Some technicians believe that as long as there is independent innovation, there will be independent intellectual property rights. Patent is actually a monopoly right, and the technological achievements independently developed will not be recognized and protected by law if they do not apply for patents.
When others misappropriate their research results, the legal responsibility of the embezzler cannot be investigated, because the developer has no patent right to the results and cannot be protected by law. At the same time, in our country, the patent application takes the principle of prior application, and the patent will be awarded to the first invention with creativity, novelty and practicality.
Therefore, if the developer did not apply in time, but someone else applied first and was granted the patent right, the developer could not pursue the legal responsibility of others. There are countless such cases in China.
Myth 2: the product is put into mass production before applying for a patent.
When communicating the technical content of patent application with inventors, many people have the idea that this technical scheme has not been put into production and no products have come out. It is too early to apply for a patent at this time, and it is more appropriate to apply for a patent after the product is put into production on a large scale.
As everyone knows, it is too late. Even if you are fortunate enough to be authorized, the patent is in an unstable state. At this time, if someone is found to file a lawsuit for infringement, the infringer will defend the technology on the grounds that the patent application date has been made public.
Not only can't you win the lawsuit, but the energy, time and money you used to spend on applying for a patent are all in vain. The basis of patent application is not the products that already exist in the market, and it is not necessarily the products that have been formed. As long as you have a practical idea, you can start writing application documents.
Myth 3: There is no need to apply for a patent for the improvement of patented products.
Some inventors think that after applying for a patent, they can? Sit back and relax, thus ignoring the later continued research and development work, even if new products or improvements are developed, they will no longer apply for patents. The consequences of this misunderstanding are no different from not applying for a patent.
Because when others improve the product and apply for a patent, in turn, it restricts the product upgrade of the original patentee, which will lead to the original patentee becoming an infringer unintentionally. At this point, the original patentee lost his intellectual property rights.
Myth 4: A technological achievement can only apply for one type of patent.
Some inventors believe that a technological achievement can only apply for one patent at a time, that is, only an invention patent or a utility model patent or a design patent can be applied.
There are three kinds of patents stipulated in China's patent law: invention patent, utility model patent and design patent. A product invention can apply for multiple patents at the same time, and a technical scheme can also apply for utility model and invention patents at the same time.
Judging from the review in the past two years, utility model patents can usually be authorized in about 4-7 months; The invention patent needs more than 1 year. Therefore, for some important product inventions, if the inventor only applied for the invention patent, what about others at this time? Both? He applied for the invention patent and the utility model patent at the same time, so he will get the utility model patent first and have the patent right of the product. If the inventor uses the product, it constitutes infringement.
Myth 5: When you get a patent certificate, you get an effective patent right.
This is a common misunderstanding of most patentees. In China, China National Intellectual Property Administration does not conduct substantive examination of utility model and design patents. Even if someone has applied for the same patent for the same technical scheme before you apply, your application may still be approved.
If no one raises an objection, your patent right will remain. Once someone declares your patent invalid, your patent will be 100% invalid, which means you have not obtained a valid patent.
As far as the invention patent is concerned, although China National Intellectual Property Administration has conducted a substantive examination on it, no one can guarantee that the invention patent examination department has searched all the relevant documents and materials in the world. Therefore, obtaining a patent certificate does not mean that your patent is really valid, but only represents China National Intellectual Property Administration's approval of the patent application.
Your patent is truly valid only if no one declares your patent invalid or someone declares it invalid within the validity period of your patent, but the re-examination board maintains your patent after review.
Myth 6: The technical scheme is not clear.
The patent application documents submitted by inventors in many units are very simple, and some even have only a few words, and the technical scheme is completely unclear, which brings great difficulties to patent agents in making formal patent application documents.
When inventors are asked to provide more technical solutions, they will avoid them on the grounds of technical secrecy, which shows that these inventors have not grasped the degree of confidentiality and openness. They just insist on secrecy and are afraid to disclose more technical information, but they just ignore the problem of insufficient disclosure.
A large number of cases show that if the patent application is notified by the examiner on the grounds that the technical scheme is not fully disclosed, the patent application may be rejected by 98%. I hope the inventors will attach great importance to this point.
Myth 7: Don't do any search before applying for a patent.
The patent application documents submitted by some inventors have not been searched for novelty, and the novelty of the technical scheme is uncertain. They simply don't know whether the technical scheme has been publicly used or not, which is also a common problem for technicians in China. The ability to retrieve and collect information is extremely low.
As far as openness is concerned, any document in the world can affect the novelty of technical solutions. As far as public use is concerned, only domestic use will affect the novelty of the technical scheme. In other words, if something that has been widely used abroad does not appear in China and there is no relevant record in various documents, then you can apply for a patent.
If someone else has applied for a patent for a technical scheme or published it in relevant literature, it will only waste time, money and energy if you apply for a patent for this technical scheme without searching.
Myth 8: publish a paper or determine the result before applying for a patent.
Some inventors were eager to publish articles or identify their own achievements after obtaining research results, but did not think of applying for patent protection first.
Because it is inevitable to disclose technical contents when publishing articles or appraisal results, patent applications lose their novelty and are not protected.
Myth 9: Lack of effective management of patents.
Some enterprises have applied for many patents, but there is no special person to manage them. Some patent documents conflict with each other, some have no market value, and they are still paying annual fees. Some patent rights have been infringed, but enterprise managers do not understand the characteristics of patents and cannot bring a lawsuit in time. In addition, the application quality of patent documents is poor, which can not play its due protection role.
Myth 10: Lack of long-term patent strategic planning.
It is very important for enterprises to implement patent strategy in a planned way. First of all, it can avoid wasting time and energy. Some enterprises apply for a large number of patents aimlessly, which leads to low authorization rate, a large number of junk patents and a waste of time and energy.
Secondly, it can break through the patent encirclement of foreign enterprises. An enterprise should have a very clear understanding of the basic patent status and peripheral patent status of its own industry. Only in this way can it find a technical breakthrough, remove other people's patent obstacles, establish its own patent advantages and win market competition.