What is the patent approval process
Acceptance stage
Preliminary review stage
Patent applications that pay the application fee in accordance with regulations will automatically enter the preliminary review stage. Invention patent applications must first undergo a confidentiality review before the preliminary review, and those that need to be kept confidential should be handled according to confidentiality procedures.
In the preliminary review process, whether there are obvious flaws in the application proceed checking. It mainly includes examining whether the application content ① clearly violates national laws, social ethics or hinders public interests; ② whether it clearly belongs to the subject matter for which patent rights are not granted; ③ whether it clearly lacks technical content and cannot constitute a technical solution; ④ whether it clearly lacks unity. Utility model and design patent applications also need to be reviewed to see whether they are obviously the same as already approved patents and whether they are obviously not a new technical solution or new design.
In the preliminary review, the application documents must be complete and their formats The invention patent application will be reviewed to see if it meets the requirements. If the invention patent application passes the preliminary examination, a preliminary examination pass will be issued.Knowledge book. If no reason for rejection is found in utility model and design patent applications after the preliminary examination, they will directly enter the authorization process. Since there are follow-up procedures for inventions, the review of the application content in the preliminary examination is relatively loose.
Invention patent application publication stage
Invention The patent application enters the stage of waiting for publication from the time the preliminary examination passing notice is issued. If the applicant requests early publication, the application will immediately enter the publication preparation process. After format review, editing and proofreading, computer processing, typesetting and printing, about three months later, a single version of the specification will be announced and published in the Patent Gazette. An application without an early publication request will not enter the publication preparation process until 15 months from the filing date; an application requesting priority (including foreign priority and domestic priority) will enter the publication preparation process 15 months from the priority date. program. After the application enters the publication preparation process, if the applicant requests to withdraw the patent application, the application will still be published in the Patent Gazette.
After the application was published, the applicant obtained temporary protection rights, that is to say, from the date of publication of the application, the applicant can require the unit or individual who implements the invention to pay fees. After the application is published, the content recorded in the application becomes part of the prior art.
Invention patent application substantive examination stage
After the invention patent application is published, if the applicant has completed the substantive examination request procedures (filed a substantive examination request and paid the substantive examination fee), the application will enter the substantive examination process; otherwise, the applicant should wait Go through the formalities for requesting a substantive examination. If the applicant fails to submit a request for substantive examination or the request for substantive examination has not taken effect within three years from the date of application, the application will be deemed to have been withdrawn.
Applications that enter the practical review process will be queued up to wait for the practical review in the order in which they enter the practical review process. During the practical review, The examiner will conduct a comprehensive review based on the search to determine whether the patent application meets the novelty, inventiveness, practicality and other substantive conditions stipulated in the patent law.
Authorization phase
If the utility model and design patent applications have been initially reviewed, and the invention patent application has been substantively reviewed and no reason for rejection is found, the examiner will prepare an authorization notice and the application will be prepared for authorization registration. After the authorization form examiner has reviewed the legal validity and completeness of the authorization text, and has proofread, modified and confirmed that the bibliographic items of the patent application are correct, the Patent Office will issue an authorization notice and a registration formality notice.
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