"PRC Patent Law"

(Adopted at the Fourth Session of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress on March 12, 1984, pursuant to the Twenty-Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on September 4, 1992 The first amendment to the Decision on the Patent Law is based on the second amendment to the "Decision on Amending the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China" of the Seventeenth Meeting of the Ninth National People's Congress Standing Committee on August 25, 2000.)

table of Contents

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is formulated for the purpose of protecting patent rights for inventions and inventions, encouraging inventions and inventions, facilitating the promotion and application of inventions and inventions, promoting scientific and technological progress and innovation, and meeting the needs of the socialist modernization drive.

Article 2 The inventions and creations referred to in this Law refer to inventions, utility models and designs.

Article 3 The patent administration department under the State Council shall be responsible for the administration of patent work throughout the country; accept and examine patent applications in a unified manner and grant patent rights according to law.

The administrative departments of patents of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government are responsible for the administration of patents within their administrative areas.

Article 4 Where inventions and applications for patents involve national security or major interests need to be kept confidential, they shall be handled in accordance with relevant state regulations.

Article 5 No patent right shall be granted for any invention-creation that violates the laws of the state, social morality, or hinders public interests.

Article 6 The inventions created by the implementation of the tasks of the unit or mainly by the use of its own material and technical conditions are service creations. The right to apply for a patent for service invention creation belongs to the unit; after the application is approved, the unit is the patentee.

For a non-service invention-creation, the right to apply for a patent belongs to the inventor or designer; after the application is approved, the inventor or designer is the patentee.

If the unit and the inventor or designer have a contract based on the inventions and creations completed by their own material and technical conditions, and they have agreed on the right to apply for a patent and the ownership of the patent right, the agreement shall prevail.

Article 7 No application may be made by any unit or individual to an inventor or designer's non-service invention-creation patent application.

Article 8 Inventions and creations that are jointly completed by two or more units or individuals, or a unit or individual that accepts the inventions created by other units or individuals, unless otherwise agreed, the right to apply for a patent belongs to a unit that is completed or jointly completed or Individuals; After the application is approved, the entity or individual applying for is the patentee.

Article 9 If two or more applicants respectively apply for a patent for the same invention-creation, the patent right shall be granted to the person who applied first.

Article 10 The right to apply for a patent and the patent right may be assigned.

If a Chinese unit or individual assigns a patent application right or patent right to a foreigner, it must be approved by the competent department of the State Council.

Where a patent application right or patent right is assigned, the parties shall conclude a written contract and register with the patent administration department under the State Council, which shall be granted by the patent administration department under the State Council.

Take the announcement. The right to apply for a patent or the transfer of a patent right shall become effective on the date of registration.

Article 11 After the patent rights for inventions and utility models have been granted, no entity or individual may exercise its patents without the permission of the patentee, ie, it may not manufacture or use it for production or business purposes, unless otherwise provided for in this Law. Promise to sell, sell, import its patented products, or use its patented methods and use, promise to sell, sell, and import products directly obtained under this patented method.

After the design patent right has been granted, any unit or individual may not implement its patent without the permission of the patentee, that is, it may not manufacture, sell, or import its design patented product for production or business purposes.

Article 12 Any entity or individual that exploits another's patent shall enter into a written license contract with the patentee to pay the patentee a fee for the use of the patent. The licensee has no right to allow any unit or individual outside the contract to implement the patent.

Article 13 After the publication of an application for a patent for invention, the applicant may request the entity or individual implementing the invention to pay an appropriate fee.

Article 14 Where invention patents of state-owned enterprises and institutions are of great significance to national interests or public interests, the relevant departments of the State Council and the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, upon approval by the State Council, decide to popularize and apply them within the scope of approval. The implementation of the designated unit is permitted, and the implementing unit shall pay the royalty to the patentee in accordance with national regulations.

The invention patents of China's collective ownership units and individuals are of great significance to the national interests or public interests. If they need to be popularized and applied, they shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Article 15 The patentee has the right to indicate the patent mark and the patent number on the patented product or on the packaging of the product.

Article 16 The unit to which the patent right has been granted shall give awards to the inventor or designer of the service invention creator; after the invention-creation patent is implemented, the inventor or designer shall be given a reasonable amount based on the scope of its promotion and application and the economic benefits obtained. The rewards.

Article 17 An inventor or designer has the right to indicate that he is an inventor or designer in a patent document.

Article 18 Aliens, foreign enterprises or other foreign organizations that do not have regular residences or establishments in China apply for patents in China shall be based on the agreements they have signed with China or international treaties that they belong to, or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity. This law applies.

Article 19 Aliens, foreign enterprises or other foreign organizations that do not have regular residences or establishments in China shall apply for patents and handle other patent affairs in China shall appoint patent agencies designated by the patent administration department under the State Council to handle them.

