Yes, you can apply for a patent as long as your invention has "novelty", "practicability", and "creativity" and does not fall into the category of "applications not granted patent rights"! In fact, many patents are for improved inventions! If you don’t believe what I say, you can consult the State Intellectual Property Office. See below for consultation methods!
Chapter 2 of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China: Conditions for Granting Patent Rights
Article 22: Inventions and utility models for which patent rights are granted must possess novelty, Creativity and practicality.
Novelty means that before the filing date, the same invention or utility model has not been published in domestic or foreign publications, publicly used in the country, or otherwise known to the public, nor has the same invention or utility model been published in domestic or foreign publications before the filing date. The invention or utility model has been applied for by others to the patent administration department of the State Council and is recorded in the patent application documents published after the application date.
Creativity means that compared with the existing technology before the filing date, the invention has outstanding substantive features and significant progress, and the utility model has substantive features and progress.
Practiceability means that the invention or utility model can be manufactured or used and can produce positive effects.
Article 23 The design for which a patent right is granted shall be different from or similar to the design that has been publicly published in domestic and foreign publications or has been publicly used domestically before the filing date, and shall not be identical or similar to the design. Conflicts with the previously acquired legal rights of others.
Article 24 If an invention-creation for which a patent is applied for falls under any of the following circumstances within six months before the filing date, the novelty will not be lost:
(1) In China Exhibited for the first time at an international exhibition sponsored or recognized by the government;
(2) Published for the first time at a prescribed academic conference or technical conference;
(3) Others have not The content is disclosed with the consent of the applicant.
Article 25 No patent rights shall be granted for the following items:
(1) Scientific discoveries;
(2) Rules and regulations of intellectual activities Methods;
(3) Diagnosis and treatment methods of diseases;
(4) Animal and plant varieties;
(5) Obtained by nuclear transformation method substance.
Patent rights may be granted in accordance with the provisions of this Law for the production methods of the products listed in item (4) of the preceding paragraph.
State Intellectual Property Office Website->Patent Examination->Examination Guide->Part 2 Substantive Examination->Chapter 1 Application URL for Not Granting Patent Rights:/sipo/zlsc/sczn/sqzn_2/t20011025_1691 .htm
The core of the patent system is to use technological achievements to disclose to the society in exchange for monopoly rights in a certain area and time. Whether the patented technology is easy to form a monopoly and whether it is easy to be protected determines whether the technological achievements are Suitable for patent application.
my country’s Patent Law stipulates that the technical solution in the specification must be clear and complete, subject to the ability of technicians in the technical field to successfully implement it, that is, the patent must be fully disclosed. In some patent applications, because the applicant has reservations about key issues in the technical solution, the patent application loses patentability and is rejected by the Patent Office. If a certain point of technical secrets really needs to be retained, there should be at least one way or embodiment that can realize the invention based on complete and necessary technical features, and another way with better features should be regarded as technology. Keep the secret. However, this method cannot be clever but will lead to mistakes. If others also discover this and obtain a patent, it will in turn restrict your product technology. If it is indeed a unique technical secret, it is not necessary to apply for a patent. For example, the Coca-Cola beverage in the United States and the secret recipe of traditional Chinese medicine passed down by Chinese folk are all adopted without applying for a patent and being unique on the premise of ensuring that they are not lost. Know your strategy to monopolize the market. The first condition for adopting this approach is that you can implement it independently.
For an invention to be patentable, it needs to meet various conditions, including compliance with the format requirements and content requirements of patent application documents stipulated in the Patent Law and the fulfillment of various procedures.
In order to avoid and reduce applicants' waste of time, manpower, material and financial resources, patent applicants must make sufficient preparations before filing an application.
1. Familiar with patent law and implementation rules. It is necessary to understand in more detail what the patent law protects, who it protects, how to protect it, as well as the rights and obligations of the patentee.
2. A sufficient technical investigation should be conducted on the patent application project. If at the beginning of determining the research and development topic, all aspects of investigation and research have been carried out, and the research and development plan and route progress of this topic are confirmed, and the results are the best among peers, then there is no problem in applying for a patent. If this technical investigation process is missing, or the investigation is insufficient, additional technical information needs to be collected, and a decision on whether to file a patent application can be made only after a broad understanding of the existing technology status, in order to minimize the blindness of applying for a patent. The collection of technical information mentioned here is to investigate and understand the existing technology in the technical field to which your invention and creation belongs. It includes the history and current situation of the technical field. Therefore, you should consult patent documents and non-patent documents, including previous works in this field. authoritative journals, magazines and monographs, and at the same time investigate the domestic market situation and the technological progress of the same industry. This is a very detailed and tedious task, but at a minimum, patent documents in the technical field to which the invention belongs should be consulted.
3. Anyone who has participated in the appraisal meetings and technical meetings of new technologies and new products organized or held by state-owned ministries and commissions under the State Council or national academic groups, in order not to lose novelty, should comply with the provisions of Section 2 of the Patent Law. According to the provisions of Article 14, the patent application shall be submitted within six months after the appraisal meeting or technical meeting.
4. Economic considerations need to be carefully considered. Applicants should predict the economic benefits of their inventions and creations, estimate the possibility and scope of their technology development, and the conditions of the technology market and commodity market, so as to clarify the conditions for implementation and technology transfer after obtaining the patent right, and the conditions for implementation and technology transfer. The economic benefits that one can obtain, etc., can be used to comprehensively measure the feasibility of applying for a patent in economic terms.
