What principles should a patent application follow?
1. The formal legal principle, that is, the application When applying for a patent, a person needs to complete all the procedures in writing or in other forms prescribed by the state in order to have legal effect;
2. The principle of unity, that is, a patent application document can only file a patent application for one invention. If the patent application filed is for the general concept of the invention, Two or more inventions or utility model inventions can be filed as one; if the patent application is for a design and two or more products are sold or used in sets, the application can be filed as one patent; in addition, one invention-creation can only Obtaining a patent right means that when you apply for a utility model patent and an invention patent at the same time for an invention, you can only obtain one of the patents.
3. First-to-file principle, that is, two or more people with the same invention but different inventions apply for patents separately. After the patent is reviewed, the patent will be awarded to the first applicant. For a person, the date on which the complete patent application documents are received by the national patent administration department on the earliest application date shall be the date of determination. If the application is made by mail, the basic postmark date shall prevail; if the patent application is made on the same day, the date will be determined by multiple parties. The applicant negotiates, and if the negotiation fails, all patent applications will be rejected and each will be treated as a trade secret and protected equally.
4. The principle of priority is divided into foreign priority and domestic priority. National priority refers to the first time the patent applicant files a patent application in the country. Within 12 months from the date of patent application, another patent application filed against the same subject can enjoy the right of priority. Design patents are not included in this priority. The difference between foreign priority and domestic priority is that the design can be filed within 6 months from the date of patent application. If you apply domestically, the country will enjoy priority in accordance with the principle of mutual recognition of priority in agreements signed by foreign countries or international treaties to which China is a party, and patents for invention patents and utility model patents will be granted within 12 months.
What is the procedure for applying for a patent?
Preparing a patent application proposal
Prepare proposals for three different types of patents:
Invention: refers to a proposal for a product, method or improvement thereof New technical solutions.
Utility model: refers to a new technical solution proposed for the shape, structure or combination of a product that is suitable for practical use.
Utility model: p>
Appearance design: refers to a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial applications based on the shape, pattern, or combination of the product, as well as the combination of color, shape, and pattern. .
Patent application steps
Obtaining patent rights generally requires application-preliminary examination- - Early disclosure - Request for substantive examination - Conduct substantive examination - Announcement - Objection - Reexamination - Approval nine steps. Utility model and design patents usually do not need to go through the early disclosure and substantive examination stages and directly enter the announcement .
Application is the first step. To apply, you must fill in an application form and submit it to the patent office. If the patent office believes that it meets the conditions, it shall accept it. After preliminary examination, It can be disclosed early. Within 18 months from the date the applicant submits the application, the contents of the application will be published in the Patent Gazette for free reading by the public. The Patent Office will grant temporary protection to this patent application.
Under what circumstances are patent applications not accepted?(1) The patent application does not end with Applications submitted in writing or not written in Chinese will not be accepted. For example, patent applications submitted with models, samples, video tapes, disks or over the phone will not be accepted, nor will application documents in foreign languages that have not been translated be accepted.
(2) The application documents (including the request letter) are not typed or printed, or the handwriting is unclear or altered; the drawings or design pictures are not drawn with drawing tools and black ink , or those that are blurry (design photos) or altered cannot be accepted. For example: drawings and pictures drawn with pencil, and blurred photos are not acceptable.(3) The basic application documents are not complete, for example, the invention application lacks any one of the request, claims, and description; the utility model patent application lacks any one of the request, claims, description, and drawings; Design patent applications that lack any of the requirements, pictures or photos will not be accepted. The review of acceptance conditions only checks whether these parts of the patent application are complete, and does not review whether the documents in each part are complete. Therefore, applicants must check carefully when submitting application documents.
(4) If the applicant’s name or address is missing in the request, the application will not be accepted.
(5) Patent application categories (invention, utility model or design) that are unclear or cannot be determined will not be accepted.
(6) Applications filed by nationals or units of countries that have neither agreement or treaty relationship with my country nor patent reciprocity will not be accepted; Or foreigners or foreign entities without regular residence or business offices in my country, as well as entities and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who have not completed the application procedures in accordance with the provisions of Article 19, Paragraph 1 of the Patent Law, cannot be accepted.
The above knowledge is the editor's answer to the question "What principles should be followed in patent applications?" When applying for a patent, the principles that applicants need to abide by include the formal statutory principle , the principle of unity, the principle of first-to-file and the principle of priority. If readers need legal help, they are welcome to go to the Legal Savior Network for legal consultation.
