Patent Law of the People's Republic of China:
Article 2 The inventions and creations mentioned in this Law refer to inventions, utility models and designs.
Article 25 No patent rights shall be granted for the following items:
(1) Scientific discoveries;
(2) Rules and regulations of intellectual activities Methods;
(3) Diagnosis and treatment methods of diseases;
(4) Animal and plant species;
(5) Obtained by nuclear transformation method substance.
Patent rights may be granted in accordance with the provisions of this Law for the production methods of the products listed in item (4) of the preceding paragraph.
Details for the Implementation of the Patent Law of the People’s Republic of China:
Article 2 The term “invention” in the Patent Law refers to new technologies proposed for products, methods or their improvements. plan.
Utility models as mentioned in the Patent Law refer to new technical solutions proposed for the shape, structure or combination of products that are suitable for practical use.
The term “design” in the Patent Law refers to a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application, based on the shape, pattern, or combination of the product, as well as the combination of color, shape, and pattern.
1 General principles of patents
①. Request principle: Someone must file a patent application before the patent office can accept it;
②. Written principle: All submitted procedures should be in writing and signed or stamped by the applicant; application documents must refer to the uniform format prescribed by the Patent Office.
③． First-to-file principle: If two or more applicants apply for patents for the same invention, the patent right shall be granted to the first applicant.
④． Priority principle: means that if the applicant files another patent application for the same subject with the Patent Office within 12 months from the date of first filing a patent application for an invention or utility model in China (but no patent right is granted), he or she may enjoy the priority. National priority.
⑤. Principle of Unity: It is not allowed to put two different inventions or utility models in the same patent application, nor is it allowed to put two designs of a product or designs of more than two products in one patent application. propose. However, the following situations can be raised in one patent application: A. A product and a method of manufacturing the product; B. A product and a mold for manufacturing the product; C. Two products that must be matched with each other to be used; D. Several technically related products or a product under a general technical concept have several different implementation plans.
2. Documents required to apply for a patent (documents must refer to the unified form format prescribed by the Patent Office)
①. Documents required to apply for an invention patent: invention patent request; description; claims; abstract of the description; if there are drawings, the description drawings and abstract drawings can be submitted at the same time. The above documents are required to be in duplicate. Those who require the reduction of various patent fees may submit two fee reduction requests at the same time.
②． Documents required for applying for a utility model patent: request for utility model patent; description; claims; abstract of the description; drawings of the description; drawings of the abstract. The above documents are required to be in duplicate. Those who require the reduction of various patent fees may submit two fee reduction requests at the same time.
③． Documents required for applying for a design patent: two copies of the design patent request; two copies of the design drawings or photos; if color protection is required, two copies of color and black and white drawings or photos should be submitted; two copies of the brief description of the design ; Those who require reduction of various patent fees may submit two fee reduction requests at the same time.
The above documents must be printed text (typed or printed in Song font or imitation Song font size 4, small 4 or 5, the handwriting is black and must be clear; the paper must be A4 printing paper or copy paper; The position of the center of the article: a margin of 2.5 cm from the top and left edge of the paper, and a margin of 1.5 cm from the right and bottom edge of the paper), and the form format prescribed by the Patent Office shall be adopted. If you need a sample form and patent application example, please click here.
3. Writing patent application documents
A. Writing a request letter: Fill in the form according to the content and prompts.
B. Writing instructions: Discuss the steps one by one according to the name of the invention or utility model, the technical field, the background technology, the purpose of the invention, the technical solution, the beneficial effects, further explanation with the accompanying drawings, and the specific implementation mode.
C. Drafting of claims: Based on the description, the claims should be divided into independent claims and dependent claims. When there are multiple claims, they should be numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals. Generally, the first claim is an independent claim, and the remaining claims are dependent claims. If the technical features in the independent claim need to be further limited, That is, ancillary claims. Independent claims are usually divided into a preamble and a characterizing part. a. In the preamble, state the name of the subject matter claimed and the necessary technical features that are unique to the existing technology; b. In the characteristic part, use "its characteristics are..." or similar terms to describe the unique technical features that are different from the existing technology. The preamble and the characterizing part together constitute the scope of protection claimed by this patent application.
The drafting of dependent claims includes a quotation part and a qualification part. a. Reference part: indicate the number of the cited claim and its subject name; b. Qualified part: State the additional technical features required for protection.
