The concept of appearance patent
A design patent refers to the aesthetic and suitable design of the shape, pattern or combination of the product, as well as the combination of color, shape and pattern. New designs for industrial applications. Appearance design refers to the appearance design of industrial products, that is, the style of industrial products.
Appearance patent application process
(1) Application stage
To apply for a design patent, the patent application documents should include: design patent request letter, pictures or photo. If you require color protection, you should also submit color pictures or photos in duplicate. If you submit pictures, they should all be pictures. If you submit photos, they should all be photos. Pictures or photos should not be mixed. If a description is needed for pictures or photos, a brief description of the design should be submitted. If a patent agency is entrusted, a letter of authorization should be submitted. To apply for fee reduction, a request for fee reduction and corresponding supporting documents should be submitted.
(2). Examination stage
China implements a preliminary examination system for design patent applications. During the preliminary review process, the examiner will issue a notice of correction to address formal issues in the application documents. The applicant makes supplements and corrections to the notice. At the same time, the examiner will examine whether the client is a client of design patent protection. If there is a client who is not protected by design patent, the examiner will issue an examination opinion notice, and the applicant will respond to the examination opinion notice or review the application documents. Revise.
(3) Authorization stage
1. Authorization: After passing the preliminary examination, the examiner will issue a notice of grant of patent rights. After receiving the notice of grant of patent right, the applicant needs to go through the following registration procedures: pay the patent registration fee, annual fee for the year of authorization, announcement printing fee and patent certificate stamp tax within the specified period.
2. Issuance of certificate: The applicant can obtain the patent certificate after completing the registration procedures. This period is about 2-3 months.
Patent Opinion Statement
Opinion Statement
Dear Examiner:
This opinion statement is for × year × month × In response to the ×th examination opinion notice issued on 2015-01-06, the full text of the newly revised claims shall be attached to this opinion statement.
(1) Modification instructions
After carefully studying the examination opinions and the reference documents cited, the applicant modified the claims as follows:
The technical feature “xxx” is added to claim 1. The technical feature is recorded (where in the original description or in the claims), so the modification does not exceed the scope recorded in the original description and claims. This amendment is to overcome the defect of claim 1 (lack of novelty) pointed out in the Office Action. Therefore, the above modifications are in compliance with both the provisions of Article 33 of the Patent Law and the provisions of Article 51, paragraph 3, of the Implementing Rules of the Patent Law.
(2) Novelty and inventiveness
1. The revised claim 1 possesses the novelty stipulated in Article 22, paragraph 2, of the Patent Law. Compared with the reference document 1, the revised claim 1 has a distinctive technical feature a. Therefore, the technical solution claimed in claim 1 is different from the technical solution disclosed in the reference document 1, and claim 1 is novel compared to the reference document 1. .
2. The revised claim 1 possesses the inventive step stipulated in Article 22, paragraph 3, of the Patent Law. (a. Determine the closest prior art.) Reference Document 1 is in the same technical field as the present application and discloses the most technical features. Therefore, Reference Document 1 is the closest prior art to the present application.
(b. Determine the distinguishing features and the technical problem actually solved) 2. Compared with the reference document 1, the revised claim 1 has the distinguishing feature a. Therefore, the technical problem actually to be solved by the present invention is, (c. Determine the claim for protection Whether the invention is obvious to those skilled in the art) Although reference document 2 discloses the above-mentioned distinguishing technical feature a, the role of a in reference document 2 is, and from the description of this application, it can be seen that the role of a in the present invention is , it can be seen that the role of a in reference document 2 is different from its role in the present invention. When a person skilled in the art sees Reference Document 2, it is impossible to easily think of applying a to the closest prior art to solve the technical problems of the present invention. That is to say, Reference Document 2 does not provide a comparison between a and the Reference Document. 1 to solve the technical problems of the present invention. The above-mentioned distinguishing feature a is also not a common technical means for those skilled in the art. Therefore, the revised claim 1 has outstanding substantive features. Adopting the technical solution of claim 1, (what technical effects are produced). Therefore, the modification of claim 1 represents a significant improvement. To sum up, the revised claim 1 has outstanding substantive features and significant progress over the prior art, and possesses the inventive step stipulated in Article 22, paragraph 3, of the Patent Law.
3. Dependent claims also possess the inventive step stipulated in Article 22, paragraph 3, of the Patent Law. When independent claim 1 possesses inventiveness, its dependent claims also possess inventiveness. The applicant believes that the revised claims have completely overcome all the defects pointed out in the xth examination action notice, and hopes that the examiner will grant the invention patent right as soon as possible. Thank you!