5. Understand the writing format and various requirements of patent application documents and be familiar with the writing skills of specifications and claims. Of course, if you decide to hire a patent agent, you don’t need to know too much about this aspect.
6. When filing a patent application, confidentiality issues should be handled in accordance with the provisions of the Implementing Rules of the Patent Law. Patent applications from various units of the national defense system involving national security that need to be kept confidential shall be handled by specialized agencies. In an invention patent application for a civilian product and its production method, if the application is likely to cause significant losses to the national economy after being disclosed, a recommendation may be made for confidentiality review. However, this kind of suggestion should be made after fully considering the results of disclosure or implementation of the invention. Once it is handled as a confidential patent, it will not be disclosed to the public. The transfer and implementation of the patent will be directly affected, and it will be difficult for the applicant to obtain economic benefits. . In addition, there are no confidential patents for utility models and designs.
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The following is the relevant information:
If you want to sell your idea for money, you must first turn your idea into a patent! Because "ideas" are not protected by law, anyone can use your idea for free (after they understand or understand your idea), and once the idea actually becomes a product, it will be difficult for you to apply for a patent. (Because it has lost its novelty), and patents are protected by law. Once your idea is patented, others must obtain your consent as long as they use your patent. At this time, you can sell your patent. , of course, you can also take the initiative to contact relevant manufacturers to sell your own patents, but it must be a "patent", not an "imagination"!
=========================== Consult the Information Office of the State Intellectual Property Office (because the answers here are authoritative and will not reveal your invention) to see what type of invention your invention belongs to. The telephone number of the Information Office of the State Intellectual Property Office is: 010 62083879, 010 62083966, 010 62083457.
Working hours (working days):
Morning: 8:30-11:30 Afternoon: 1:30-4:30
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Utility model patent: The total cost of applying for a utility model patent by yourself is about 200 yuan or less (the application fee is reduced), please contact the patent affairs office The agent charges about 1,000 yuan. Generally, it can be authorized in half a year to one year (utility model patents are protected by the state for 10 years and are easier to authorize, but the scope of protection is narrower than invention patents).
Invention patent: The total cost of applying for a patent yourself is about less than 600 (the application fee is reduced), and hiring a patent office to represent you is about less than 3,000. Generally, it takes about 3 years to be authorized (invention patents are protected by the state for 20 years. There are no utility model patents that are easy to authorize, but the scope of protection is wider).
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It is recommended that you first conduct a patent search (State Intellectual Property Office's Patent search URL: /sipo/zljs/default.htm (You can click on the "Instructions for Use" below to learn how to use it). If you don't find the same patent after searching, you can apply! But you should first make sure that someone is willing to spend money to buy your invention (nowadays, few people are willing to spend money to buy an idea, unless your patent is a monopoly patent), because applying for a patent costs money (please Patent offices represent invention patents for about 3,000 yuan each and utility model patents for about 1,000 yuan each.) Nowadays, many people apply for patents, but only a small part of them can be sold.
If you are a person with outstanding personal abilities, you can apply for a patent yourself (see the website of the State Intellectual Property Office for related content: /sipo/default.htm). This will save you a lot of money (utility model patents It costs less than 200 yuan to apply for a patent by yourself, and it costs about 1,000 yuan to hire a patent firm to represent you. It only costs 600 yuan to apply for an invention patent yourself, but it will cost 3,000 yuan if you hire a patent firm to represent you. ), but the premise must be that you can understand the patent law and the implementation details of the patent law, and you can learn enough knowledge from other patent documents to prepare the patent application materials yourself (focusing on the description and claims). If you are not sure about yourself, it is recommended that you ask a patent office to apply on your behalf!
If you have any questions about applying for a patent, you can use the following methods for consultation;
State Intellectual Property Office consultation hotline: 010 62083879, 010 62083966, 010 62083457.
Working hours (working days):
Morning: 8:30-11:30 Afternoon: 1:30-4:30
National knowledge Information desk of the Intellectual Property Office: /sipo/zxt/default.htm
Business hours: working days
In addition, we provide you with two websites with rich patent knowledge:
patents.com/
The matters related to applying for a patent are relatively complicated. If you want to apply for a good patent, it is even more complicated. Therefore, I cannot explain them one by one here. It is recommended that you log on to the website of the State Intellectual Property Office to study it carefully. , because the explanations on patent-related matters here are the most authoritative. If you don’t understand something, you can consult the State Intellectual Property Office. This will be beneficial whether you ask a patent office to apply for a patent on your behalf or apply for a patent yourself.
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Reminder: If you decide to apply for a patent yourself, you must Go to the website of the State Intellectual Property Office to search for "patent application", "patent law", "patent law implementation rules", "patent review", "patent search" (1. Use patent search to find relevant patent documents to avoid conflicts with your own Conflicts arise in patent applications. 2. Use patent search to find relevant patent documents to learn and see how others write patent materials so that you can prepare your own patent application documents) and study carefully to see if there is anything you don’t understand. You should also consult the Information Office of the State Intellectual Property Office frequently, and do not write casually, because once the patent application document is submitted, it will be difficult to modify it!