After receiving the request for substantive examination submitted by the applicant, the existing technical reference materials and the fee for substantive examination, the Patent Office will conduct substantive examination on the patent application, usually searching the existing technology related to the invention theme and examining the following questions:
1. Does the invention for which a patent is applied belong to the invention referred to in the Patent Law?
2. Does the invention for which the patent is applied violate national laws, social morality and public interests?
3. Whether the invention for which the patent is applied belongs to the field where the patent right is not granted;
4. Whether the invention for which the patent is applied is novel, creative and practical;
5. Only one patent can be granted if it conforms to the same invention-creation;
6, according to the provisions of Article 9 of the Patent Law, whether it belongs to the first applicant;
7. Whether the description of the invention in the manual is clear and complete, and whether the writing of the manual conforms to the regulations;
8, whether the patent claim is based on the specification, indicating the scope of protection, whether the writing of the patent claim is in accordance with the provisions;
9, whether the patent application meets the requirements of oneness;
10, whether the modification or division of the application documents by the applicant is obviously beyond the scope recorded in the original specification and claims;
After substantive examination, if the Patent Office considers that it does not conform to the above provisions of the Patent Law, it will notify the applicant in writing and ask him to make amendments or state his opinions within a specified time limit. If the applicant fails to reply within the time limit without justifiable reasons, his application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn. If, after the applicant makes corrections or statements, the Patent Office still considers that it does not meet the above requirements, it shall reject it and notify the applicant. If the applicant refuses to accept the rejection decision, he may request a reexamination from the Patent Reexamination Board.
After the request for examination of patent substance comes into effect, Patent examiners will formally examine the patent application, with the contents of novelty, creativity and practicality. In the process of review, the examiner will generally issue a notice of review opinions, and the applicant will reply to the notice issued by the examiner. The reply period of the first notice of review opinions is 4 months, and the reply time of the subsequent notice of review opinions is 2 months. For an application for a patent for invention, it is normal for the applicant to receive 2-3 notices of examination opinions. For applications with high difficulty in authorization, it is possible to receive more than 5 notices of review opinions. Therefore, the time limit for replying to the notice of examination opinions is related to the number of the notice of examination opinions and the speed of replying to the notice of examination opinions.
Legal basis: People's Republic of China (PRC) Patent Law.
Article 34 After receiving an application for a patent for invention, the administrative department for patent in the State Council, after preliminary examination, finds that it conforms to the provisions of this Law, and shall publish it after 18 months from the date of filing. The patent administration department of the State Council may publish its application at an early date upon the request of the applicant.
Article 35 Within 3 years from the date of filing, the administrative department for patent in the State Council may, upon the request of the applicant at any time, make a substantive examination of the application; If the applicant fails to request substantive examination within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.
The patent administrative department of the State Council may, when it deems it necessary, examine the application for a patent for invention on its own.
Article 36 When requesting substantive examination, an applicant for a patent for invention shall submit reference materials related to his invention before the date of application.
Where an application for a patent for invention is filed in a foreign country, the patent administration department of the State Council may require the applicant to submit the information retrieved during the examination of his application in that country or the information on the examination results within a specified time limit; If the application is not submitted within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.