Some inventors believe that a technological achievement can only apply for one patent at a time, that is, only an invention patent or a utility model patent or a design patent can be applied.
Judging from the types of patents, there are three kinds of patents stipulated in China's patent law: invention patents, utility model patents and design patents. A product invention can apply for multiple patents at the same time, and a technical scheme can also apply for utility model and invention patents at the same time.
The patent for utility model can be granted quickly, and the corresponding protection can be obtained at the earliest, which generally takes about 1 year; Invention patents usually take two to five years to examine and approve. With the improvement of national intellectual property level, the time for patent examination and approval is relatively shortened.
From the review of the past two years, it is generally about 10 months to grant new patents; Invention patent takes about 1.5 years. Therefore, for some important product inventions, if the inventor only applies for one invention patent, while others apply for invention patents and utility model patents at the same time, then he first obtains the utility model patent and owns the product patent right. If the inventor uses the product, it constitutes infringement.
Specifically, according to the actual situation, first write a patent in combination with the actual product to see if it is suitable for applying for multiple patents.
I hope I can help you!