What does the entry into force of substantive examination mean?
1, indicating that your patent application is an invention patent application and has entered the second stage, namely the substantive examination stage.
2. For an application for a patent for invention, the Patent Office will issue a notice of examination opinions at least once and ask for a reply within the prescribed time limit.
Judging from the legal status, your patent application is probably still in the process of substantive examination.
Contents of substantive examination of patent
1, whether it conforms to the provisions of Article 5 of the Patent Law, that is, whether the subject matter of the patent application violates national laws, social morality or harms public interests;
2, whether it conforms to the provisions of Article 25 of the Patent Law, that is, whether the subject matter of the patent application belongs to the scope of the patent right can not be granted;
3, whether it meets the provisions of Article 33 of the Patent Law, that is, whether the patent application meets the requirements of oneness;
4, whether it is in accordance with the provisions of Article 31 of the Patent Law, that is, whether the applicant is beyond the scope of the original specification (including the appended drawings) and the claims when amending the application or filing a divisional application;
5. Whether it conforms to the definition of invention stipulated in the Patent Law and its detailed rules for implementation, that is, the new technical scheme proposed for the product, method or its improvement.
6. Whether it meets the provisions of Article 18 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law, that is, whether the writing of the invention for patent application meets the specified requirements, and make a clear and complete description of the invention to be protected, so that technicians in their technical fields can realize it;
7. Whether it conforms to the provisions of Article 20 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law, that is, whether the claim clearly and concisely expresses the scope of protection, whether the claim is based on the specification, and whether the independent claim contains all the necessary technical features to solve the technical problems to be solved by the invention.
8. Whether it meets the priority application, if it is found that between the priority date and the filing date, others have filed another patent application on the same subject, or after searching, it is found that relevant documents are made public during this period, then whether the priority requirement is established is examined; At the same time, judge the patentability of the invention patent application according to the retrieved comparison file.
Within three years from the date of application, China National Intellectual Property Administration may, upon the request of the applicant at any time, conduct a substantive examination of the application; If the applicant fails to request substantive examination within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn. When necessary, China National Intellectual Property Administration can examine the application for a patent for invention on its own.
As far as invention patents are concerned, except for some invention patents that need to be kept secret, general invention patents need to go through the stages of acceptance, preliminary examination, publication, actual examination and authorization announcement. Generally speaking, they will be announced 18 months after acceptance, and then the actual examination stage. It usually takes about 3 years to get authorization, but it does not rule out a longer time.
Generally divided into: trademark substantive examination and patent substantive examination.
substantive examination of trademark
Substantive examination is a series of activities of the trademark registration authority to examine, retrieve, analyze and compare applications, investigate and study, and decide whether to give preliminary approval or rejection.
1. Examine the absolute reasons for rejecting trademark registration, that is, whether the trademark applied for is in violation of the prohibition clause and has distinctive features;
2. Examining the relative reasons for rejecting trademark registration, that is, whether the applied trademark conflicts with prior rights, is also called novelty examination.
It means that the administrative organ should not only examine whether the elements of the application materials are available, but also examine whether the substantive contents of the application materials meet the conditions. For the substantive review of the application, some can take the form of written review, that is, through the statement of the application materials to understand the relevant situation, review, but some substantive review needs to be verified on the spot to confirm the real situation. For example, the Food Hygiene Law stipulates that after the preliminary examination of the application materials of food production and marketing enterprises and food vendors, the food hygiene supervision institutions shall assign food hygiene supervisors to conduct on-site hygiene examination within the prescribed time limit, give opinions and guidance on the links that do not meet the hygiene requirements, and then review them after correction until they meet the hygiene requirements stipulated by the state.
The substantive examination of patent is a necessary procedure for granting patent right. We can only be granted the patent right through the substantive examination of the patent, and the effectiveness of the substantive examination of the patent means that the patent has entered the actual examination state.
Examiners will compare the relevant technical documents from all over the world, and if they meet the authorization conditions, they will grant the patent right. If it does not meet the authorization conditions, it will be rejected. So this patent has not been patented so far. It may not be patented.
The application for a patent for invention has entered the publication stage since the issuance of the notice of preliminary examination. If the applicant does not make a request for early publication, it will not enter the public preparation procedure until 15 months after the application date.
If the applicant requests to be made public in advance, the application will immediately enter the public preparation procedure. After format review, editing and proofreading, computer processing, typesetting and printing, about three months later, the abstract of its instructions was published in the Patent Gazette, and a brochure was published. After the publication of the application, the applicant has obtained the right of temporary protection and patent authorization.
legal ground
Article 35 of the Patent Law Within three years from the date of filing, the administrative department for patent in the State Council may, at any time, conduct substantive examination of the application upon the request of the applicant; 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.
Article 36 When requesting substantive examination, an applicant for a patent for invention shall submit reference materials related to his invention before the date of application.
Where an application for a patent for invention is filed in a foreign country, the patent administration department of the State Council may require the applicant to submit the information retrieved during the examination of his application in that country or the information on the examination results within a specified time limit; If the application is not submitted within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.
Article 37. After examining the application for a patent for invention in substance, the administrative department for patent in the State Council considers that it does not conform to the provisions of this Law, it shall notify the applicant and ask him to state his opinions or amend his application within a specified time limit; If no reply is made within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to be withdrawn.
Article 38 If an application for a patent for invention is still not in conformity with the provisions of this Law after the applicant has stated his opinions or made amendments, it shall be rejected.
Article 39 If the application for a patent for invention is not found to be rejected after substantive examination, the administrative department for patent in the State Council shall make a decision to grant a patent right for invention, issue a patent certificate for invention, and register and announce it at the same time. The invention patent right shall take effect as of the date of announcement.