How long is the patent licensing contract valid?

How long is the patent licensing contract valid? China's "Contract Law" stipulates that the patent licensing contract is only valid during the existence of the patent right. Duration of the patent right, China's patent law clearly stipulates that the duration of the invention patent right is 20 years, and the duration of the utility model patent right and the design patent right is 10 years, all of which are counted from the date of application. The patentee shall pay the annual fee from the year when the patent right is granted. If the annual fee is not paid in accordance with the regulations, the patent right shall be terminated before the expiration of the time limit. Therefore, if the patent right is to be extended, an annual fee must be paid to China National Intellectual Property Administration. At the same time, when implementing patent licensing, both parties can also agree on the payment of annual fees; If there is no agreement or unclear agreement between the two parties on the payment of the annual fee, according to the Interpretation of the Supreme Court on Applicable Legal Issues in the Trial of Technology Contract Disputes, these obligations shall be borne by the transferor of the patent licensing contract, that is, the patentee. Therefore, when signing a licensing contract, we must first understand the status and duration of the patent right. If the patent right has expired, the patent right has been terminated or declared invalid, and the patented technology has entered the public domain and anyone can use it for free, then the license contract is invalid. If the patent right is valid, the remaining life of the patent right should also be considered. Generally speaking, the shorter the remaining life, the lower the license fee, and vice versa. Patent license What types of patent license can be divided into exclusive license, exclusive license and general license? Different license types determine the scope of license, the number of licensees and different litigation rights. 1, exclusive authorization. It means that in a certain period and region, the patentee only authorizes the licensee to implement its patented technology, and no longer authorizes any other enterprise to use the technology. At the same time, the patentee himself cannot use the patented technology. In fact, the licensee has obtained the monopoly right of the patented technology within a certain period and scope, so the licensee usually has to pay a high license fee for this kind of implementation license. 2. Exclusive use license. It means that in a certain period and area, the patentee authorizes the licensee to exploit the patented technology and no longer authorizes the third enterprise to use the technology, but the patentee still reserves the right to exploit the patented technology. 3. General permission to use. It means that in a certain period and region, the patentee authorizes the licensee to exploit the patented technology, and the patentee also reserves the right to exploit the patent by himself, or may license others to exploit the patent. This licensing method will form multiple competitors in the market, so the licensing fee will be relatively low compared with exclusive licensing. Due to the different types of licenses, their respective litigation rights are also different. According to China's judicial interpretation, when patent infringement occurs, the licensee who exclusively implements the license contract can apply to the people's court separately; If the patentee does not apply, the licensee who exclusively implements the licensing contract may apply. However, in general, the licensee who implements the licensing contract can only bring a lawsuit to the court under the authorization of the patentee. According to the Interpretation of the Supreme Court on Applicable Legal Issues in the Trial of Technical Contract Disputes, if there is no agreement or unclear agreement on the type of implementation license between the two parties, it is deemed as a general implementation license. At the same time, the enterprise should clearly stipulate in the license contract whether the licensee has the right to sub-license. If the right to sub-license is stipulated, this sub-license is usually considered as a general license. Therefore, according to the types of patents, the validity period of patent licensing contracts is divided into 10 years and 20 years. Patent licensing is the legal protection of R&D achievements and inventions. After registering the patent, if others use the same technology and R&D achievements, they will have to pay the patent fee, and the patent rights can also be transferred to each other. So we should pay more attention to patents and respect intellectual property rights.