The applicant shall submit a patent application in electronic or written form.
(1) Where an applicant applies for a patent in the form of an electronic document, he shall go through the registration formalities of the electronic applicant in advance and submit the application documents and other documents to the Patent Office through the electronic patent application system of the Patent Office.
(2) Where the applicant applies for a patent in written form, the application documents and other documents can be submitted to the reception window of the Patent Office or mailed to the reception office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as the reception office of the Patent Office), or submitted to the reception window of the local patent office agency or mailed to the agency of the China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office.
At present, the Patent Office has set up representative offices in Beijing, Shenyang, Jinan, Changsha, Chengdu, Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi 'an, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Harbin, Changchun, Kunming, Guiyang, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Nanning, Urumqi, Nanchang, Yinchuan, Hefei, Suzhou, Haikou, Lanzhou and Taiyuan. Information about the patent office agency can be found at /zldbc/.
The national defense intellectual property office specializes in accepting national defense patent applications.
2. What application documents should be submitted to apply for a patent?
(1) To apply for a patent for invention, the application documents shall include: the request for a patent for invention, the abstract of the specification (if necessary, the appended drawings of the abstract shall be submitted), the patent claim and the specification (if necessary, the appended drawings of the specification shall be submitted).
For an application for a patent for invention involving amino acid or nucleotide sequence, the specification shall include a sequence list, which shall be submitted as a separate part of the specification, and the page number shall be written separately. At the same time, it shall submit the CD or floppy disk with an ordered list in accordance with the provisions of the China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as the Patent Office).
Where an invention-creation relying on genetic resources applies for a patent, the applicant shall explain the source of genetic resources in the request, and fill in the public registration form of the source of genetic resources, indicating the direct source and original source of genetic resources. If the applicant cannot explain the original source, it shall explain the reasons.
(2) To apply for a patent for utility model, the application documents shall include: the request for a patent for utility model, the abstract of the specification and its drawings, the claims, the specification and its drawings.
Example 1: writing example of utility model patent application
(3) To apply for a patent for design, the application documents shall include: a request for a patent for design, pictures or photographs (color pictures or photographs shall be submitted if color protection is required) and a brief description of the design.
Example 1: Design application writing example
Example 2: Example of similar design application writing
3. The application documents shall be in a uniform format.
The application documents shall be in the format uniformly formulated by the Patent Office. These forms can be downloaded from China National Intellectual Property Administration website /bgxz/
, or ask for it from the consulting office of the reception hall of the Patent Office, or by letter (the letter is sent to the issuing room of the preliminary examination and process management department of China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office), or from the agency of China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as the agency of the Patent Office). A form can only be used for one patent application.
The paper quality of the application documents should be equivalent to the paper quality used by the copier. No useless words, marks, boxes, lines, etc. On the paper. All documents shall be A4 size (2 10/0mm× 297mm) paper. The paper of application documents should be used vertically on one side. The characters should be arranged from left to right, with 25mm blank on the upper left and 15mm blank on the lower right.
4. When submitting an application, how are the application documents arranged?
The application documents for a patent for invention or utility model shall be arranged in the following order: request, abstract of specification, appended drawings of abstract, patent claim, specification (including amino acid or nucleotide sequence list) and appended drawings of specification.
The application documents for a patent for design shall be arranged in the following order: request, picture or photograph, and brief explanation. All parts of the application documents shall be numbered separately with Arabic numerals.
5. Writing and writing requirements of application documents
All parts of the application documents shall be in Chinese. If there is no uniform Chinese translation of foreigners' names, place names and technical terms, the original text shall be indicated in brackets after the Chinese translation. The application documents shall be typed or printed in Song Dynasty, imitation Song Dynasty or regular script, and the handwriting shall be black, with the word height between 3.5 and 4.5 mm and the line spacing between 2.5 and 3.5 mm. If there are drawings in the application documents, the lines shall be uniform and clear, and shall not be altered. Engineering blueprints shall not be used as drawings.
6. Supporting documents
Where the relevant procedures for applying for a patent need to be accompanied by supporting documents, all supporting documents shall be issued by the relevant competent authorities or signed by the parties concerned. All kinds of supporting documents should be original; If the certificate is a copy, it shall be notarized or confirmed by the official seal of the competent department that issued the certificate (except that the original is filed and confirmed in the Patent Office). The supporting documents provided by the applicant are in foreign languages, and the translation of Chinese bibliography shall be attached.
7. Signature or seal
Patent application documents or other documents submitted to the Patent Office shall be signed or sealed in accordance with the provisions. The application without entrusting a patent agency shall be signed or sealed by the applicant (or patentee), other interested parties or their representatives, and the procedures directly related to the rights of * * * shall be signed or sealed by all the obligees; Where a patent agency is entrusted, it shall be sealed by the patent agency, and if necessary, the applicant (or patentee), other interested parties or their representatives shall sign or seal it.
8. Description of the application on the same day
Where the same applicant applies for a patent for utility model and a patent for invention at the same time on the same day, it shall be stated separately at the time of application.
9. Uniqueness requirements of patent application content
An application for a patent for an invention or utility model shall be limited to one invention or utility model. Two or more inventions or utility models belonging to a general inventive concept may be filed as one application. An application for a patent for design shall be limited to one design. Two or more similar designs of the same product, or two or more designs of products used in the same category and sold or used in sets, may be filed as one application.
10. Entrusted patent agency
Units or individuals in the mainland of China may entrust a legally established patent agency to handle the patent application procedures, or they may go through the relevant procedures themselves.
If a foreigner, foreign enterprise or other foreign organization that has no habitual residence or business office in Chinese mainland applies for a patent in China, or applies for a patent as the first applicant and Chinese mainland applicant, it shall entrust a patent agency established according to law to handle it.
