According to the Patent Law, the examination and approval procedure of an application for a patent for invention includes five stages: acceptance, preliminary examination, publication, actual examination and authorization.
1, acceptance stage:
If the conditions for acceptance are met, the Patent Office shall determine the date of application, give the application number, and after checking the list of documents, issue an acceptance notice to inform the applicant.
If you submit your application electronically, you will generally receive an electronic acceptance notice and an application fee payment notice/fee waiver approval notice within 2-3 working days.
2. Preliminary examination stage: Article 44 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law (basis for examination)
In practice, I personally think that the examiner will review the following contents, welcome to add:
(1) Generally, the name of an invention does not exceed 25 words. Under special circumstances, inventions in the field of chemistry may allow no more than 40 words.
(2) Whether the invention name, description, confidentiality review request (if any), substantive review request (if any) and patent agency power of attorney (if any) of the request are consistent.
(3) The abstract part of the specification shall not exceed 300 words, and may contain the chemical formula of the invention.
(4) Whether the abstract drawing (if any) is one of the drawings in the specification.
3. Publishing stage
Article 34 of the Patent Law. After receiving an application for a patent for invention, the administrative department for patent in the State Council, after preliminary examination, finds that it meets the requirements of this Law, and it shall publish it after 18 months from the date of filing. The patent administration department of the State Council may publish its application at an early date upon the request of the applicant.
4. Substantive review stage
Article 35 of the Patent Law Within three years from the date of filing, the patent administration department in the State Council may, upon the request of the applicant at any time, conduct substantive examination of the application; If the applicant fails to request substantive examination within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn. Of course, don't forget to pay the substantive examination fee when making the substantive examination request!
5. Authorization stage
After so long, finally authorized! Pay the authorized registration fee, annual fee and stamp duty within the time limit specified in the notice of registration!
6. Payment of annual fee
After the year in which the patent right is granted, the annual fee shall be paid before the expiration of the previous year. If the patentee fails to pay or fails to pay in full, the patent administration department of the State Council shall notify the patentee to pay the annual fee within 6 months from the date when the annual fee should be paid, and pay the late fee at the same time; The amount of the late payment fee is calculated by adding 5% of the full annual fee of the current year for every 1 month that exceeds the prescribed payment time; If it is not paid at the expiration of the time limit, the patent right shall be terminated from the date when the annual fee should be paid.
How to avoid the product design patent Zhihu design patent, if you use it directly (using its function) instead of using its appearance, it will not infringe its patent right.
Can one patent write two papers, Zhihu? Yes, patent application is preferred, and the paper is behind; On the other hand, if the patent cannot be authorized, it will form a conflicting application.