Application process of appearance patent
1, acceptance stage
After receiving the patent application, the Patent Office will examine it. 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.
2. Preliminary review stage
If the accepted patent application pays the application fee in accordance with the regulations, it will automatically enter the preliminary examination stage. Before the preliminary examination, the application for a patent for invention must be examined in confidentiality, and if confidentiality is required, it shall be handled in accordance with the confidentiality procedures. In the preliminary examination, it is necessary to examine whether there are obvious defects in the application, mainly including whether the contents of the examination fall within the scope of the patent law that does not grant the patent right, whether the obvious lack of technical content does not constitute a technical scheme, whether it lacks singularity, whether the application documents are complete and whether the format meets the requirements.
3. Publishing stage
The application for a patent for invention has entered the publication stage since the issuance of the notice of preliminary examination. If the applicant does not make a request for early publication, it will not enter the public preparation procedure until 18 months after the application date. If the applicant requests to be made public in advance, the application will immediately enter the public preparation procedure.
4. Substantive review stage
After the publication of the application for a patent for invention, if the applicant makes a request for substantive examination and it has taken effect, the applicant will enter the actual trial procedure. If the applicant fails to make a request for real trial within three years from the date of application, or the request for real trial does not take effect, the application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.
How long does it take to apply for a patent for appearance to successfully pass the above application process?
After completing the examination about 6 to 8 months from the date of application, you will receive the authorization notice from the Patent Office, informing you to pay the certificate fee and annual fee, and you will receive the design patent certificate from the Patent Office about two months after the payment. The whole process takes about 8 months to 1 year. If there are problems in the application documents during the review, it is necessary to correct and answer them. , the authorization time will be postponed accordingly.
How long is the protection period of the design patent?
At present, the term of design patent right is 10 year. However, after the fourth revision of China's current patent law, the new patent law came into effect on June 20021year, and the protection period of the revised design patent was extended from 10 to 15.