D. Drawing of instructions and drawings. Utility model patents must have drawings; invention patents generally have drawings, but if text alone is enough to describe the technical solution clearly and completely, there is no need for drawings.
Attachments can take many forms: a. For inventions and creations in the mechanical field, various views can be used to reflect the shape and structure of the product. b. For inventions and creations in the electrical field, they can be circuit diagrams, block diagrams, and schematic diagrams; c. For inventions and creations in the chemical field, chemical structural formulas can be used as drawings; d. For method inventions, the drawing may be a process flow diagram showing the steps of the method. Requirements for drawings: a. Attached drawings should comply with the national standards for mechanical drawing, that is, they should use drawing tools (or computer drawing) and draw with black ink. The lines should be even and clear, the drawing surface should not be colored, and there should be no frame around the drawing. Do not use a pencil or round pen for drawing. Figures do not need to be marked with proportions and dimensional data. b. The size and clarity of the drawings should ensure that when the drawings are reduced to 4 × 6 cm, each detail in the drawings can still be clearly distinguished and meet the requirements of photographic plate making; c. Several drawings of the same patent application can be drawn on the same special format paper, numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals, and expressed in the form of "Figure ××". d. If the same patent application has multiple pages of drawings, Arabic numerals should be used to write page numbers consecutively; e. Reference signs used in the same patent application must be consistent, and signs not mentioned in the description shall not appear in the drawings; f. The drawings shall contain no other annotations except necessary words.
E. Writing an abstract of instructions: a. The abstract should state the technical field to which the invention or utility model belongs, the technical problems to be solved, the main technical features and uses. For the product applying for a utility model, the characteristics of its shape, structure or combination thereof should be written down. It should not be written as an advertisement or a simple product function introduction; b. The abstract should not have a title and can be written continuously; c. For inventions in the chemical field, the abstract can include the chemical formula among the applied chemical formulas that best describes the characteristics of the invention. The abstract may also include mathematical formulas or reactions. d. The abstract does not need to be divided into paragraphs, and the full text should not exceed 200 words.
F. Drawing of abstract drawings: If there are drawings in the description, a drawing selected from the drawings in the description that best illustrates the technical features should be submitted separately as an abstract drawing. The size and clarity of the drawings should be The degree should ensure that when the image is reduced to 4×6 cm, each detail in the image can still be clearly distinguished.
4. Writing design patent application documents
When applying for a design patent, you need to submit: a design patent request; design drawings or photos; if necessary, a brief description of the design should also be submitted.
Appearance design drawings or photos should be of different sides or states of each product, generally there should be six views (front view, bottom view, left view, right view, top view, rear view ), and if necessary, there should also be cross-sectional views, sectional views, reference drawings of use conditions and three-dimensional views.
A. Appearance design drawings or photos a. The size of the picture shall not be less than 3 × 8 cm, nor larger than 145 × 22 cm. The clarity of the picture should ensure that when the picture is reduced to two-thirds, each detail in the picture can still be clearly distinguished. b. Use black ink and drawing tools for drawing. The lines should be uniform and clear. Do not use pencils, round pens, or pens for drawing. The lines should be uniform, clear, and continuous, suitable for copying requirements, c. Graphics should generally be arranged vertically and drawn in proportion to the design size. When horizontal layout is required, the upper part of the graphic should face the left side of the drawing. d. There are no center lines, dimension lines, or hatch lines drawn in the drawings, and generally no dotted lines or marked lines appear. The graphics shall not contain text, trademarks, service marks, quality marks, or portraits of modern figures. Artistic words can be viewed as patterns. e. It is best to draw several views on one drawing. If it cannot be drawn, multiple drawings can be used, but the pages should be numbered in order. Views in all directions and other types of diagrams should be drawn according to the projection relationship, and the view name should be noted. f. The paper for drawing color pictures should be drawn on thicker drawing paper and pasted onto the standard format "design drawing or photo" document paper. g. The size of the photo should be the same as the drawing requirements. h. The photos must not be folded, and should be attached to the document paper of the "design drawing or photo" according to the view relationship, leaving at least 2.5 cm on the left and top, and at least 1.5 cm on the right and bottom.
