Chapter 1 General Provisions Article 1 In order to protect the patent rights of inventions and creations, encourage inventions and creations, facilitate the promotion and application of inventions and creations, promote the development of science and technology, and meet the needs of socialist modernization, this law is specially formulated . Article 2 The inventions and creations referred to in this Law refer to inventions, utility models and designs. Article 3 The Patent Office of the People's Republic of China accepts and examines patent applications and grants patent rights to inventions and creations that comply with the provisions of this Law. Article 4 If the invention-creation for which a patent is applied for involves national security or major interests and needs to be kept confidential, it shall be handled in accordance with relevant national regulations. Article 5 No patent right will be granted for inventions and creations that violate national laws, social ethics or harm public interests. Article 6 For service-related inventions and creations that are performed in the performance of the unit's tasks or mainly by utilizing the unit's material conditions, the right to apply for a patent belongs to the unit; for non-service inventions and creations, the right to apply for a patent belongs to the inventor or designer. After the application is approved, if a unit under the ownership of the whole people applies, the patent right will be held by the unit; if a unit under collective ownership or an individual applies, the patent right will belong to the unit or individual.
For service inventions and creations completed by staff of foreign-funded enterprises and Sino-foreign joint ventures in China, the right to apply for patents belongs to the enterprise; for non-service inventions and creations, the right to apply for patents belongs to the inventor or designer . After the application is approved, the patent right belongs to the applying enterprise or individual.
The owner and holder of a patent right are collectively referred to as the patentee. Article 7 No unit or individual may suppress an inventor or designer's application for a non-service invention-creation patent. Article 8 For inventions and creations completed by collaboration between two or more units or one unit accepting research and design tasks entrusted by other units, unless otherwise agreed, the right to apply for a patent belongs to the unit that completed or jointly completed the application; After approval, the patent right is owned or held by the applicant. Article 9: If two or more applicants apply for patents for the same invention and creation, the patent right shall be granted to the person who applies first. Article 10 The right to apply for a patent and the patent right may be transferred.
Any transfer of patent application rights or patent rights by a unit owned by the whole people must be approved by the superior authority.
Any transfer of patent application rights or patent rights by Chinese entities or individuals to foreigners must be approved by the relevant competent authorities of the State Council.
To transfer patent application rights or patent rights, the parties must enter into a written contract, which will take effect after being registered and announced by the Patent Office. Article 11 After an invention or utility model patent is granted, unless otherwise provided by law, no unit or individual may manufacture, use or sell its patented products for production and business purposes, or use its patented products without the permission of the patentee. Patented methods and the use and sale of products directly obtained according to the patented methods.
After the design patent right is granted, no unit or individual may manufacture or sell its design patented products for production and business purposes without the permission of the patentee.
After the patent right is granted, unless otherwise provided by law, the patentee has the right to prevent others from importing its patented products for the purposes mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs or importing products in accordance with the patentee's permission without the permission of the patentee. Products obtained directly from patented methods. Article 12 Any unit or individual that exploits another's patent must enter into a written license contract with the patentee and pay patent royalties to the patentee, except as provided in Article 14 of this Law. The licensee has no right to allow any unit or individual other than those specified in the contract to exploit the patent. Article 13 After the invention patent application is published, the applicant may require the unit or individual who implements the invention to pay appropriate fees. Article 14 The relevant competent departments of the State Council and the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government have the right to decide, in accordance with the national plan, to allow designated units to implement important invention-creation patents held by national ownership units within the system or under their jurisdiction. The state stipulates that royalties should be paid to units holding patent rights.
If the patents of China's collective ownership units and individuals are of great significance to national interests or public interests and need to be promoted and applied, the relevant competent departments of the State Council shall report them to the State Council for approval and handle them in accordance with the provisions of the previous paragraph. Article 15 The patentee has the right to indicate the patent mark and patent number on its patented products or the packaging of the products. Article 16 The owner or holder of the patent right shall reward the inventor or designer of the service invention-creation; after the invention-creation patent is implemented, the inventor or designer shall be rewarded based on the scope of its promotion and application and the economic benefits obtained. People give rewards. Article 17 The inventor or designer has the right to indicate that he or she is the inventor or designer in the patent document. Article 18 If a foreigner, foreign enterprise or other foreign organization without a habitual residence or business office in China applies for a patent in China, he or she shall apply for a patent in accordance with the agreement signed by the country to which he belongs and China or the international treaty to which the country is a party, or in accordance with the reciprocal agreement. principles, and shall be handled in accordance with this Law. Article 19 If a foreigner, foreign enterprise or other foreign organization without a habitual residence or business office in China applies for a patent or handles other patent matters in China, he or she shall entrust a patent agency designated by the People's Republic of China and the State Council to handle the matter.
Chinese entities or individuals that apply for patents and handle other patent matters domestically can entrust a patent agency to handle them.