1. Invention patent. Patent for invention, Paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates: "Invention as mentioned in the Patent Law refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement." This article states that invention patents include "product inventions" and "method inventions", and can also be patents obtained by improving existing products or methods. 2. Patents for utility models. Patent for utility model, according to the second paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China: "Utility model as mentioned in the Patent Law refers to a new technical scheme suitable for practical use for the shape, structure or combination of products." This article stipulates that utility model refers to the patent obtained by product design scheme with certain shape and structure. Third, the design patent. The design patent, according to the third paragraph of Article 2 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China: "The design mentioned in the Patent Law refers to a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application, which is based on the product shape, pattern or their combination, and the combination of color and shape and pattern." It has the following characteristics: 1. It is a design combined with products; 2. Design that can be applied in industry; 3. Design that can give people beautiful enjoyment. The patent obtained from this is called a design patent. Theoretically speaking, patent protection and trade secret protection are different: from the perspective of protection, patent protection is the strongest, which is extremely exclusive. For example, Article 11 of China's Patent Law stipulates that, unless otherwise stipulated in this Law, no unit or individual may implement its patented technology without the permission of the patentee, that is, it may not manufacture, use, promise to sell, sell or import its patented products for production and business purposes, or use its patented methods and use or promise. However, the protection of trade secrets is obviously weaker than that of patents, and independent research and development and reverse research are not regarded as infringement. From the perspective of protection time, the protection period of patents is strictly limited, and many countries in the world stipulate 2 years for invention patents. However, there is no similar restriction on the protection period of trade secrets. As long as they are kept confidential, the rights will exist forever. From this, we can draw the conclusion that the strongest protection time is the shortest and the weakest protection time is the longest; For the same technology, the inventor has the right to choose the legal protection that he thinks is most suitable. From another point of view, for the same technology, patent protection and trade secret protection are not completely mutually exclusive. Here we should pay attention to different time periods: first, secrets may exist before the patent application date; Second, secrets may exist from the date of patent application to the date of publication; Third, since the date of publicity, the secret has disappeared. In the first stage, trade secrets are protected, and in the second and third stages, patents are protected, which is no problem. To determine patent protection, we must first determine what a patent is: there are three kinds of patents protected by China's patent law, namely invention, utility model and design. Upon the application of the applicant and the examination of China National Intellectual Property Administration, the above inventions and creations that meet the patent requirements will be granted as invention patents, utility model patents or design patents respectively. The invention mentioned in China's patent law refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement. The term "utility model" as mentioned in the patent law refers to a new technical scheme suitable for practical use for the shape, structure or combination of products. The term "design" as mentioned in the patent law refers to a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application. Therefore, patent protection is based on the applicant's disclosure of his invention and creation and the authorization of China National Intellectual Property Administration. The so-called trade secret refers to the technical information and business information that is not known to the public, can bring economic benefits to the obligee, is practical and has been kept confidential by the obligee, which is expressly stipulated in Article 1 of China's Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Therefore, to determine the protection of trade secrets, we should consider the following six aspects: 1. The secret is known by people outside the business scope of the right holder, and when the information called secret has been found by a person who has nothing to do with the right holder from a professional magazine, the secret does not exist; 2. When the secret is known by people (including employees and partners) within the business scope of the obligee, and the information called secret has been mastered by the company's boss and security guard at the same time, its secrecy is doubtful; 3, internal security measures, the confidentiality agreement between the company and employees is not enough, the company should also have its own confidentiality system, file management system, etc.; 4, external security measures, all means and security measures to limit outsiders' access to secrets, the results may not prevent the occurrence of stealing secrets, but at least it should increase the difficulty of stealing secrets; 5, the value of the secret, if it is a secret, so for the obligee and competitors, can be used for profit; 6, the difficulty of developing secrets, independent development, reverse research is not regarded as infringement. Legal objectivity:
Article 9 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Anti-Unfair Competition shall not commit the following acts of infringing on business secrets: (1) obtaining the business secrets of the obligee by theft, bribery, fraud, coercion or other improper means; (2) disclosing, using or allowing others to use the business secrets of the obligee obtained by the means mentioned in the preceding paragraph; (3) disclosing, using or allowing others to use the business secrets in their possession in violation of the agreement or the obligee's requirements on keeping business secrets. Law of the People's Republic of China on Guarding State Secrets Article 2 State secrets are matters that are related to national security and interests, determined according to legal procedures, and are only known to a certain range of people within a certain period of time.