Putting forward a confidentiality review is only a step.
It seems that there is no confidentiality review, only the problem that your patent is not disclosed in advance or not reviewed in advance.
If it is not made public in advance, it will be 18 months from the date of application.
According to the new patent law, any unit or individual who applies for a patent for invention or utility model completed in China to a foreign country shall file a confidentiality review with the patent administration department of the State Council in advance. An invention or utility model that applies for a patent in a foreign country in violation of regulations and applies for a patent in China shall not be granted a patent right.
The reason is:
First, any unit or individual includes inventions made by foreign companies in China. For example, IBM applied for a patent in the name of the head office, but its technical content may have been completed in the laboratory in China. The new regulations also include this situation in the scope of confidential examination when applying for a patent abroad.
Second, inventions and utility models are easy to understand. No matter how important the design is, it is not afraid of revealing technical secrets and does not need confidentiality review. Therefore, the new regulations only require inventions and utility models to undergo confidential examination in advance when they are applied abroad.
Third, before applying abroad, you must first go through the confidentiality review, and then you can apply abroad.
Fourthly, the punishment for China's kindred patents has been intensified. There is no penalty in the original regulations, that is, China units applying for patents abroad will not be punished without confidentiality review. Since the implementation of the Patent Law for 20 years, only one unit has suffered because of this clause, but the direct reason is that it has been punished for violating the Secrecy Law, not because of the Patent Law.