What is patent confidentiality review? In what ways?

China's foreign trade is increasing year by year, which makes more enterprises want to use their patents abroad. However, due to its geographical reasons, it is not necessarily useful to apply for patent protection in China. If you want to apply for a patent abroad, you need to go through a patent confidentiality review. What is patent confidentiality review? Tell you through this article. Article 20 of China's Patent Law stipulates that any unit or individual who applies to a foreign country for a patent for invention or utility model completed in China shall file a confidentiality review with the patent administration department of the State Council in advance. The procedures and time limit for confidentiality review shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the State Council. Units or individuals in China may file an international patent application in accordance with the relevant international treaties to which People's Republic of China (PRC) is a party. The applicant who files an international application for a patent shall abide by the provisions of the preceding paragraph. The patent administration department of the State Council shall handle international patent applications in accordance with the relevant international treaties to which People's Republic of China (PRC) is a party, this Law and the relevant provisions of the State Council. Where an invention or utility model that violates the provisions of the first paragraph of this Article is applied for a patent in a foreign country, the patent right shall not be granted in China. To file a patent application directly to the patent authority established by a foreign country or foreign intergovernmental patent cooperation organization through the Paris Convention, a request shall be made to the Patent Office in advance, and its technical scheme shall be explained in detail. The documents for applying for the patent secrecy examination request to a foreign country shall include the application for the patent secrecy examination request to a foreign country and the technical scheme specification. The written request and the technical scheme specification shall be written in Chinese, and the requester may submit corresponding foreign language texts for the examiner's reference at the same time. The description of the technical scheme shall be consistent with the contents of the patent application in foreign countries. First, China's national patent application will be filed in China, and then it is planned to file a patent application overseas. The claimant may submit a request for confidentiality review of a foreign patent application at the same time or after the filing of the patent application in China. If you choose to apply for a patent abroad in the future and submit a request for confidentiality review, the applicant only needs to submit a request for confidentiality review, indicating the application number of the earlier application, and does not need to submit a technical proposal specification. However, it should still be noted that the contents of patent applications submitted to foreign countries should be consistent with those of patent applications. When China submits a patent application, it can shorten the time to obtain the results of confidential examination. Submitting a PCT international application to China National Intellectual Property Administration through PCT means that a request for confidential examination of foreign patent applications is also made. Therefore, there is no need to submit a separate request for confidentiality review. It is more convenient to apply for an international patent through PCT than through the Paris Convention, because there is no need to make a separate request for confidentiality review, and the effective opportunity of foreign application will not be delayed because of the confidentiality review procedure. Under normal circumstances, if China National Intellectual Property Administration issues a notice of the international application number and date of PCT, it means that the confidentiality review has been completed, and the technical content of the application does not need to be kept confidential. If China National Intellectual Property Administration is not chosen as the acceptance office, and an international patent application is submitted to the Patent Office established by a foreign country or a foreign intergovernmental patent cooperation organization or the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization as the PCT acceptance office, it is necessary to submit a request for confidentiality review and a technical proposal description to the Chinese Patent Office first, and the technical proposal description should be consistent with the contents of the patent application in a foreign country. And only after it is determined that confidentiality is not necessary or the confidentiality review period is over can an international patent application be submitted to the patent authority established by a foreign country or a foreign intergovernmental patent cooperation organization as the PCT acceptance bureau or the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The application date will be delayed, which will increase the risk of not being authorized because of lack of novelty or creativity. However, if the confidentiality review is abandoned, when the foreign patent application enters China through PCT, the technical scheme requested by the corresponding patent application will not be granted a patent right because it is bound by Article 20 of the Patent Law.