According to the provisions of the Patent Law, patents for inventions and utility models must be novel, practical and creative, while patents for designs should be different from or not similar to designs that have been published in domestic and foreign publications or publicly used in China before the filing date.
1. Novelty means that before the filing date, no identical invention or utility model has been published in publications at home and abroad, publicly used in China or known to the public in other ways, and no identical invention or utility model has been applied to the Patent Office by others and recorded in the patent application documents published after the filing date.
As can be seen from the above, written disclosure, use disclosure and oral disclosure can make novelty lose. However, the Patent Law has made special provisions on three situations in which novelty will not be lost: namely, an invention-creation that was first exhibited at an international exhibition sponsored or recognized by the China government, first published at a designated academic or technical conference, and others disclosed its contents without the consent of the applicant, and the novelty will not be lost within six months from the date of the above situation. If the invention is published in a publication or sold as a product within six months, the novelty of the patent application will be affected.
2. Creativity means that the invention has outstanding substantive characteristics and remarkable progress compared with the existing technology before the filing date.
The basis of creative judgment can be summarized as four aspects:
(1) Pioneering invention refers to a brand-new technical scheme, which has no technical precedent and has opened up new fields. Compared with the prior art, groundbreaking inventions have essential differences and remarkable scientific progress.
⑵ Solve the long-standing problem.
(3) Overcome technical prejudice.
(4) It has achieved unexpected results.
3. Practicality means that the invention or utility model can be manufactured or used and can produce positive effects.