The period of validity of the patent right shall be counted from the date of application or announcement.

Legal analysis: the date of application starts from fixed dates such as the date of application, the date of priority and the date of authorization announcement. Most statutory time limits are calculated from fixed dates, such as application date, priority date and authorization announcement date.

Legal basis: Article 2 of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) Invention-creation as mentioned in this Law refers to inventions, utility models and designs.

Invention refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement.

Utility model refers to a new practical technical scheme for the shape, structure or combination of products.

Appearance design refers to a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application, which is made on the shape, pattern or their combination of products and all or part of the combination of colors, shapes and patterns.