Patent rights have a limited protection period. The protection period for design and utility model patents is 10 years, and the protection period for invention patents is 20 years. How to check if the patent has expired?
There are several ways to check expired patents:
The first is to check the legal status of the patent through the Patent Registration Book of the State Intellectual Property Office.
The Patent Office establishes a patent registration book when granting patent rights. The contents recorded in the patent registration book include: the grant of patent rights, the right to apply for patents, the invalidation of patent rights, the termination of patent rights, the restoration of patent rights, the pledge, preservation and termination of patent rights, the filing of patent license contracts, Compulsory licensing for patent implementation. The matters registered in the patent registration book are stored in a computer database. When paper copies are required, they will be printed out by the computer and will take effect after being stamped with a special certificate seal.
The matters recorded in the patent register have legal effect and are protected by law. With the consent of the State Intellectual Property Office, anyone may inspect or copy the relevant contents in the patent register and request the State Intellectual Property Office to issue a copy of the patent register. It is possible to know whether a patent has expired based on what is recorded in the patent register. A fee shall be paid for requesting a copy of the patent register.
Second, log in to the State Intellectual Property Office website and use the "Legal Status Query" function to check whether the patent has expired.
Legal status information mainly includes: the validity of the request for substantive examination, the invalidation of patent rights, the termination of patent rights, the restoration of rights, the transfer of patent application rights and patent rights, and the filing of patent implementation license contracts. , pledge, preservation and release of patent rights, changes in bibliographic matters, notification matters, etc. However, there is a certain lag in retrieving system information. Real-time and accurate legal status information should be based on the content recorded in the patent registration book.
The third method is to check whether the patent term has expired in the Chinese expired patent database officially issued by the Intellectual Property Publishing House.
Someone may ask, how to check if it is a foreign patent?
Under normal circumstances, it can be deduced from the protection period whether a patent will naturally terminate and become an invalid patent due to the expiration of the term. The protection period of invention patents in most foreign countries is 20 years, and the protection period of utility model patents is 20 years. It ranges from 5-10 years.
The second is to determine the legal status by checking the patent registration book of the country’s patent office. For patents that have expired due to reasons such as early termination due to the applicant giving up the patent rights or being declared invalid by the patent office, the legal status can only be determined by querying the patent registration book of the country's patent office.
Third, you can directly go to the official website of each national patent office or the European Patent Office website to query and download the original text for free, or you can enter the query through the relevant link "Major Foreign Intellectual Property Websites" on the website of the State Intellectual Property Office. .
Source: China Intellectual Property Network: ipr.com/PX/px4/201603/t20160315_195597.htm