Patent Examination and Approval Procedures

According to the Patent Law, the examination and approval procedures for invention patent applications include: acceptance, preliminary examination, publication, actual examination, and authorization. The utility model or design patent application does not carry out early publication and substantive examination in the examination and approval, so there are only three stages. The following figure shows the process flow of the patent application approval process (see next page). The patent examination and approval process is briefly described below with reference to this figure.

1. Patent application acceptance stage

The work at this stage has been described in detail in the previous chapter.

2. Preliminary examination stage

If the patent application is paid in accordance with regulations, it will automatically enter the preliminary examination stage. The patent application for invention must first be subject to confidentiality review before the first trial, and confidentiality procedures should be handled when it needs to be kept confidential. Before applying for a patent for utility model and design, the applicant should also set aside three months of time for the initiative to amend the application.

In the preliminary examination procedure, it is necessary to examine whether there are obvious defects in the application. It mainly includes whether the examination of the contents of application 1 is a clear violation of national laws, social morality or impediments to the public interest; 2 whether it clearly belongs to the subject of no grant of patent rights; 3 whether there is a clear lack of technical content and cannot constitute a technical solution; 4 whether there is a clear lack of unity. Applications for utility models and design patents also need to be examined whether they are obviously the same as patents that have already been approved, and whether they are obviously not a new technical solution or a new design.

In the preliminary examination, it is also necessary to review the completeness of the application documents and their conformity with the requirements. For example: 1 Examining whether the various documents adopt the unified format established by the Patent Office, and whether the drafting of the application, the filling in of the form, or the drawings are in compliance with the Regulations And the requirements stipulated in the review guidelines; 2 whether the certificates or attachments that should be submitted are complete and legally valid; 3 whether the specifications, claims, drawings or design drawings or photographs meet the publishing requirements. In addition, the qualifications of foreign applicants and the application procedures must also be reviewed. If it is not qualified, the Patent Office will notify the applicant to make corrections or state its opinions within the prescribed time limit. Late-non-response applications will be considered withdrawn. If the defect has not been eliminated after the applicant's reply, it shall be rejected. If the invention patent application is qualified in the preliminary examination, it will be issued to the preliminary examination acceptance notice. If a patent application for a utility model or design fails to find a ground for refusal by the first instance, it will directly enter the authorization process. Since the invention still has follow-up procedures, the examination of the application content in the preliminary examination should be relatively loose.

3. Publication of the invention patent application

The invention patent application enters the waiting announcement stage from the issuance of the first-instance pass notice. If the applicant requests to be announced in advance, the application will immediately enter the announcement preparation process. After format review, editorial proofreading, computer processing, and typesetting and printing, about three months later, an explanatory booklet was published and published in the patent gazette. Applications that do not publish the application in advance must wait 15 months from the filing date to enter the publication preparation process; applications for priority (including foreign and domestic priority) should enter the announcement preparation 15 months from the priority date. program. After the application has entered the preparation process for publication, if the applicant requests withdrawal of the patent application, the application will still be published in the patent gazette.

After the application is published, the applicant has obtained the right of temporary protection, that is to say, since the date of publication of the application, the applicant can request the entity or individual that implements the invention to pay the fee. After the application is announced, the content of the application is part of the existing technology.

Applicants must note that the publication number when the application is published in the patent gazette and the application number of the patent application are two different series.

Applicants should use the application number when applying for various procedures to the Patent Office during the patent examination and approval process. Do not use the publication number because all the application documents of the Patent Office are arranged and managed according to the application number. Providing the application number is helpful for quick finding. Processing the application, and because the application number has a check digit, it is easy to find and handle it early if the number provided by the applicant is wrong. If the applicant provides a publication number, the patent office must find the application to be processed through the look-up table. In particular, if the applicant provides a wrong number for the publication, it is generally difficult to find it until the consequences are caused.

4. The substantive examination stage of the invention patent application

After the invention patent application is published, if the applicant has already completed the formal examination request procedure (submission of substantive examination request and has paid the substantive examination fee), the application will enter the substantive examination procedure; otherwise, the applicant should wait for the applicant to go through the formal examination request procedure. If the applicant fails to file a request for substantive examination or the request for substantive examination does not become effective from the date of the application, the application shall be deemed as withdrawn.

The applications for entering the substantive examination procedures will be queued for the actual examination in accordance with the order of entering the actual examination procedure. In the actual examination, the examiner will conduct a comprehensive review on the basis of the search for whether the patent application is novel, creative, practical, and other substantive conditions stipulated in the Patent Law. After review, if it is deemed that it does not meet the conditions for authorization or if there are any defects, it shall notify the applicant to state its opinions or make amendments within the prescribed period of time (the period for the first general four-month period). If the applicant replies in due time, the application is considered withdrawn. If the application still does not meet the requirements after at least one reply or modification, it shall be rejected. Due to the complexity of the substantive examination, the review cycle will normally take one year or more. If the authorization is not authorized within two years from the date of filing, the application maintenance fee shall be paid annually from the third year. If the application is not due or the payment is insufficient, the application shall be filed. Will be considered withdrawn.

If the application for a patent for invention does not find a reason for rejection in the substantive examination, or if the defect is eliminated after the applicant has modified and stated the opinion, the examiner will make a notice of authorization and the application will enter the authorization preparation stage according to the regulations.

5. Authorization stage

After the utility model and design patent application has undergone a preliminary examination, and the invention patent application has found no reason for rejection after substantive examination, the examiner shall make an authorization notice and apply for authorization registration preparation. After reviewing the legal validity and completeness of the authorized text by authorized form reviewers, the Patent Office issued a notice of authorization and a notice of registration formalities after correcting and confirming the description of the patent application.

After receiving the notice of authorization and registration notice, the applicant shall, within 2 months, complete the registration procedures and pay the prescribed fees as required by the notice. If the registration process is completed within the deadline and the prescribed fee is paid, the Patent Office will grant the patent right, issue the patent certificate, record it in the patent register, and report it in the patent gazette after 2 months. The patent right comes into effect on the date of the issuance of the patent certificate.

Those failing to go through the registration formalities in accordance with regulations or failing to complete the registration within the prescribed time limit shall be regarded as giving up the right to obtain a patent.