1. When is the earliest time to apply for an appearance patent?
China's design patent application is divided into three stages: application stage, patent examination and patent authorization.
The application stage refers to the patent search and preparation of application materials for the design patent by the applicant, which usually takes 1 to 5 working days.
The patent examination stage refers to whether the application documents for patent for design meet the authorization standards after the patent office receives the application for patent for design. The time of this stage is about 3 to 4 months. If the examiner thinks that the applicant needs to make amendments or state opinions, it will enter the correction procedure.
The authorization stage means that after passing the preliminary examination, the examiner will issue a notice to grant the patent right. After receiving the notice of granting the patent right, the applicant shall go through the corresponding registration procedures and pay the relevant fees. This period of time is about 1-2 months.
It can be seen that it takes about 4-6 months at the earliest for an individual to apply for a design patent, and it will take even longer if there are patent corrections in the process of applying for a design patent.
2. How long is the validity period of the design patent?
The patent protection period of design in China is 10 year. In the design applied for in 1993, the patent right was obtained and the protection period of the patent right reached less than 10% of10 years. Most people apply for patents only to obtain patent certificates, so as to obtain professional titles, taxes and other benefits.
The above is the related content about the fastest days to apply for an appearance patent. If you don't know anything, or have other questions, you can consult a professional intellectual property consultant.