Duration of patent protection

The term of patent right refers to the legal term and termination time of patent right. According to the provisions of the Patent Law, the term of the invention patent right is 20 years, the utility model is 10 years, and the design is 15 years, all of which are counted from the date of application. If the patent right has not been terminated for other reasons since the date of the announcement of the authorization of the patent right, the patent right shall be terminated on the date when the patent right expires.

1, the start date of invention patent, utility model patent and design patent shall be counted from the date of application.

2. Termination date In general, the patent right will be terminated on the date when the patent term expires.

In any of the following circumstances, the patent right shall be terminated before the expiration of the time limit: failing to pay the annual fee as required; The patentee waives his patent right in writing.

It should be noted that the effective date of the patent right (that is, the date of authorization announcement) is later than the starting date of the patent term (that is, the date of application), so the patentee actually enjoys the patent right for a shorter time than the patent term stipulated by law.

Although the period of patent right stipulated by Chinese law is calculated from the date of application, this is only the starting point of the calculation of patent right period, which does not mean that the patent right will take effect from the date of application. According to China's regulations, the patent right shall take effect from the date of authorization announcement. Because the patent application must be examined before the patent right can be obtained, it takes a certain time from the time when the applicant submits the application to the time when the patent office announces the authorization of the patent application. Therefore, the patentee can actually get the effective period of legal protection.

patent law of the people's republic of china

Article 42 From the date of filing, the term of patent right for invention is 20 years, that for utility model is 10 year, and that for design is 15 year.

Article 44 In any of the following circumstances, the patent right shall be terminated before the expiration of the time limit:

(a) failing to pay the annual fee in accordance with the provisions;

(2) The patentee waives his patent right in writing.