Legal basis: Article 2 of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) Invention-creation as mentioned in this Law refers to inventions, utility models and designs.
Invention refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement.
Utility model refers to a new practical technical scheme for the shape, structure or combination of products.
Appearance design refers to a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application, which is made on the shape, pattern or their combination of products and all or part of the combination of colors, shapes and patterns.
Article 23 of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), a design that has been granted a patent right does not belong to an existing design; Before the filing date, no unit or individual has filed an application with the patent administration department of the State Council for the same design, and it is recorded in the patent documents published after the filing date.
Compared with the existing design or the combination of existing design features, the patented design should have obvious differences.
A design that has been granted a patent right shall not conflict with the legal rights that others have obtained before the date of application.
Existing designs as mentioned in this Law refer to designs known to the public at home and abroad before the date of application.
In Article 42 of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), the patent right for invention is 20 years, the patent right for utility model is 10 year, and the patent right for design is 15 year, all of which are counted from the date of application.
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.