Who owns the patent right? Who enjoys the right of free use?

Article 340th of the Contract Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates: "Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the right to apply for a patent belongs to the parties involved in cooperative development. If one of the parties transfers its patent application right, under the same conditions, the other parties have the priority to transfer it. " "If one party to the cooperative development waives its right to apply for a patent, it may apply separately by the other party or jointly by other parties. If the applicant obtains a patent right, the party who gives up the right to apply for a patent can exploit the patent free of charge. " For the invention-creation jointly completed by all parties, the parties who have completed the invention-creation shall file a special application as the applicant (of course, in practice, one party may be selected as the representative of other parties to handle related patent affairs). One or more parties may not file a patent application on their own without the consent of the other parties who have completed the invention-creation. In this regard, the above provisions of the contract law stipulate: "If one party to the cooperative development does not agree to apply for a patent, the other party or other parties may not apply for a patent."