Extension of patent term

Article 45 of the Patent Law promulgated by 1984 stipulates that the term of the invention patent right is fifteen years; The term of patent right for utility model and design is five years, and can be extended three years before the expiration. 1992 When the Patent Law was first revised, in order to strengthen the protection of patent rights, and in line with the patent protection period generally adopted in the world, the term of three kinds of patent rights was extended. Before the TRIPS Agreement came into effect, most countries stipulated that the term of invention patent right was 15 years or 20 years. In the fields of drugs and pesticides, applicants need to carry out a series of tests and go through many relevant procedures before they can obtain the approval of the competent authorities and sell them after examination and approval by the competent authorities. In addition, the research and development costs of many drugs, especially biological drugs, are quite high. If the term of patent right is 15 years, many patentees in these fields will not be able to recover their huge investment in the remaining time, and the result will inevitably affect their enthusiasm for invention and creation. In order to encourage the patentee's invention and creation, 1992 amended the patent law and extended the term of invention patent right to 20 years. The first revision of the patent law extended the patent protection period and cancelled the renewal procedure of utility model and design patents. The original intention of the renewal procedure stipulated before the amendment is to let the patentee decide whether the patent right needs to be protected continuously, but it objectively increases the patentee's procedural burden. In fact, the patentee can express this wish by paying an annual fee, and there is no need to go through additional procedures. Therefore, when the Patent Law was revised for the first time, the protection period of utility models and designs was extended to 10 year, and the renewal procedure was cancelled.