The patent has been accepted. Can we develop products in advance? I applied for a patent for utility model and was accepted in March. Is there protection now?

The date of patent application has been determined after receiving the acceptance notice, which is a very important time. After this time, you can disclose your product in any form, which will not affect the authorization of this patent. It should be appropriate to develop products now, and the general examination time for utility model patents is 6-7 months.

It should also be noted that the patent protection period is calculated from the date of authorization announcement. After the product is made public and before the patent is granted, the only thing you can do is to warn the other party that you have applied for a patent. Once the patent is granted, you can use legal weapons to protect your interests.

However, because the utility model patent has not been substantially examined, its novelty and creativity can not be guaranteed, and there is a risk of being invalid. This is beyond your question.

Finally, if the technical scheme of the product is improved in the process of developing the product, remember to evaluate the patentability of this improvement. If it is a good improvement, you also need to apply for patent protection.

Good luck!