What are the steps of patent examination and the principles of patent preliminary examination?

I. Steps of Patent Examination What steps of patent examination are as follows: 1. Examination of an application for a patent for invention After accepting an application for a patent for invention, the patent administration department in the State Council must conduct an examination in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the Patent Law. The main examination procedures of an application for a patent for invention include preliminary examination, publication of the patent application, request for substantive examination and substantive examination. 2. Preliminary examination Preliminary examination refers to the examination of whether the patent application meets the formal requirements and obvious substantive defects stipulated in the Patent Law and its detailed rules for implementation. 3. substantive examination substantive examination is mainly to examine whether the patent application meets the substantive conditions for granting the patent right. Two. On the basis of the principle of patent preliminary examination in section 15.2. 1 in Chapter 2 of Part I, according to the unified requirements of the three patent preliminary examinations, the original principle of patent preliminary examination is supplemented and improved, and the principle of preliminary examination is formulated. It is clear that the examiner should abide by the following principles in the preliminary examination procedure: (1) confidentiality principle (2) written examination principle (3) hearing principle (4) program saving principle emphasizes the confidentiality responsibility and obligation that the examiner should have in the preliminary examination procedure; In the principle of written examination, it is clear that there is no meeting in principle in the preliminary examination procedure, because there are many cases in the preliminary examination, and the scope of examination is formal examination and obvious substantive defect examination. Defects in the application documents can generally be solved by making corrections, without requiring the applicant to meet, demonstrate products or provide samples. However, if the applicant takes the initiative to consult the examiner, he should also meet seriously in the spirit of serving the applicant. The principle of hearing clearly stipulates that "before rejecting the decision, the examiner shall inform the applicant of the facts, reasons and evidence on which the decision is based"; In the principle of program saving, it is reiterated that in order to improve the efficiency of examination, the examiner should point out all defects in a notice of correction as far as possible; The principle of serving the parties is retained, and the parties are clearly informed of the subsequent legal procedures. There is a chapter in the original examination guide about the examination procedures of three patents, and there is no unified regulation. This not only caused the same problem in the application, but also caused the applicant and the patent agent to have an unpredictable grasp of the examination standards due to different regulations and inconsistent procedures. In the revision of this review guide, according to the relevant provisions of the Patent Law and its detailed rules for implementation, and on the basis of the review procedure in Chapter II 15 of Part I "Preliminary Review of Application for a Patent for Utility Model", the review procedure is unified according to the review practice: (1) The preliminary review is qualified; (two) the application documents; (3) The obvious substantive defects are dealt with; (4) the notice is answered; (5) Rejecting the application; (6) Pre-examination and re-examination are handled. In the preliminary examination, it is clearly stipulated that the examiner will issue a notice of correction to the patent application with defects that can be overcome through correction in the application documents; For patent applications with obvious substantive defects that cannot be overcome by correction, the examiner shall issue a notice of examination opinions. Starting from saving procedures and optimizing processes, the number of corrections and the requirements for rejection are also limited. "There are obvious substantive defects in the application documents, and the applicant's statement or modification has not been eliminated after the examiner issues a notice of examination opinions; Or there are formal defects in the application documents, and the examiner has issued two notices of correction, which have not been eliminated after the applicant's statement or correction, and the examiner may make a decision of rejection. " The newly revised Patent Examination Guide has unified the scope, principles and procedures of preliminary examination, simplified the examination procedure, shortened the examination process and unified the examination benchmark. It is also conducive to guiding the examiner to review according to the unified review principles and working procedures; Ensure the quality of patent examination and approval.