1. Procedures for granting invention patents
There are six stages: application-acceptance (application number and application date)-preliminary examination-publication-substantive examination-authorized issuance (announcement, the patent is valid for 2 years).
II. Procedures for granting patents for utility models and designs
There are four stages: application-acceptance (application number and application date)-preliminary examination-authorization and issuance (announcement, the patent is valid for 1 years).
The details of each stage are as follows:
1. To apply for a patent for invention and utility model, the documents to be submitted include the request, the patent claim, the specification, the attached drawings of the specification, the abstract of the specification and other documents. The documents that should be submitted in an application for a patent for design include a request, a picture or photograph, a brief description and other related documents.
2. Acceptance
After receiving the patent application documents, China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office will issue an acceptance notice, determine the patent application date and give the patent application number. For the lack of necessary application documents or other violations of legal requirements, it will not be accepted.
3. Preliminary examination
After receiving the application documents, the Patent Office first makes a formal examination of the application documents and the payment of fees. If the preliminary examination fails, the applicant shall make corrections or make statements according to the notice; If it still does not meet the requirements, it shall be rejected. If an application for a patent for utility model or design has passed the preliminary examination and no reason for rejection is found, it shall directly enter the authorization procedure to authorize it.
4. Publication (unique to the application for a patent for invention)
If the application for a patent for invention has passed the preliminary examination, it will enter this stage. Where the Patent Office considers that it meets the requirements of the Patent Law after preliminary examination, it shall be published in the Bulletin of Invention Patent within 18 months from the date of filing. The Patent Office may also publish its application at an early date upon the request of the applicant.
5. substantive examination (unique to an application for a patent for invention)
within three years from the date of application, the patent office may, at any time, make substantive examination of the application according to the request made by the applicant. If the applicant does not make a request within this period, the application will be deemed to have been withdrawn. However, if the request is not made in time due to force majeure or other legitimate reasons, a certificate may be issued before making a request. When the Patent Office deems it necessary, it may also conduct substantive examination of the application for a patent for invention on its own.
6. Authorization
After the application for a patent for invention has been actually examined, if the patent for utility model and design has not been found to be rejected after the preliminary examination, the patent right will be granted and a patent certificate will be issued. Patents authorized and issued with patent certificates shall be announced and registered in the Bulletin of Invention Patents, and the patent rights shall take effect as of the date of announcement.
III. Specific work and time period of each process
1. Application for patent for design (6 months to 8 months)
To apply for patent for design, you need to prepare the appearance views of six sides of the product, fill in the Application for Patent for Design together with a brief description of the design, and submit the application documents to China National Intellectual Property Administration. After submitting the application, you can get the Notice of Patent Acceptance in about one week; About six months later, the Intellectual Property Office issued the Notice of Granting Design Patent Right and the Notice of Handling Registration Procedures; After paying the patent registration fee and annual fee, the license will be issued in about two months. Therefore, the application for a patent for design generally ranges from 6 months to one year, depending on the examination by the Patent Office.
2. utility model patent (1 months -1 year)
both utility model patent and invention patent need to be submitted to the patent office together with the written request, patent claim, specification and other patent application documents, among which the application process for invention patent is the most complicated. The Patent Law stipulates that the invention patent will be examined in substance only after the specification of the application is made public, and the purpose of submitting an early public statement is to enter the substantive examination as soon as possible, so as to shorten the period of patent application. Therefore, if it is necessary to shorten the application period, it is best to submit two documents, namely, the Request for Early Public Statement and the Request for Substantive Examination, at the same time when applying for a patent for invention.
the authorization period of utility model patent application is generally about one year. After submitting the application, you can get the Notice of Patent Acceptance in about two weeks; About six to eight months, the Patent Office will issue the Notice of Granting the Patent Right for Utility Model and the Notice of Handling Registration Procedures; After paying the patent registration fee and annual fee, the license will be issued in about two months. If an application for a patent for utility model is processed after one month from the date of filing, it will generally take about six months to be authorized if it is successful.
3. Invention patent (2 -3 years)
Generally, the authorization period of an application for a patent for invention is about 3-5 years, and there is no definite time limit for examination and approval in law. After submitting the application, you can get the Notice of Patent Acceptance in about one week; Carry out the preliminary examination stage, and if the examination is qualified, if the specification of the applied patent is disclosed in accordance with the early public statement, it will enter the substantive examination stage; Issue the Notice of Granting Invention Patent Right and the Notice of Handling Registration Procedures upon passing the actual examination; After paying the fee in time, the certificate will be issued in about two months, so it usually takes about three years for the invention patent application process to be smooth.