Pre-patent application retrieval
Before applying for a patent, it is best to search to determine which inventions belong to the "prior art". If the content of the application has been recorded in the retrieved patent documents or other public publications, it may affect the authorization prospect of the application. In addition, even if there is no literature, the patent application will be rejected if others can determine that it is common knowledge in this field.
Benefits of patent retrieval
A careful understanding of what belongs to the existing technology will help the applicant to judge whether to apply for a patent and write a patent application document. The "background technology" part of the specification should be written with the closest existing technology. For utility model patents, it is usually necessary to provide background drawings, so that examiners and the public can clearly understand the substantial improvements and advantages of the invention.
Patent application documents
Inventions and utility models: request, specification and its abstract, patent claim; Inventions can have drawings as required, and utility models must have drawings; An application for invention involving new biomaterials shall submit a preservation certificate and a survival certificate; Where nucleic acid or amino acid sequence is involved, the machine-readable text of the sequence table shall be submitted.
Design: requirements, pictures or photographs; Indicate the products using the design and their categories; Request for color protection, submit color pictures or photos; If necessary, write a brief description of the design; Brief description should indicate design points, omitted views, colors to be protected, etc.
Patent examination
After the patent application is submitted to the State Information Bureau, it will be notified to accept it, and will be reviewed after paying the full fee. Patent examination is divided into preliminary examination and substantive examination, the latter is only for invention patents.
The patent examination process generally lasts 1-3 years, depending on the patent type and invention content. The utility model and design patents are authorized after preliminary examination, while the invention patents that pass the preliminary examination will issue a preliminary examination notice, waiting for substantive examination.
When the patent application is under examination, the applicant has no right to prevent others from infringing on his rights. However, after the publication of the invention patent (usually 18 months from the date of patent application), the applicant may ask the infringer to stop the infringement and pay the appropriate royalties, or the infringer may refuse. After the patent is granted, the applicant may pursue the tort liability from the infringer through judicial procedures and demand compensation.
Substantive examination of invention patent
The substantive examination of the invention is conducted in the actual examination department of the patent office. Examiners evaluate the novelty, creativity and practicality of patent applications by searching domestic and foreign patent documents and public publications, and also review whether the writing of patent documents meets the requirements, such as whether it meets the requirements, whether it is single, whether it is fully open, whether it is out of scope, etc.
The substantive examination must be carried out after the invention is published. According to the law, the publication is carried out within 18 months from the date of filing. Some applicants are willing to disclose their inventions in advance, so there will be patent applications published within 6- 10 months. Usually, the examiner in the actual trial stage will send at least one notice of examination opinions to the applicant or his agent, and the examination opinions can reflect the possibility of the invention being authorized and the existing defects. Review opinions generally include format errors, novelty problems, creativity problems, full openness problems, oneness problems and so on.
The time for examination of patent substance is uncertain, generally 6- 18 months, which depends on the content of the invention, the examiner's understanding of the invention, the examiner's work arrangement and the time for documents to travel back and forth between the examiner and the applicant or his agent. The fee for examining the substance of the invention patent is 2500 yuan/piece.
expense
Patent application fee
I. Application fee
Invention: 900 yuan, printing fee 50 yuan.
Utility model and design: 500 yuan
Apply for surcharge: the claim surcharge is increased by 1 1 yuan per piece.
Manual surcharge will be increased by 50 yuan per page from 3 1 page.
Starting from 30 1 page, the income per page will be increased by 100 yuan.
2. Examination fee for invention substance: 2,500 yuan.
Three. Patent registration, printing and printing costs
Invention: 255 yuan
Utility model and design: 205 yuan
Four. Annual fee (RMB)
Invention:
1-3 years 900 yuan 4-6 years 1200 yuan 7-9 years 2000 yuan.
10- 12 4000 yuan 13- 15 6000 yuan 16-20 years 8000 yuan.
Utility model and design:
1-3 years in 600 yuan and 4-5 years in 900 yuan.
6-8 years 1200 yuan 9- 10 years 2000 yuan.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) Other expenses:
For details, please refer to Announcement No.75 of China National Intellectual Property Administration, including filing project change fee, priority claim fee, invention patent maintenance fee, etc.
Fees can be paid directly to the Patent Office (including various agencies), by remittance through the post office or bank, or by other means stipulated by China National Intellectual Property Administration. The scope of fees charged by each institution shall be stipulated separately.
Patent fees slowed down.
Accepted by: China National Intellectual Property Administration
Acceptance conditions: personal income is too low, research funds of public institutions are insufficient, and enterprises are losing money.
Submit documents: request for fee waiver, explaining the reasons for waiver; Where a legal person requests fee reduction, it shall also submit a certificate of fee reduction issued by the superior competent department.
Slow down the proportion:
(1) The highest proportion of application fee (printing fee and surcharge will not be deferred), examination fee for invention patent application and annual fee shall not exceed 85% within three years from the year when the patent right is granted, and the highest proportion of maintenance fee, reexamination fee and application fee for invention patent shall not exceed 80%.
(2) The highest proportion of the application fee (printing fee and surcharge shall not be reduced), the examination fee for invention patent application and the annual fee within three years (including the current year) from the date when the patent right is granted for the same application by a unit or unit and an individual or two or more individuals shall not exceed 70%. The maintenance fee and reexamination fee for an application for a patent for invention shall not exceed 60%.
(3) Two or more units * * * apply for no fee reduction.