fee, and most of the application agency fees will be returned to the applicant.
If the prospect of patent authorization is great, the patent agent will propose a clear application plan,The scope and content of protection will be determined, and formal application preparation will begin with the consent of the applicant.
(5) Prepare application documents
1. Write patent application documents;
2. Prepare application documents;
3. Submit a patent application and obtain a patent application number.
(6) Review
The Chinese Patent Office will review the patent application documents. During the review process, the patent attorney will perform patent corrections, opinion statements, defenses, changes, etc. If necessary, the applicant should cooperate with the patent attorney to complete the above work
(7) Examination conclusion
The China Patent Office will make an authorization or rejection review conclusion based on the review situation. The time for this process is generally: about 6 months for appearance designs, 10-12 months for utility models, and 2-4 years for invention patents. With the improvement of patent office examination efficiency, the review and authorization time for designs and utility models is about 4-6 months.
(8) Handling patent registration procedures or reexamination requests:
If the patent application is authorized , then go through the registration procedures according to the requirements of the patent authorization notice and receive the patent certificate.
If the patent application is rejected, whether to file a reexamination request will be determined based on the specific circumstances.
At this point, the patent application process is over.
As can be seen from the above, when we want to successfully apply for a patent, the safer way is to entrust an agent from a patent firm and seek advice from him. Legal advice and technical assistance. Of course, inventors should also understand some legal knowledge about patent applications and retain their own opinions. If you still have questions about this, the Legal Savior Network also provides online lawyer consultation services, and you are welcome to seek legal consultation.
