Can I apply for a patent personally?

If an individual can apply for a patent, he needs to determine the type of patent application first. Our patent applications are divided into invention patents, new patents for use and appearance patents. Patent processing can be entrusted to an intellectual property agency or handled by itself in China National Intellectual Property Administration. The specific procedures are as follows: to apply for a patent for invention, the application documents for a patent for invention shall include: a request for a patent for invention, a specification (if the specification is accompanied by drawings, it shall be submitted), a patent claim and an abstract (if necessary, it shall be accompanied by drawings); Where a patent agency is entrusted, a power of attorney shall be submitted; If the individual application fee is reduced, a request for fee reduction shall be submitted; Where an entity applies for deferred payment of fees, it shall submit a request for deferred payment and corresponding supporting documents (proof of deferred payment issued by the local intellectual property management department). Application process of invention patent: consultation on related issues → entrusted agent → preparation of application documents → submission of application → payment of fees. Patent examination process: patent application → acceptance → classification → preliminary examination → publication → substantive examination → authorization and announcement. It takes about 36 months for an invention patent to be accepted, preliminarily examined, published, actually examined and authorized. The application documents of an application for a patent for utility model shall include: the request for a patent for utility model, the specification, the appended drawings of the specification, the patent claim, the abstract and the appended drawings; Where a patent agency is entrusted, a power of attorney shall be submitted; If the individual application fee is reduced, a request for fee reduction shall be submitted; Where an entity applies for deferred payment of fees, it shall submit a request for deferred payment and corresponding supporting documents (proof of deferred payment issued by the local intellectual property management department). Application process of utility model patent: consulting related issues → entrusting our agent → preparing application documents → submitting application → paying fees. The examination process of utility model patents: patent application → acceptance → classification → preliminary examination → authorization and announcement.