(1) Different confidentiality: According to the provisions of the patent laws of various countries, when applying for a patent right, the inventor must disclose the contents of the invention in the patent application, which will be published by the patent authorities in the official patent announcement and made public. Proprietary technology is as confidential as possible, and once it loses confidentiality, it cannot be protected by law.
(2) Different timeliness: patented technology has a statutory time limit, in which the protection period of invention patent right is 20 years, and the protection period of utility model patent right and design patent right is 10 year. Proprietary technology is not like this. There is no time limit for proprietary technology. Know-how is secret. As long as the technology is not open, the owner of proprietary technology can always enjoy the technology alone.
(3) Regional differences: the patented technology is protected in the authorized area and has regional characteristics. The patent right granted by a country according to its own patent law is only valid within its legal jurisdiction and is not binding on other countries. Proprietary technology is not regional. As long as the technology is not made public, the proprietary technology owner can use the technology exclusively in any country in the world, without any geographical restrictions.
(4) Different legal protection: The protection of patented technology has special legal protection and patent law protection. Once a person obtains the patent right of a certain proprietary technology, the proprietary technology will be protected by China's patent law. Proprietary technology is an intangible intellectual property, which is mainly protected by secret means. Proprietary technology is far less protected by law than patented technology.
legal ground
People's Republic of China (PRC) Anti-unfair Competition Law
Article 42 From the date of filing, the term of patent right for invention is 20 years, that for utility model is 10 year, and that for design is 15 year.
Where a patent for invention is granted for four years from the date of application for a patent for invention and three years from the date of request for substantive examination, the patent administration department of the State Council shall, at the request of the patentee, compensate for the unreasonable delay of the invention patent in the process of authorization, except for the unreasonable delay caused by the applicant.
In order to compensate for the time occupied by the review and approval of new drugs, the patent administration department of the State Council shall compensate the patentee for the patent term of new drug-related invention patents that have been approved for listing in China. The compensation period shall not exceed five years, and the total effective patent right period after the new drug is approved for marketing shall not exceed fourteen years.
Article 11 After the patent right for invention and utility model is granted, except as otherwise provided in this Law, no unit or individual may exploit the patent without the permission of the patentee, that is, it may not manufacture, use, promise to sell, sell or import the patented product for production and business purposes, nor may it use the patented method and use, promise to sell, sell or import the product directly obtained according to the patented method.
After the design patent is granted, no unit or individual may exploit its patent without the permission of the patentee, that is, it may not manufacture, promise to sell, sell or import its patented product for production and business purposes.