B. Brief description of the design
The brief description is a brief explanation and supplement to the design drawings or photos. There must be no commercial promotional language, nor can it be used to explain the use and performance of the product. The brief description should be concise and easy to understand. A brief explanation should be provided for any of the following situations:
a. Omitting views: When the design product is symmetrical left and right, up and down, and front and back, one view can be omitted, but it must be explained in language, such as "the left view and the right view are symmetrical (the same), and the right view is omitted." In addition, if the product does not belong to the direction of the creative part, the view can also be omitted, for example, "The bottom of the product does not belong to the creative part, so the bottom view is omitted."
b. Highlight the main creative parts. When the appearance design is relatively complex and the existing design parts and innovative parts are not easily noticed, the main creative or design points can be stated to strengthen patent protection. For example, in the appearance design of a table lamp, the innovation only involves the lampshade, and other parts are already designed and should be explained.
c. Supplementary content that is difficult to express in pictures or photos: If the appearance or part of the appearance of the product is made of transparent materials and the "transparency" cannot be expressed in the pictures, you can draw marking lines on the transparent parts of the pictures or photos and mark A, B, etc., And in the brief description, A, B, etc. are transparent parts.
d. When the drawing or photo only shows part of the product: for longer products, such as profiles, I-beams, etc., you can draw a section of length, and explain the full length and length-to-width ratio of the product in the brief description. For some textiles, such as carpets, the top, bottom, left and right sides can be omitted, and only partial patterns and textures need to be drawn. However, the length and width dimensions should be stated in the brief description.
e. When the effect of a design product is related to the special materials used for its manufacture, the materials should be noted in the brief description.
f. For design products that require color protection, in addition to providing two sets of color and black drawings or photos, the color of the product that should be protected should also be stated in a brief description.
g． For newly developed products, especially those that do not yet exist in the design classification table, the use method and purpose of the product must be stated in a brief description to clarify the protection category and the patent office's supplementary classification table.
5. Reduction of application fees and other expenses
When submitting the patent application documents, you can submit the "Request for Reduction of Fees" together. The request for reduction of fees should state the reasons for the reduction. If an individual applies for reduction, The annual income situation must be written down. If two people apply together, the annual income situation of each person should be written down; the various types of expenses that are requested to be reduced should be written down. There are five types of expenses that can be mitigated: application fees, examination fees, maintenance fees, reexamination fees, and annual fees for the first three years after patent approval. Mitigation of the above five costs can be proposed at the same time.
6． Submission of patent application documents
Patent application documents can be submitted directly to the Patent Office, or they can be mailed by registered mail through the post office. Application documents are generally not allowed to be folded, and should be mailed by registered mail in an envelope that can fit A4 paper. . But the best way is to send it by "Express Mail" through the post office.
Address of the National Patent Office of the China Intellectual Property Office:
(100088) No. 6, Tucheng Road, Jimenqiao West, Haidian District, Beijing
Submit patent application documents or Registered mail via post office to: Patent Acceptance Office of China Patent Office
Submit patent fees directly or mail via post office to: Fee Management Office of China Patent Office
7. Payment of various fees
Various fees can be paid directly to the Patent Office on the spot within the specified time (if the application documents are submitted directly to the Patent Office, the application fee can be paid at the time); or at the specified time Payment must be made via post office remittance within the time limit. If you submit application documents through the post office, you must pay the application fee after receiving the "Notice of Acceptance" issued by the Patent Office (about one month later). The payment period is within two months from the date of application. It must be noted that this deadline is by no means paid within two months from the date of issuance of the "Notice of Acceptance".
Patent applications that have not yet been granted patent rights do not need to pay annual fees in that year. After receiving the "Registration Procedures Notice", within two months from the date of issuance, pay various fees including annual fees for a certain year. It must be noted that the certain year mentioned must be the year specified in the "Notice". The specified year (counted from the date of application). Sometimes the year of this year is not necessarily the year when the "notification" was received. For example, the year stated in the "notice" from the date of application refers to 1998. The year you are in (for example, Year 02), and the year you are in when you receive the "notice" is 1999, so after you pay the annual fee for the year 1998, don't forget to take the initiative to pay the annual fee for 99 If the annual fee for the current year (for example, Year 03) is overdue and missed, the Patent Office will notify you to make up payment and impose a late fee.
If the number of claims (including independent claims and subsidiary claims) in a patent application exceeds ten, starting from the eleventh claim, a surcharge of RMB 30 will be charged for each claim; If the number of pages of the specification for a patent application (including the number of attached pages) exceeds 30 pages, a surcharge of 25 yuan will be charged for each page starting from the 31st page. If the number of pages exceeds 300 pages, a surcharge of 25 yuan will be charged starting from the 301st page. There is a surcharge of RMB 50 per page.
