Patent application procedure

According to the Patent Law, the examination and approval procedure of an application for a patent for invention includes five stages: acceptance, preliminary examination, publication, actual examination and authorization. In practice, it usually goes through the following processes: (1) Patent inquiry before patent application is a procedure before patent application, not necessary, but necessary. An effective search report can make the applicant avoid that the right to be protected is not the same or similar to the patent right of the earlier application, and ensure that the applied patent is valid. Patent inquiry can be made in the database published in China National Intellectual Property Administration. You can also entrust a patent search center to make professional inquiries. (2) Where the application documents intend to apply for a patent for invention, the application documents shall include: the request for a patent for invention, the abstract, the appended drawings of the abstract (if applicable), the specification, the claims and the appended drawings of the specification (if applicable) in duplicate. (3) When applying for a patent, the applicant may submit the application documents to the reception window of China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office or send them to the reception office of China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as the reception office of the Patent Office), or submit them to the reception window of the local China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as the agency of the Patent Office) or send them to the agency of the Patent Office. At present, China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office has been established in Beijing and other places. ~ 2/4 ~ (4) Acceptance of Patent Application After receiving the patent application, the patent office or the agency of each patent office shall determine the application date, give the application number and issue an acceptance notice for the application that meets the acceptance conditions. If the number of application documents submitted by the applicant to the acceptance office of the patent office or the agency of each patent office is less than 10, it will be examined whether the application meets the acceptance conditions, and if it meets the acceptance conditions, an acceptance notice will be made on the spot. If you send the application documents to the Patent Office, you can generally receive the acceptance notice from the China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as the Patent Office) within one month. Those who do not meet the acceptance conditions will receive a notice of rejection and a copy of the returned application documents. If the notice from the Patent Office has not been received for more than one month, the applicant shall promptly check with the reception desk of the Patent Office to find out the possible loss of the application documents or notices in the mail. (5) If the application documents are submitted by me, the application fee can be paid on the spot after obtaining the acceptance notice and the application fee payment notice, or remitted by post office or bank. If an application is submitted by mail, the application fee shall be paid after receiving the notice of acceptance and the notice of payment of the application fee. To pay the application fee, the corresponding application number shall be indicated, and the applicant shall pay the fee within two months from the date of application or within/0/5 days from the date of receiving the acceptance notice. Note: Other fees shall be paid according to the notice of the Patent Office. (See the Patent Payment Guide for details) (6) Examination of patent application 1 Preliminary examination: After receiving an application for a patent for invention, the Patent Office needs to conduct a preliminary examination. After passing the preliminary examination, it will be published from the date of application 18 months later. The Patent Office may also publish its application at an early date upon the request of the applicant. The preliminary examination mainly checks whether the application documents are complete; (2) Whether the form meets the standard; ③ Whether the expenses are paid. In the preliminary examination, the Patent Office will issue a notice of correction for the above matters, and the applicant will make corrections. 2. After the application for substantive examination of the invention is made public, the Patent Office will start substantive examination after receiving the applicant's request for substantive examination. Within three years from the date of filing, the patent administration department of the State Council may conduct substantive examination according to the request made by the applicant at any time; If the applicant fails to request substantive examination within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn. The patent administrative department of the State Council may, when it deems it necessary, examine the application for a patent for invention on its own. The examiner issues a notice of examination opinions, evaluates the novelty, creativity and practicability of the invention application, and points out the substantive defects in the application documents. The applicant shall reply to the examination opinions and modify the application documents when necessary. If the applicant's reply overcomes the examination opinions, the examiner will issue a notice of granting the patent right. If the applicant's reply does not overcome the examination opinions, the examiner will issue a notice of examination opinions or a notice of rejection again. ~ 3/4 ~ (7) Authorized applicants need to go through the registration formalities after receiving the notice of granting the patent right. The applicant shall pay the patent registration fee, authorized annual fee and announcement printing fee within the time limit specified in the notice, and pay the stamp duty on the patent certificate. After the applicant has gone through the registration formalities within the prescribed time limit and paid the prescribed fee, the Patent Office will grant the patent right, issue a patent certificate, record it in the patent register and announce it in the patent gazette, and the patent right will take effect from the date of announcement. (VIII) Maintenance of Patent Right After the patent application is granted, the patentee shall pay the annual fee for the next year in advance one month before the expiration of each year. If the annual fee is not paid or not paid in full, the Patent Office will issue a notice of payment, informing the patentee to pay it within six months from the date when the annual fee should be paid, and at the same time pay the late fee. The amount of overdue fine is calculated by adding 5% of the full annual fee of the current year for each month that exceeds the prescribed payment time; If the amount paid is not paid or insufficient, the patent right shall be terminated from the date when the annual fee payable expires.