Individuals can apply for patents
The process for individuals to apply for patents is as follows:
1. Provide a disclosure letter and entrust an agency to write the application documents, which usually takes 20 days days - one month (you can omit this step if you do not entrust an agency)
2. Submit the application documents, obtain the acceptance notice from the Patent Office, and determine the application date. You can also submit early disclosure on the day you submit the documents. declaration, and request for substantive examination, which can speed up the examination process
3. The Patent Office will conduct a formal examination of the patent application documents, which will take about 2-3 months. After passing the preliminary examination, it will enter the public preparation stage
< p>4. It takes about 6-8 months for the Patent Office to publish invention application documents5. The Patent Office conducts substantive examination of invention patent documents, which takes about one and a half to two years. During this period, the examiner will review the invention. Communicate with the applicant about the substance of the matter, that is, novelty, creativity and practicality (the entrusted agency will communicate with the agency to determine the appropriate scope of protection for the invention). The back-and-forth communication may be repeated several times until the changes are made to the examiner's satisfaction
6. The Patent Office issues an authorization notice
7. The applicant goes through the procedures to receive the patent certificate
8. The patent certificate will be obtained in about 2-3 months
p>The entire process lasts about 2 and a half to 3 years. The specific time depends on the speed of the examiner's review and the extent of the applicant's disclosure of information.