Legal analysis: my country’s patent system follows the “principle of only granting one patent right per invention” and the “first-to-file principle”, that is, two or more patent applicants apply for the same invention and creation respectively. When a patent is filed, patent rights are only granted to the first applicant. Therefore, the determination of the patent application date is not only the time benchmark for determining whether the patent application is novel and inventive, but also the factual basis for determining who should be granted the patent rights according to law when multiple patent applicants apply for patents for the same invention. my country's Patent Law and its implementing rules stipulate that the date when the patent administration department of the State Council receives the patent application documents is the patent application date. If the application documents are mailed, the postmark date shall be the date of application. This regulation shows that there are two ways to determine the patent application date in our country. The first way is to directly submit qualified patent application documents to the Patent Office of the State Intellectual Property Office and its agencies, so that the accepting department receives the patent application documents. The date of application shall be the date of application; after receiving the relevant patent application documents, the accepting department shall issue an acceptance notice indicating the patent application date and patent application number to the patent applicant. The second method is to use the post office to use the postmark date of the qualified patent application document as the filing date. However, if the postmark is unclear and the postmark date cannot be determined, the date of receipt by the accepting department shall be the date of application unless the patent applicant can provide proof.
Legal basis: "Patent Law of the People's Republic of China" Article 28 The date when the patent administration department of the State Council receives the patent application documents is the filing date. If the application documents are mailed, the postmark date shall be the date of application.