How do ordinary citizens apply for patents?
Because the patent application process must follow the regulations of the State Intellectual Property Office. The specific steps are as follows:
1. Provide disclosure and entrust an agency to write the application documents, which generally takes 20 days to a month (you can omit this step if you do not entrust an agency);
2. Submit application documents, obtain an acceptance notice from the Patent Office, and determine the application date. You can also submit a pre-disclosure statement and request substantive examination on the same day, which can speed up the examination process;
3. The Patent Office conducts a formal examination of the patent application documents, which takes about 2-3 months. After passing the preliminary examination, it enters the preparation stage for the public examination;
4. It takes about 6-8 months for the Patent Office to publish the invention application documents;
5. The Patent Office conducts a substantive examination of the invention patent documents , which takes about one and a half to two years. During this period, the examiner communicates with the applicant on the substantive content of the invention, that is, novelty, inventiveness and practicality (the agency is entrusted to communicate with the agency to determine the appropriate protection scope of the invention). The back-and-forth communication can be repeated several times. times until the examiner is satisfied with the modification;
6. The Patent Office issues an authorization notice;
7. The applicant should go through the procedures for obtaining a patent certificate;
8. Get the patent certificate in about 2-3 months.