Patent rights are intangible assets accounting items.

Intangible assets refer to identifiable non-monetary assets without physical form owned or controlled by an enterprise. It mainly includes patent rights, non-patented technologies, trademark rights, copyrights, land use rights and franchise rights, etc. Enterprises should analyze and judge the useful life of intangible assets when acquiring them. Intangible assets with finite useful lives should be amortized. Intangible assets with indefinite useful lives should not be amortized.

The amortization period of an intangible asset begins when it is available for use (that is, when it reaches its intended use) and ends when it is derecognised. That is, the start and stop dates of amortization of intangible assets are: intangible assets that increase in the current month will begin to be amortized in that month; intangible assets that decrease in the current month will no longer be amortized in that month.

There are many ways to systematically allocate the amortization amount of an intangible asset over its useful life. These methods include straight-line method, yield method, etc. The amortization method of intangible assets selected by the enterprise should reflect the expected consumption pattern of the economic benefits related to the intangible asset.

The main characteristics of patent rights

(1) Exclusivity

The so-called exclusivity is also called monopoly or exclusiveness. Patent right is an exclusive right granted to the applicant or his legal assignee by the competent government department based on the application of the inventor or applicant and deeming that his invention meets the conditions stipulated in the patent law. It is exclusively owned by the patentee, and the patentee has the right to possess, use, benefit from and dispose of the object of its rights (i.e. invention and creation).

(2) Temporal nature

The so-called temporal nature of patent rights means that patent rights have a certain time limit, which is the protection period stipulated by law. The patent laws of various countries have their own regulations on the effective protection period of patent rights, and the starting time for calculating the protection period is also different.

(3) Regionality

The so-called regionality refers to the spatial restrictions on patent rights. It means that the patent rights granted and protected by a country or a region are only valid within the scope of that country or region and have no legal effect on other countries and regions, and their patent rights are not recognized and protected. If the patentee wishes to enjoy patent rights in other countries, he must file a separate patent application in accordance with the laws of other countries.