Hello, in the process of patent application, the applicant submitted the application documents to China National Intellectual Property Administration (hereinafter referred to as the State Administration Bureau). After confirming that the documents are complete, the State Administration Bureau will issue a patent acceptance notice and a payment notice, which will indicate the application name, application date (the current application number is 13), the applicant (patentee) and other information. The applicant will only conduct the examination after paying the relevant fees (the appearance and utility model are only preliminarily examined). Invention patents need preliminary examination and actual examination), and the general appearance is 6-8 months (authorization announcement, which means approval). If the technical scheme is clear and the content is correct, and the utility model is authorized for 8- 10 months, the invention patent process is complicated and it takes about 2 years. At this time, you need to pay the annual license fee, and then make a patent certificate with the patent number and the letter ZL before the number 13.
Therefore, having a patent number only means that an application has been filed, and if it is approved, it will be preceded by the letter ZL.