Applying for a patent is a legal system for protecting intellectual property rights of inventions and creations under market economy conditions. All inventions and innovations that meet patent conditions should apply for patents as early as possible to obtain national legal protection. To apply for a patent, you must submit necessary application documents to the National Patent Office in accordance with regulations. To apply for an invention or utility model patent, a request, description, claims, abstract of the description, necessary drawings and other documents must be submitted. To apply for a design patent, a request letter and documents such as pictures or photos of the design should be submitted. The patent application document can be written by the applicant himself or entrusted to be written by others. Application documents can be submitted directly to the State Patent Office in person, or sent by registered mail to the State Patent Office, or you can entrust an agency to handle the application. After receiving the patent application documents that meet the requirements, the National Patent Office will send an acceptance notice to the applicant, which will indicate the patent application date and application number and related matters. Thereafter, the applicant shall pay relevant fees as required. Payment can be made directly to the Patent Office, via post office or bank remittance, or via an agency.

The best steps

Applying for a patent is a legal process. If the inventor who applies for a patent wants to quickly and securely obtain patent rights and obtain legal protection, he or she can entrust patent affairs Our patent attorneys provide you with legal and technical assistance. Once an inventor establishes an agency relationship with a patent attorney, the patent attorney becomes your technical advisor and patent attorney. To be precise, a qualified patent agent will help the inventor to carry out secondary development of the technology to be patented, such as exploring alternative solutions. At the same time, the inventor needs to provide technical support to the agent and provide all necessary information in a timely manner. Relevant information required.

After the inventor establishes an agency relationship with the patent agent, he should provide the detailed technical information necessary for writing patent documents according to the agent's requirements; the detailed technical information includes the purpose of the invention and creation, comparison of new and old technologies, main Technical characteristics and specific plans for implementing the purpose of the invention and creation, as well as drawings that can explain the purpose of the invention and creation, etc.

If the inventor cannot draw or cannot provide necessary detailed technical information, he can directly speak to the patent agent. The patent agent can complete the entire patent application process for you based on the inventor's inventive intention. Obtain patent rights.

The procedure for entrusting a patent agency to apply for a patent

Entrusting a patent agency to apply for a patent generally requires the following steps

1. Consultation

< p>1. Determine whether the content of the invention is patentable; for this consultation, it is recommended to consult with several companies and compare them to determine the correct conclusion. Because many information receptionists are currently paid on a commission basis, and due to business volume, they sometimes respond inappropriately to inquiries.

2. Determine which type of patent (invention, utility model, design) can be applied for the content of the invention and creation

2. Sign an agency agreement

The purpose of signing an agency agreement at this time is to clarify the rights and obligations between the applicant and the patent agency, mainly to bind the patent agent to the obligation to keep the applicant's inventions and creations confidential.

3. Technical disclosure

1. The applicant provides the patent agent with background information on the invention or creation or entrusts the search for relevant content;

2. The applicant Detailed introduction to the content of the invention and creation helps patent attorneys fully understand the content of the invention and creation.

4. Determine the application plan

Based on the understanding of the invention and creation, the agent will make a preliminary judgment on the prospects of patent application and make a preliminary judgment on the possibility of patent authorization. The application will be recommended to be withdrawn by the applicant. At this time, the agency will charge a small consulting fee, and most of the application agency fees will be returned to the applicant.

If the prospect of patent authorization is great, the patent agent will propose a clear application plan, scope and content of protection, and start preparation for the formal application with the applicant's consent.

5. Prepare application documents

1. Write patent application documents;

2. Prepare application documents;

3. Submit Apply for a patent and obtain a patent application number.

6. Review

The China Patent Office will review the patent application documents. During the review process, the patent agent will carry out patent corrections, opinion statements, defenses, changes, etc.

If necessary, the applicant should cooperate with the patent agent to complete the above work

7. Examination Conclusion

The China Patent Office will make an authorization or rejection examination conclusion based on the examination situation. This process The processing time is generally: about 6 months for appearance design, about 10-12 months for utility model, and 2-4 years for invention patent.

8. Handling patent registration procedures or reexamination requests

If the patent application is authorized, go through the registration procedures and receive a patent certificate according to the requirements of the patent authorization notice.

If the patent application is rejected, whether to file a reexamination request will be determined based on the specific circumstances.

At this point, the patent application process is over.

Relevant preparations

Types of patents and what application documents should be submitted for patent applications

1. Types of patent applications

Patent applications There are three types: invention, utility model and appearance design. New technical solutions proposed for products, methods or improvements can be applied for invention patents; new technical solutions proposed for the shape, structure or combination of products that are suitable for practical use can be applied for utility model patents; for the shape of the product , pattern or their combination, as well as the combination of color, shape, and pattern to create a new design that is aesthetically pleasing and suitable for industrial application, you can apply for a design patent.

2. What application documents should be submitted when applying for a patent?

If applying for an invention patent, the application documents should include: invention patent request, description (if the description has drawings, the description should be submitted (with drawings), claims, abstract (abstract and drawings when necessary), each in duplicate.

For invention patent applications involving amino acid or nucleotide sequences, the sequence list should be included in the description and submitted as a separate part of the description. At the same time, the sequence list should also be submitted in compliance with the regulations of the State Intellectual Property Office. A CD or floppy disk containing the sequence list.

When applying for a utility model patent, the application documents shall include: utility model patent request, description, drawings of the description, claims, abstract and drawings, each in duplicate.

When applying for a design patent, the application documents should include: design patent request letter, pictures or photos, each in duplicate. If you require color protection, you should also submit color pictures or photos in duplicate. If you submit pictures, both copies should be pictures. If you submit photos, both copies should be photos. Pictures or photos should not be mixed. If a description is needed for pictures or photos, a brief description of the design should be submitted in duplicate.

(1) You can entrust an agency to handle it.

(2) Go to the Beijing Intellectual Property Office in person to apply. The application form can be downloaded from the official website or requested from the Intellectual Property Office.

(3) It is recommended to hire a patent agency company to help represent you. It should be noted that patent agents require special qualifications. This qualification is different from lawyer qualifications and trademark agent qualifications. At present, a large number of "intellectual property agency companies" or "law firms" that do not have patent agency qualifications conceal the fact that they do not have patent agency qualifications, and it is difficult to successfully represent patent matters. Consult Beijing Zhongshenghui Intellectual Property Agency Co., Ltd.