The patent protection period of the original drug is generally

Legal analysis: applying for a patent means that the protection period of invention and creation is limited. According to the relevant regulations of our country, inventions include three categories, namely inventions, utility models and designs. Among them, the protection period of invention patent right is 20 years, and the protection period of utility model patent right and design patent right is 10 year. This shows that once an invention is patented, it can only be protected by law for 20 years at most. After this period of time, your inventions and technological innovations will be placed in the public domain and contributed to society for free.

Legal basis: decision of NPC Standing Committee on amending the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC). Article 42 is amended as: "The term of invention patent is 20 years, utility model patent is 10 year, and design patent is 15 year, all of which are counted from the date of filing." Where a patent for invention has been granted for four years from the date of application and three years from the date of request for substantive examination, the administrative department for patent in the State Council shall, at the request of the patentee, compensate for the unreasonable delay of the patent for invention in the process of authorization, except for the unreasonable delay caused by the applicant. "In order to compensate for the time occupied by the examination and approval of the listing of new drugs, the patent administration department of the State Council shall, at the request of the patentee, compensate for the patent term of the invention patent related to new drugs that has obtained the listing license in China. The compensation period shall not exceed five years, and the total effective patent right period after the new drug is approved for listing shall not exceed fourteen years. "