According to the provisions of the patent law, inventions protected by the patent law in China include inventions, utility models and designs.
(1) Invention: Invention refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement. According to China's patent law, there are two kinds of inventions that can be patented, one is product invention and the other is method invention.
(2) Utility model: The so-called utility model refers to a new practical scheme for the shape, structure or combination of products. The utility model patent only applies to products, not to process methods. For example, the new design of machine tool appearance is the design of product modeling; It is a new product structure design to combine the receiver and transmitter separated from the old telephone. Combining the reform of telephone appearance with the design of dialing keyboard is a new design of telephone appearance and structure.
(3) Appearance design: refers to a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application for the appearance, pattern, color or their combination of products. The design must be attached to the product. If it exists independently of the product, it does not belong to the design in the patent law. Appearance design is only limited to the artistic design of product appearance, and does not involve the technical performance of the product.