In China, different types of inventions have different protection periods. The term of the invention patent is 20 years; The term of utility model patent and design patent is 10 year, counting from the date of application. Although the patent term stipulated in Article 42 of the Patent Law is calculated from the date of application, this is only the starting point for the calculation of the patent term, which does not mean that the patent right will take effect from the date of application. According to the provisions of Articles 39 and 40 of the Patent Law, the patent right shall take effect from the date of authorization announcement. Since a patent application must be examined by the Patent Office before it can be granted a patent right, it will take some time from the date of application to the announcement of authorization by the Patent Office. In this way, the term of validity of the patentee of invention patent must be less than 20 years, and the term of validity of the patentee of utility model and design patent must be less than 10 years.
Legal objectivity:
patent law of the people's republic of china
Article 42
The term of patent right for invention is 20 years, the term of patent right for utility model is 10 year, and the term of patent right for design is 15 year, all of which are counted from the date of application.
Where a patent for invention is granted for four years from the date of application for a patent for invention and three years from the date of request for substantive examination, the patent administration department of the State Council shall, at the request of the patentee, compensate for the unreasonable delay of the invention patent in the process of authorization, except for the unreasonable delay caused by the applicant.
In order to compensate for the time occupied by the review and approval of new drugs, the patent administration department of the State Council shall compensate the patentee for the patent term of new drug-related invention patents that have been approved for listing in China. The compensation period shall not exceed five years, and the total effective patent right period after the new drug is approved for marketing shall not exceed fourteen years.