According to Article 42 of the Patent Law, the term of the invention patent right is 20 years, and the term of the utility model patent right and the design patent right is 10 years, both of which are counted from the date of application.
The filing date mentioned here does not include the priority date. What is stipulated here is only the calculation of the start date of the patent term. With regard to the entry into force of the patent right, according to the provisions of Articles 39 and 40 of this Law, it shall come into effect as of the date when the patent administrative department of the State Council issues the patent certificate and makes an announcement.
Like invention patents, utility model patents and design patents also have a certain protection period. According to the requirements in the patent law, the protection period of invention patents in China is the longest, that is, 20 years. If it is the other two patents, then the longest protection period is 10 year. Of course, this also needs to be based on the continuous payment of annual patent fees by the patentee as required during the protection period.
Article 43 The patentee shall pay the annual fee from the year when the patent right is granted.
Article 44 In any of the following circumstances, the patent right shall be terminated before the expiration of the time limit:
(a) failing to pay the annual fee in accordance with the provisions;
(2) The patentee waives his patent right in writing.
Extended data:
Where the patent right is terminated before the expiration of the time limit, it shall be registered and announced by the patent administration department of the State Council.
Although the legal protection period is 20 years from the date of application, in practice, it is impossible to get actual protection at the stage of patent unauthorized, that is, from the date of application to the date of authorization. From the legal point of view, unauthorized patent applications have no right to be protected. Therefore, the actual protection period of a patent should be 20 years from the date of authorization to the date of application.
It should be noted that all protection periods are based on paying the annual patent fee. The annual patent fee in China is paid once a year, and the specific time is to pay the annual fee for the next year in advance within one month before the patent application date. When the patent fails due to failure to pay the annual fee, the protection period ends on the last day of the previous payment year.