The so-called substantive examination refers to whether the substantive content of an application for a patent for invention is novel, creative and practical. The substantive examination is actually conducted on the basis of preliminary examination. The method of substantive examination is to judge whether the invention applying for patent is novel or not by teaching comprehensive worldwide literature retrieval, and then to judge whether the invention is creative and practical.
It is worth pointing out that there is no substantive examination of the application for patent for utility model and design.