What's the difference between utility model patent and invention patent?

First, the utility model is less creative than the invention. Compared with the existing technology before the filing date, China's patent law requires it to have outstanding substantive characteristics and remarkable progress; The requirement of utility model is that it has substantial features and progress compared with the existing technology before the filing date. The invention emphasizes "outstanding substantive features" and "remarkable progress", while the utility model only mentions "substantive features and progress". Obviously, invention is more creative than utility model. Second, the scope of utility model is smaller than that of invention. As an invention is a new technical proposal for a product, a method or an improvement thereof, an invention can be a product invention, a method invention or an improvement invention. Only in product invention, it can also be a fixed product invention or a non-fixed product invention. Moreover, unless otherwise stipulated in the patent law, any invention can be patented according to law. However, the scope of the application for a patent for utility model is much narrower, which is limited to the technical scheme of utility model proposed by the shape, composition or combination of products. In this way, all kinds of manufacturing methods can not apply for utility model patents. At the same time, it is impossible to produce utility models for products that have nothing to do with shape, structure or their combination. Therefore, the scope of utility model is much narrower than that of invention, and it is only limited to the innovative design related to the shape, structure or combination of products. Three. The protection period of utility model patent is shorter than that of invention patent. China's patent law clearly stipulates that the protection period of utility model patents is 10 years, counting from the date of filing. The protection period of an invention patent is 20 years. In contrast, the protection period of utility model patents is much shorter than that of invention patents. This is because, generally speaking, the process of utility model creation is simpler and easier than invention creation, and the time to bring benefits into play is much shorter. Therefore, the provisions of the law on its protection period are correspondingly shorter. 4. The examination and approval process of utility model patent is simpler than that of invention patent. According to the provisions of China's patent law, after receiving an application for a patent for utility model, the patent office, after preliminary examination, finds that it meets the requirements of the patent law, and will not conduct substantive examination, but may make an announcement, notify the applicant and issue a patent certificate for utility model. For the invention patent, it needs to go through substantive examination, and the procedure and time of examination are much more complicated and longer than that of utility model.