Article 1 This Law is formulated for the purpose of protecting the patent right of invention and creation, encouraging invention and creation, promoting the popularization and application of invention and creation, promoting the development of science and technology and meeting the needs of socialist modernization.
Article 2 Inventions and creations mentioned in this Law refer to inventions, utility models and designs.
Article 3 The patent offices in People's Republic of China (PRC) and the People's Republic of China accept and examine patent applications, and grant patent rights to inventions and creations that meet the requirements of this Law.
Article 4 Where an invention-creation applying for a patent involves national security or vital interests and needs to be kept confidential, it shall be handled in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state.
Article 5 No patent right shall be granted for inventions and creations that violate state laws, social ethics or harm public interests.
Article 6 The right to apply for a patent belongs to the entity that performs the task of the entity or mainly uses the material conditions of the entity to complete the service invention creation; The right to apply for a patent for a non-service invention-creation belongs to the inventor or designer After the application is approved, if a unit owned by the whole people applies, the patent right shall be held by the unit; Where an entity or individual under collective ownership applies, the patent right belongs to the entity or individual.
The right to apply for a patent for the service invention-creation completed by the staff of a foreign-capital enterprise or a Sino-foreign joint venture in China belongs to the enterprise; The right to apply for a patent for a non-service invention-creation belongs to the inventor or designer After the application is approved, the patent right belongs to the enterprise or individual applying for it.
The owner and holder of a patent right are collectively referred to as the patentee.
Article 7 No unit or individual may suppress an inventor or designer's application for a patent for non-service invention-creation.
Article 8. Unless otherwise agreed, the right to apply for a patent belongs to the unit that has completed or cooperated with two or more units or one unit has accepted the research and design tasks entrusted by other units; After the application is approved, the patent right is owned or held by the applicant.
Article 9 Where two or more applicants apply for a patent for the same invention-creation, the patent right shall be granted to the first applicant.
Article 10 The right to apply for a patent and the patent right may be transferred.
Where a unit owned by the whole people transfers the right to apply for a patent or the patent right, it must be approved by the competent authority at a higher level.
Where a unit or individual in China transfers the patent application right or patent right to a foreigner, it must be approved by the relevant competent department in the State Council.
Where the right to apply for a patent or the patent right is transferred, the parties concerned must conclude a written contract, which will take effect after it is registered and announced by the Patent Office.
Article 11 After the patent right for invention and utility model is granted, except as provided in Article 14 of this Law, no unit or individual may exploit its patent without the permission of the patentee, that is, it may not manufacture, use or sell its patented product or use its patented method for production and business purposes.
After the design patent is granted, no unit or individual may exploit the patent without the permission of the patentee, that is, may not manufacture or sell its patented products for production and business purposes.
Article 12 Any unit or individual that exploits another person's patent, except as provided for in Article 14 of this Law, must conclude a written licensing contract with the patentee and pay the patentee the royalties. The licensee has no right to allow any unit or individual other than those stipulated in the contract to exploit the patent.
Article 13 After the publication of an application for a patent for invention, the applicant may require the entity or individual who exploited the invention to pay an appropriate fee.
Article 14 The relevant departments in charge of the State Council and the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government have the right to decide that important inventions and creations of units owned by the whole people within their own systems or within their jurisdiction shall be exploited by designated units, and the exploiting units shall pay royalties to the patentee in accordance with state regulations.
Patents of collectively-owned units and individuals in China are of great significance to national interests or public interests and need to be popularized and applied. With the approval of the relevant competent department of the State Council, it shall be handled with reference to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
Article 15 The patentee has the right to indicate the patent mark and patent number on his patented product or the package of the product.
Article 16 Any unit or patentee shall reward the inventor or designer of service invention-creation; After the patent for invention-creation is implemented, the inventor or designer shall be rewarded according to the scope of its popularization and application and the economic benefits obtained.
Article 17 An inventor or designer has the right to state clearly in the patent document that he is an inventor or designer.
Article 18 Where a foreigner, foreign enterprise or other foreign organization without a habitual residence or business office in China applies for a patent in China, it shall be handled in accordance with this Law in accordance with the agreement signed between his country and China or the international treaties to which he is a party, or in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.
Article 19 Foreigners, foreign enterprises or other foreign organizations that have no habitual residence or business office in China shall entrust patent agencies designated by People's Republic of China (PRC) and the State Council to apply for patents and handle other patent affairs in China.
China units or individuals may entrust patent agencies to apply for patents and handle other patent affairs in China.
Article 20 Where a unit or individual in China applies for a patent in a foreign country for its invention-creation completed in China, it shall first apply to the Patent Office and, with the consent of the relevant competent department in the State Council, entrust a patent agency designated by the State Council to handle it.
Article 21 Before an application for a patent is published or announced, the staff of the Patent Office and relevant personnel shall be responsible for keeping its contents confidential.
Chapter II Conditions for Granting Patent Rights
Article 22 An invention or utility model that has been granted a patent right shall be novel, creative and practical.
Novelty means that before the filing date, no identical invention or utility model has been published in publications at home and abroad, used in China or known to the public in other ways, and no identical invention or utility model has been applied to the Patent Office by others and recorded in the patent application documents published after the filing date.
Creativity means that compared with the prior art before the filing date, the invention has outstanding substantive features and remarkable progress, and the utility model has substantive features and progress.
Practicality means that the invention or utility model can be manufactured or used and can produce positive effects.
Article 23. The design that has been granted a patent right shall be different from or not similar to the design that has been published in domestic and foreign publications or used publicly in China before the date of application.
Article 24 An invention-creation applying for a patent shall not lose its novelty in any of the following circumstances within six months before the date of filing:
1. It was first exhibited at an international exhibition sponsored or recognized by China Municipal Government;
2. Published for the first time at a specified academic conference or technical conference;
Three, others without the consent of the applicant to disclose its contents.
Article 25 No patent right shall be granted to the following projects:
First, scientific discovery;
Second, the rules and methods of intellectual activities;
Third, the diagnosis and treatment of diseases;
4. Food, beverages and condiments;
5. Drugs and substances obtained by chemical methods;
Six, animal and plant varieties;
7. Substances obtained by nuclear transformation.
The production methods of the products listed in Items (4) to (6) of the preceding paragraph may be granted patent rights in accordance with the provisions of this Law.