The examination method of appearance patent is as follows

The process of patent application and examination for inventions, utility models and designs is different.

According to the Patent Law, the examination and approval procedure of an application for a patent for invention includes five stages: acceptance, preliminary examination, publication, actual examination and authorization. The application for a patent for utility model or design does not carry out early publication and substantive examination in the examination and approval, but only has three stages: acceptance, preliminary examination and authorization. ?

The flow chart of patent application and examination for invention, utility model and design is as follows:

(Source: China National Intellectual Property Administration)