I. Patent Application
1. grace period without losing novelty: within six months before the application date.
2. Where it is required not to lose novelty, it shall be declared when filing a patent application, and relevant supporting documents shall be submitted within two months from the date of filing. Failure to submit supporting documents as required shall be deemed as not requiring loss of novelty.
3. Term of priority: foreign priority: within 12 months from the date when the invention or utility model is first filed in a foreign country; Within six months from the date of the first foreign patent application; Domestic priority: only applicable to inventions and utility models, that is, twelve months, and designs do not enjoy domestic priority.
4. Time limit for claiming priority: make a written statement at the time of application and submit a copy of the first patent application document within three months. If a written statement or a copy is not submitted at the expiration of the time limit, it shall be deemed that the priority has not been claimed.
5. If the new biological material is not made public, the applicant shall submit the sample of the biological material to the preservation unit recognized by the patent administration department of the State Council for preservation on or before the application date (priority date if there is priority) at the latest, and submit the preservation certificate and survival certificate issued by the preservation unit on or within 4 months from the application date at the latest. If the certificate is not submitted at the expiration, it shall be deemed that it has not been submitted for preservation; If the relevant information of the biomaterial is not indicated at the time of application, it shall be corrected within four months from the date of application. If it is not corrected within the time limit, it shall be deemed that it has not been submitted for preservation.
Second, the patent preliminary examination
1. After receiving the acceptance notice, the applicant shall pay the application fee, publication and printing fee and necessary application surcharge within two months from the date of application at the latest. If the application is not paid or not paid in full, the application shall be deemed to be withdrawn.
2. If payment is made by remittance, the actual remittance date shall be the payment date, but if the remittance date is more than fifteen days from the date of receipt by the patent administration department of the State Council, the payment date shall be the payment date, unless there is evidence; Where the patent fee is overpaid, re-paid or wrongly paid, the party concerned may make a refund request to the patent administration department of the State Council within one year from the date of payment.
3. All kinds of documents mailed by the patent administration department in the State Council are presumed to be the date of receipt of the documents by the parties after fifteen days from the date of issuance of the documents; Documents that should be served directly according to the provisions of the patent administration department of the State Council shall be served on the date of service; If the service address of the document is not clear and it cannot be mailed, it can be served on the parties by announcement, and it will be deemed to have been served one month after the date of announcement.
4. After receiving an application for a patent for invention, the administrative department for patent in the State Council, if it meets the requirements after preliminary examination, shall publish it eighteen months after the date of application. (Experience: If the applicant requests to make it public in advance, it will generally be made public six months after the date of application).
Third, the patent substantive examination
1. Within three years from the date of application, the applicant may request substantive examination at any time. If the substantive examination is not carried out within the time limit without justifiable reasons, the application shall be deemed to be withdrawn.
2. Time limit for restoring the rights: If the rights are delayed due to force majeure, you may, within two months from the date when the obstacles are removed, and at the latest within two years from the date when the time limit expires, explain the reasons to the the State Council Patent Administration Department and attach relevant supporting documents to request the restoration of the rights;
If it is delayed due to justifiable reasons, it may explain the reasons to the patent administration department of the State Council within two months from the date of receiving the notice from the patent administration department of the State Council, and request the restoration of rights;
Article 24 (time limit for not losing novelty), Article 29 (time limit for priority), Article 42 (time limit for patent protection) and Article 62 (time limit for infringement litigation) of the Patent Law shall not apply to the time limit for restoring rights stipulated in this Article.
3. Time limit for proposing active revision: An applicant for a patent for invention may propose active revision of an application for a patent for invention when submitting the substantive examination documents and within three months after receiving the notice that the application for a patent for invention has entered the substantive examination stage from the patent administration department of the State Council; An applicant for a patent for utility model or design may propose amendments voluntarily within two months from the date of application.
4. Response period of the notice of review opinions: the first notice of review opinions: four months; Notice of second review opinion and notice of subsequent review opinion: two months.
5. Patent application documents that have been regarded as withdrawn, rejected and automatically withdrawn shall not be kept after two years from the date of expiration of the patent application; The archives of the patent right that has been abandoned, declared invalid and terminated shall not be kept for three years from the date of expiration of the patent.
Fourth, patent examination.
1. Request for reexamination: If the patent applicant refuses to accept the decision to reject the application, he may request reexamination from the Patent Reexamination Board within three months from the date of receiving the notice;
2. Time limit for paying the reexamination request fee: within three months from the date when the applicant receives the rejection decision.
