The protection scope of patent right refers to the scope of invention and creation involved in the legal effect of patent right. The scope of protection of the patent right for invention or utility model shall be subject to the content of the claim, and the description and drawings may be used to illustrate the claim. The scope of protection of the patent right of design shall be subject to the patented product of design shown in pictures or photographs. The legal documents that determine the scope of patent protection are claims, specifications, photos or pictures of designs. Principle 56 of China's Patent Law stipulates the scope of protection of patents for inventions and utility models: First, the scope of protection shall be subject to the contents of the claims; Second, the specification and drawings can be used to interpret the claims. Article 59 of the Patent Law stipulates that the scope of protection of the patent right for an invention or utility model shall be subject to the contents of its claims. The patent right of design is based on the patented product of design in pictures or photographs. The description and its drawings can be used to interpret the claims. Features that are not recorded in the claims, but recorded in the specification or drawings, cannot be included in the scope of protection.
Legal objectivity:
Patent documents of invention or utility model patents include claims, specifications, drawings, examples, summaries of specifications, etc. In determining the scope of patent protection, it is generally believed that there are three representative practices in history, one is the "peripheral restriction system" represented by Britain and the United States, the other is the "central restriction system" represented by Germany, and the third is the "compromise system". Article 20 of the Draft Supplementary Treaty to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and Article 69 of the European Patent Convention signed by 1973 have made similar provisions: "The scope of patent protection is determined by the contents of patent claims, and the description and drawings can be used to explain the claims." Article 59 of China's patent law embodies this legislative principle. Therefore, when determining the scope of patent protection, we should adhere to the principle of taking the contents of the patent as the standard, and adopt the principle of compromise interpretation to explain the patent right with instructions and drawings. To avoid adopting the principle of "peripheral restriction", that is, the scope of patent protection is exactly the same as that recorded in the written claim, and the specification and drawings can only be used to clarify some ambiguities in the claim; It is also necessary to avoid adopting the principle of "central restriction", that is, the claim only determines a general invention core, and the scope of protection can be extended to the scope that technical experts think belongs to the patentee's request for protection after reading the specification and drawings. Compromise interpretation should be in the middle of the above two extreme interpretation principles, and the reasonable and fair protection of the patentee should be combined with the stability of the law and the reasonable interests of the public.