This article stipulates that patent rights are different from movable property and immovable property.
The ownership of movable and immovable property has no time limit, but the patent right can only be valid within the time limit prescribed by law.
The nature and purpose of patent right determine its characteristics. The purpose of establishing a patent system is to protect and utilize inventions and encourage them. It must balance the interests of inventors and the public. In the past ten years, the protection period of invention patents, especially the huge invention patents invested in drugs, has a tendency to be extended. For example, the United States stipulates that the protection period of drugs is 17 years from the date of approval, and 5 years from the date of approval. The European Community has made a similar decision. The protection period of drugs is 20 years from the date of application and 5 years from the date of application.
Both the Uruguay Round Supplementary Treaty for the Protection of Industrial Property Rights and the Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade stipulate that the protection period of invention patents should be at least 20 years from the date of application, while the dunkel text stipulates that the protection period of design should be at least 10 year from the date of application. In order to adapt to the trend of international harmonization of patent law, China's 1992 patent law amendment expanded the invention and utility model of patent law in 1984. Protection clauses of three design patents.
According to China's patent law, the patent right is calculated from the date of application.
However, this does not mean that the patentee has the exclusive right of implementation from the date of application. Article 8 of the Patent Law stipulates that the patent application shall be examined and approved, and the patent office shall grant it before the patent right is formally produced. Without permission, the patentee prohibits others from producing, using, selling or importing its patented products or using its patented methods for production and business purposes.
As far as the invention patent is concerned, because the invention content has been made public before the authorization decision is made (from the date of application 18 months), the competitors of the applicant may know what needs to be protected in the patent application, which poses a threat to the interests of the patentee. Therefore, Article 13 of the Patent Law stipulates: "After the application for a patent for invention is passed, the applicant may require the unit or individual who uses the invention to pay a certain fee."
Article 77 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law stipulates: "If an application for a patent for invention is published and the invention is used before the patent right is granted, no appropriate mediation fee shall be paid. You can also bring a lawsuit directly to the people's court. "
According to 1984 patent law, the system of preliminary examination and objection is implemented for utility models and utility designs. 1992 the amendment to the patent law abolished the objection system of patent application. The date when the Patent Office makes the examination decision is the patent authorization date.
Extended reading:
How long is the patent right of design?
How long is the patent right valid?
How long is the protection period of utility model patent?