If an invention patent application is not granted a patent within two years from the date of application, the application maintenance fee should be paid annually starting from the third year. The first application maintenance fee should be paid within the first month of the third year, and the application maintenance fee for each subsequent year should be paid within one month before the expiration of the previous year.
When paying various fees through the post office, the name of the applicant, patent number or patent application number, name of the invention, and name of the fee paid must be written in the postscript column of the remittance form (the items must be listed (full), each amount, (the application number is 9 Arabic numerals, and the decimal point does not need to be filled in). If there is any omission, typo or insufficient amount, it will be deemed that the payment procedure has not been completed.
8. Possible follow-up documents to be submitted (must use the form format specified by the Patent Office)
A. Within three months from the date of submission of patent application documents (referring to utility models and designs), the applicant can take the initiative to correct errors in the application documents, such as typos, punctuation, drawing marks, and incorrect technical terms. , format errors in document writing, the applicant’s lack of signature or seal, etc., but they cannot exceed the scope of the technical solutions and examples in the specification.
In an invention patent application, the applicant can proactively make corrections to the application documents while requesting substantive examination.
At the request of the Patent Office examiner, any areas that do not meet the requirements must be corrected within the prescribed time limit. If the patent application is still unqualified after three rounds of corrections, the Patent Office will reject the patent application.
For all forms of corrections, you must first fill in the correction form (typescript) in duplicate, and submit the replacement pages of the corrected document in duplicate.
B． Requesting an early public statement For invention patent applications, according to the provisions of Article 34 of the Patent Law, the applicant may make a request at any time to request early public disclosure of its application (submit two copies of the early public statement), which can speed up the approval process. Substantive examination can begin after eighteen months of publication, but only after the applicant submits a request for substantive examination, reference materials for existing technologies, and pays the substantive examination fee.
C. Request for Substantive Examination For invention patent applications, according to the provisions of Article 35 of the Patent Law, the applicant must submit a request for substantive examination (typescript) in duplicate, submit reference materials for prior art and pay the If the applicant fails to request substantive examination without justifiable reasons, the application will be deemed to have been withdrawn.
D. Statement of Opinion When the Patent Office makes a decision to reject a patent application, the applicant has the right to state his or her different opinions, but this should be done by submitting a statement of opinion (typescript) in duplicate with sufficient reasons.
E. Request for Restoration of Rights If the applicant fails to respond to the examiner's notice, supplementary opinions, payment of application fees, etc. within the prescribed time limit for sufficient reasons (such as illness and hospitalization, force majeure natural disasters), the patent application will be rejected. You should submit a request for restoration of rights (typescript) in duplicate, complete relevant procedures and provide proof (such as hospitalization diagnosis, etc.), and pay a request fee for restoration of rights.
F. Request for Reexamination The Patent Office has a Patent Reexamination Committee. If a patent applicant is dissatisfied with the decision of the Patent Office to reject, revoke or maintain, he may request a reexamination to the Patent Office Reexamination Committee within three months from the date of receipt of the notice, submit a reexamination request in duplicate, and pay the reexamination fee. After the Patent Reexamination Board reexamines, it will notify the applicant of the result. If the applicant is still dissatisfied with the reexamination result, he may file a lawsuit with the People's Court within three months from the date of receipt of the notification.
2 After the applicant determines that his invention needs to be patented, he must apply in writing to the State Intellectual Property and Patent Office. Patent application documents can be submitted in person or by registered mail. When applying for an invention or utility model patent, you should submit an invention or utility model patent request, claims, description, description drawings (some invention patents can be omitted), description abstract, and abstract drawings (some invention patents can be omitted). Two copies. Each of the above application documents must be printed in standardized text, and the text and drawings should be black. When applying for a design patent, a design patent request form, design drawings or photos should be submitted in duplicate. If necessary, a brief description of the design can be submitted in duplicate. The date when the Patent Office of the State Intellectual Property Office officially accepts a patent application is the patent application date. Applicants can apply for a patent directly at the Patent Office of the State Intellectual Property Office, or they can entrust a patent agency to handle the patent application.
Address of the State Intellectual Property Office: No. 6, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing (northeast corner of Jimen Bridge, North Third Ring Road) Postal Code: 100088 Tel: 62093114