A patent is an invention protected by legal norms. It is an invention-creation that applies to the national examination and approval authority for a patent and is granted the exclusive right to invent within a specified time after passing the examination according to law.
Patent right is an exclusive right with exclusivity. If a non-patentee wants to use the patented technology of others, he must obtain the consent or permission of the patentee according to law.
The patent right granted by a country according to its patent law is only valid within the jurisdiction of that country and is not binding on other countries. Foreign countries do not undertake the obligation to protect their patent rights. If an invention is patented only in China, then the patentee only enjoys exclusive rights or exclusive rights in China.
The legal protection of patent right has timeliness. The term of invention patent right in China is 20 years, and the term of utility model patent right and design patent right is 10 years, counting from the date of application.
The types of patents have different regulations in different countries. In China's patent law, there are invention patents, utility model patents and design patents, while in Hongkong's patent law, standard patents are equivalent to mainland invention patents, and short-term patents are equivalent to mainland utility model patents and design patents, which are classified in some developed countries.
People's Republic of China (PRC) Patent Law Article 2 Invention-creation as mentioned in this Law refers to inventions, utility models and designs.
Invention refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement.
Utility model refers to a new practical technical scheme for the shape, structure or combination of products.
Appearance design refers to a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application, which is made on the shape, pattern or their combination of products and all or part of the combination of colors, shapes and patterns.