If a Chinese unit or individual applies for a patent in the country or handles other patent affairs, it may entrust a patent agency to handle it.

A patent agency shall abide by laws and administrative regulations and handle patent applications or other patent affairs in accordance with the entrustment of the agent; the contents of the invention and creation of the agent shall be held confidential unless the patent application has been published or announced. The specific management measures of patent agencies shall be prescribed by the State Council.

Article 20 Where a Chinese unit or individual applies for a patent for a foreign invention or creation completed in China, he shall apply to the Patent Administrative Department under the State Council for a patent, entrust him to a designated patent agency, and abide by the provisions of Article 4 of this Law. .

A Chinese unit or individual may file an international patent application based on the relevant international treaty to which the People's Republic of China participates. Where an applicant files an international application for a patent, it shall comply with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

The patent administration department under the State Council handles international applications for patents in accordance with relevant international treaties to which the People's Republic of China participates, this Law, and the relevant provisions of the State Council.

Article 21 The State Council department in charge of patent administration and its Patent Reexamination Board shall, in accordance with the objective, fair, accurate, and timely requirements, handle applications and requests for relevant patents according to law.

Prior to the publication or announcement of a patent application, the staff of the State Council's patent administrative department and related personnel shall be responsible for the confidentiality of their contents.

Chapter II Conditions for Granting Patent Rights

Article 22 Inventions and utility models that grant patent rights shall be novel, creative, and practical.

Novelty means that no identical invention or utility model has been publicly published in domestic and foreign publications before the filing date, has been used publicly or otherwise known to the public in the country, and there is no identical invention or utility model by others. Apply to the patent administrative department of the State Council and record the patent application documents published after the filing date.

Creativity means that the invention has outstanding substantive features and significant progress compared with the technology that existed before the filing date. The utility model has substantial characteristics and progress.

Practicality means that the invention or utility model can be manufactured or used, and can produce positive effects.

Article 23 The design of a patent right granted for a patent shall not be the same as or similar to the design that has been publicly published in domestic and foreign publications before the filing date or that has been used in the country, and shall not be legally obtained in advance with others. Conflicts of rights.

Article 24 The invention-creation application for a patent shall not lose its novelty within one of the following circumstances within six months before the filing date:

(a) first exhibited at an international exhibition organized or recognized by the Chinese government;

(b) published for the first time at a prescribed academic conference or technical conference;

(3) Others leaked their content without the consent of the applicant.

Article 25 No patent right shall be granted for the following:
(a) scientific discovery;
(B) the rules and methods of intellectual activity;
(c) diagnosis and treatment of diseases;
(d) Animal and plant varieties;
(e) Substances obtained by nuclear transformation methods.

The production methods for the products listed in item (4) of the preceding paragraph may be granted in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

Chapter III Application for Patent

Article 26 Where an application for a patent for invention or utility model is filed, a request, a description and its abstract, and claims shall be submitted.

The request shall state the name of the invention or utility model, the name of the inventor or designer, the name and address of the applicant, and other matters.

The specification should provide a clear and complete description of the invention or utility model so that technical personnel in the field of technology can achieve it. When necessary, drawings should be included. The abstract should briefly describe the technical points of the invention or utility model.

The claims should be based on the description to explain the scope of the patent protection.

Article 27 If an application for a design patent is filed, it shall submit the request and the pictures or photographs of the design, and shall specify the product that uses the design and the category to which it belongs.

Article 28 The date of receipt of the patent application documents by the State Council's patent administrative department shall be the date of filing. If the application file is mailed, the postmark date sent will be the filing date.

Article 29 Within six months from the date of the first filing of a patent application by a foreign country for the invention or utility model, or within six months from the day when the exterior design was first filed in a foreign country, the applicant shall be within six months from the date of the first filing of the patent application in the foreign country. Where a patent application is filed in the same subject in China, it may enjoy priority according to the foreign country’s agreement with China or the international treaty to which it is participating, or according to the principle of mutual recognition of priority.

Where the applicant has filed a patent application on the same subject matter with the patent administration department under the State Council within twelve months from the date of the invention of the invention or utility model in the first filing of the patent application in China, the applicant may enjoy priority.

Article 30 Where an applicant claims priority, it shall submit a written statement at the time of application, and submit a copy of the first filed patent application within three months; no written statement is submitted or a patent application document is not submitted within the prescribed time limit. It is regarded as not claiming priority.

Article 31 An application for an invention or utility model patent shall be limited to one invention or utility model. Two or more inventions or utility models that belong to a general inventive concept can be submitted as one application.

A design patent application should be limited to a design used by a product. Two or more designs for products that are sold in the same category and sold or used can be presented as one application.

Article 32 The applicant may withdraw his patent application at any time before being granted a patent right.

Article 33 The applicant may modify its patent application documents, but the amendments to the invention and utility model patent application documents shall not exceed the scope of the original description and claims, and modify the design patent application documents.