What are the classifications of patents?

With the development of the times, our legal consciousness is getting stronger and stronger, and many of our rights are stipulated by our laws. We pay more and more attention to our rights, including patent rights. Patents can generally be divided into three categories, including invention patents, appearance patents and utility patents. So what are the categories of patents? The types of patents have different regulations in different countries. In China's patent law, there are: invention patent, utility model patent and design patent; In Hongkong patent law, there are: standard patent (equivalent to Chinese mainland's invention patent), short-term patent (equivalent to Chinese mainland's utility model patent) and design patent; In some developed countries, it is divided into invention patents and design patents. Three kinds of patents explain invention patents. The definition of invention in the second paragraph of Article 2 of China's Patent Law is: "Invention refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement." The invention patent does not seek the technical achievements that can be directly applied to industrial production through practice, but it can be a solution to technical problems or an idea with the possibility of industrial application. However, this technical scheme or idea cannot be confused with a simple topic or idea, because a simple topic or idea does not have the possibility of industrial application. Patent for utility model Paragraph 3 of Article 2 of China's Patent Law defines utility model as: "Utility model refers to a new and practical technical scheme for the shape, structure or combination of products." Like the invention, the utility model protects a technical scheme. However, the protection scope of utility model patent is narrow, which only protects new products with a certain shape or structure, and does not protect methods and substances without a fixed shape. The technical scheme of the utility model pays more attention to practicality, and its technical level is lower than that of the invention. Most countries' utility model patents protect relatively simple and improved technological inventions, which can be called "small inventions". Utility model refers to a new practical technical scheme for the shape, structure or combination of products. The patent for utility model is granted without substantive examination, with simple procedures and low cost. Therefore, small inventions about tangible products such as daily necessities, machinery and electrical appliances are more suitable for applying for utility model patents. Patent of Design The definition of design in Paragraph 4 of Article 2 of China's Patent Law is: "Design refers to a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application based on the shape, pattern or combination of color, shape and pattern of a product." And in Article 23 of the Patent Law, the conditions for its authorization are stipulated: "The design that has been granted a patent right does not belong to the existing design; Before the filing date, no unit or individual has applied to the patent administration department of the State Council for the same design, and it is recorded in the patent documents published after the filing date that "the patent design should be obviously different from the existing design or the combination of existing design features" and "the patent design should not conflict with the legal rights that others have obtained before the filing date". Appearance design is obviously different from invention and utility model. Appearance design focuses on the designer's artistic and aesthetic creation of the appearance of a product, but this artistic creation is not a simple handicraft, it must be practical for industrial application. In essence, design patents protect artistic creativity, while invention patents and utility model patents protect technical creativity; Although the design and utility model are related to the shape of the product, they have different purposes. The former aims to make the appearance of products beautiful, while the latter aims to make products with appearance solve a technical problem. For example, if the shape, pattern and color of an umbrella are quite beautiful, it is necessary to apply for a design patent. If the umbrella handle, umbrella ribs and umbrella head are simple and reasonable in structural design, can save materials and have durable functions, you should apply for a patent for utility model. Appearance design refers to a new design with aesthetic feeling and suitable for industrial application based on the shape, pattern or combination of products and the combination of color and shape and pattern. The object of design patent protection is the decorative or artistic design of the product, which can be a plane pattern or a three-dimensional shape, and more commonly, the combination of the two. What are the categories of patents and what are the specific problems? Seeing them here, we will certainly have our own understanding. Our country's regulations on this issue are very perfect. In fact, our country has many regulations on patents. For patent infringement, China stipulates that there are corresponding penalties, usually fines, and sometimes criminal responsibility is investigated.