Where an applicant from Hongkong, Macau or Taiwan Province who has no habitual residence or business office in Chinese mainland applies to the Patent Office, or applies for a patent with an applicant from Chinese mainland as the first applicant, it shall entrust a patent agency established according to law to handle it.
According to the Patent Agency Regulations, a legally established patent agency was established with the approval of China National Intellectual Property Administration. The specific directory and related information of patent agencies can be found online (www.sipo.gov.cn/zldlgl).
1 1. Acceptance of patent applications
After receiving the patent application, the Patent Office's acceptance office or the Patent Office's agency shall determine the application date, give the application number and issue a notice of acceptance for the application that meets the acceptance conditions. If the acceptance conditions are not met, a notice of rejecting the file will be issued.
After receiving the acceptance notice and payment notice, the applicant shall carefully check the information in the notice, and if there is any objection to the information in the notice, it shall promptly submit it to the Patent Office.
If you send the application documents to the patent office, you will generally receive the acceptance notice from the patent office in about one month. If the notification from the Patent Office has not been received for more than one month, the applicant shall make an inquiry to the Patent Office in time.
Where the address of the applicant or patentee changes, it shall submit the explanation of the change to the Patent Office in time; Where the applicant terminates the agency relationship with the patent agency, it shall go through the formalities of change at the Patent Office.
12. Determination of application date
Patent applications and various documents submitted to the Patent Office in the form of electronic documents shall be submitted on the day when the electronic patent application system of the Patent Office receives the electronic documents.
For a patent application submitted directly to the reception office of the Patent Office or the window of the agency, the date of receipt shall be the filing date; For a patent application submitted to the acceptance office or agency of the Patent Office by mail, the postmark date on the mailing envelope shall be the application date; If the postmark date sent is unclear or illegible, the date of receipt by the patent office or agency shall be the application date. A patent application submitted to the Patent Office's acceptance office or agency through a courier company shall be filed on the date of receipt; Where a patent application is mailed or submitted to a non-accepting department or individual of the Patent Office, the mailing date or filing date does not have the effect of determining the application date, and the date actually received by the accepting organ or agency is the application date.
13. Correction of application date
After receiving the notification of patent application acceptance, if the applicant thinks that the application date recorded in the notification is inconsistent with the mailing date of the application documents, he may make a request for correction of the application date within two months from the date of filing the patent application documents or within one month after the applicant receives the notification of patent application acceptance, and attach a valid certificate of the mailing date issued by the post office that received and mailed the patent application documents. The postal registration number indicated in the certificate should be consistent with the registration number recorded in the request. The stub of registered letter can be used as the above valid proof.
14. Time to pay the application fee
The applicant shall pay the application fee within two months from the date of application or within 15 days from the date of receiving the acceptance notice. Pay the application fee with the corresponding application number and necessary payment information.
15. How to pay the fee?
(1) Electronic application users can log on to the electronic application network (/) and pay the patent fee through online payment.
(2) Pay patent fees directly to the Patent Office or its agency.
(3) Remittance of patent fees through banks or post offices. When remitting patent fees through banks or post offices, the correct application number (or patent number) and fee name (or abbreviation) shall be stated in the postscript column of the remittance slip.
For other questions about patent fees or payment, please refer to the introduction of "Patent Application Fees" (/zhfwpt/zlsqzn/zlsqfy/).
16. Confidentiality review before patent application abroad
Before applying to a foreign country for a patent for invention or utility model completed in China or submitting an international patent application to a relevant foreign institution, any unit or individual shall submit to the Patent Office a request to apply for patent security examination in a foreign country. No unit or individual may apply for a patent in a foreign country for the content of an invention or utility model that is determined to involve national security or vital interests after confidentiality review.
There are three ways to request confidentiality review before applying for a patent abroad:
(1) Put forward a separate confidentiality review request in the form of technical proposal. Where a request is made in this way, the applicant shall submit a request for patent confidentiality review and a description of the technical scheme to a foreign country, and submit the document in writing to the acceptance window of the Patent Office or to the acceptance office of the China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office.
(2) Request confidentiality review at the same time or after applying for China patent. Where a request is made in this way, the applicant shall submit a request for patent confidentiality examination in a foreign country.
(3) Where an international application for a patent is submitted to the Patent Office, it shall be deemed that a request for confidentiality review has been made at the same time, and it is unnecessary to separately submit a request for confidentiality review of a patent applied to a foreign country.
17. Matters needing attention in submitting application documents
(1) Applicants who submit all kinds of documents to the Patent Office should keep the manuscript to ensure the consistency of filling in the documents during the application examination and approval, which can be used as a reference when replying to the examination opinions.
(2) If the application documents are mailed, they shall be sent by registered mail. If it cannot be sent by registered mail, it can be sent by express mail, and the application documents cannot be sent by parcel. In addition to indicating the detailed address of the Patent Office or its agency (including postal code), the registered letter should also indicate the words "application documents", "China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office accepted" or "China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Office accepted". If the application documents are submitted by the courier company, the date of actual receipt by the Patent Office and its agencies shall be the application date. Registered letters should only contain the same application documents. After mailing, the applicant shall properly keep the registered receipt stub.
(3) The Patent Office does not accept samples, samples or models when accepting patent applications. In the process of examination, when the applicant submits a sample or model at the request of the examiner and submits it in person at the acceptance window of the Patent Office, it shall present a notice of examination opinions; If it is mailed, the words "submit the model at the request of the examiner (name)" shall be written on the mail.
Introduction to 18. PCT international application
Patent cooperation treaty (patent cooperation)
Treaty), referred to as PCT. The application filed according to PCT is called PCT international application. For more information about PCT, see /ztzl/ywzt/pct/.