3. Time limit for reply to the notice of review: within one month from the date of receiving the notice of review opinions.
4. If the patent applicant refuses to accept the reexamination decision, he may bring a lawsuit to the people's court within three months from the date of receiving the notice.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) patent authorization
1. After the patent administrative department of the State Council issues the notice of granting the patent right, the applicant shall go through the registration formalities within two months from the date of receiving the notice. Failure to go through the registration formalities at the expiration of the period shall be deemed as giving up the right to obtain the patent right. The annual fee for the year when the patent right is granted shall be paid at the same time as the registration formalities, and the annual fee for the following year shall be paid before the expiration of the previous year.
2. Duration of patent protection: the duration of invention patent is 20 years, and the duration of utility model and design patent is 10 year, which are calculated from the date of filing (regardless of the priority date).
3. Except the annual fee of the current year, the expiration date of the annual fee payment period in other years is the corresponding date of the application date of the current year. If the patentee fails to pay the annual fee on time or in full after the year when the patent right is granted, the patent administration department of the State Council shall notify the patentee to pay it within six months from the date of expiration of the annual fee, and at the same time pay the late fee; The amount of overdue fine is calculated by adding 5% of the full annual fee of the current year for each 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.
Invalid declaration of intransitive verbs
1. The request fee for invalidation shall be paid within one month from the date of filing the request.
2. After the Patent Reexamination Board accepts the request for invalidation, the claimant may supplement the reasons or evidence within one month from the date of filing the request for invalidation. If the reasons or evidence are supplemented within the time limit, the Patent Reexamination Board may not consider it; In the procedure of examining the request for invalidation, the time limit specified by the Patent Reexamination Board shall not be extended.
Seven. Patent transfer and licensing
1. One of the cases of compulsory licensing of patent exploitation: the patentee has not exploited or fully exploited the patent for three years from the date of granting the patent right and four years from the date of filing the patent application.
2. If the patentee refuses to accept the decision to implement the compulsory license, and the patentee and the entity or individual that has obtained the compulsory license refuse to accept the ruling of the patent administrative department of the State Council on the compulsory license fee, they may bring a lawsuit to the people's court within three months from the date of receiving the notice.
3. The conclusion of a patent licensing contract shall be filed with the patent administrative department of the State Council within three months from the date of entry into force of the contract; The patent transfer contract shall come into effect as of the date of registration by the patent administrative department of the State Council.
4. After the expiration of 3 years from the date when the patent right was granted, any entity may request the the State Council Patent Administration Department to grant a compulsory license in accordance with Article 48 of the Patent Law.
5. Regarding the dispute over the compulsory license fee, the administrative department for patent in the State Council shall make a ruling within three months from the date of receiving the request and notify the parties concerned.
Eight, the revision of the patent specification
1. The fees for change of description items, retrieval report of utility model patent, request for suspension of procedures, request for compulsory license, request for ruling of compulsory license and request for invalidation shall be paid within one month from the date of application.
2. The request fee for extending the time limit shall be paid before the expiration of the corresponding time limit. Failing to pay or pay in full at the expiration of the time limit shall be deemed as not making a request.
IX. Patent Protection
1. If a party refuses to accept the infringement treatment made by the administrative department for patent work, he may bring a lawsuit to the people's court in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China within 15 days from the date of receiving the notice of treatment.
2. If the applicant fails to bring a lawsuit within 15 days from the date when the people's court takes measures to order the relevant acts to stop, the people's court shall lift the measures; If the applicant does not bring a suit within 15 days from the date when the people's court takes protective measures, the people's court shall lift the protective measures.
The limitation of action for patent infringement is two years, counting from the date when the patentee or interested party knows or should know about the infringement.
4. The patent administrative department of the State Council shall make a patent evaluation report within two months after receiving the request for patent evaluation report.
X. Other time limits for the patent application process
1. Inventions and creations made within one year after retirement or job transfer are related to the job undertaken by the original unit or the tasks assigned by the original unit. Unless otherwise agreed, the original unit has the right to apply for a patent.
2. In the event of a patent ownership dispute, if the administrative department for patent affairs has requested or brought a lawsuit to the people's court, it may request the patent administrative department of the State Council to suspend the relevant procedures (mainly referring to the preservation of patent application rights). Within one year from the date of requesting suspension, if the dispute over ownership cannot be closed and it is necessary to continue to suspend the relevant procedures, the claimant shall request an extension of the suspension within this time limit. If no extension is requested at the expiration of the time limit, the patent administration department of the State Council shall resume the relevant procedures on its own.
Source: /558/558/86