How long is a patent valid for?

China's Patent Law stipulates that the term of an invention patent is 20 years.

The term of a utility model patent and a design patent is 10 years, both of which are calculated from the filing date. Prior to the entry into force of the TRIPS Agreement, most countries provided for the duration of invention patents ranging from 15 to 20 years. In the fields of pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals, the applicant needs to conduct a series of tests in order to obtain the approval of the competent authority, go through a lot of procedures, and can only be sold after passing the examination by the competent authority.

In addition, the development costs of many drugs, especially biologics, are quite high. If the term of the patent right is 15 years, many patent owners in these fields will not be able to recover their huge investment, and the result will inevitably affect their motivation to invent and create.

In order to encourage the invention and creation of patentees, when China amended the Patent Law in 1992, the term of invention patent rights was extended from the original 15 years to 20 years, and the term of utility models and designs was extended from the original 8 years (including 3 years for renewal) to 10 years. The TRIPS Agreement provides for a term of protection for invention patents and designs for not less than 20 years and 10 years respectively from the date of filing of the application.

Legal Analysis: The validity period of a patent right is 20 years. According to the relevant laws and regulations of China, the term of protection of invention patent right is 20 years, the term of protection of utility model patent right is 10 years, and the term of protection of design patent right is 15 years.

Legal basis: Article 42 of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China, which came into effect on June 1, 2021, states that the term of an invention patent right is 20 years, the term of a utility model patent right is 10 years, and the term of a design right is 15 years, all of which are calculated from the filing date.

If the patent right is granted after four years from the date of application for the invention patent and three years after the date of the request for substantive examination, the patent administration department shall, at the request of the patentee, compensate the patent right for the unreasonable delay in the process of granting the invention patent, except for the unreasonable delay caused by the applicant. In order to compensate for the time occupied by the review and approval of new drugs, the patent administration department shall compensate the patent right term at the request of the patentee for invention patents related to new drugs that have obtained marketing authorization in China. The compensation period shall not exceed five years, and the total effective patent term after the approval of the new drug shall not exceed 14 years.

The term of an invention patent is 20 years, and the term of a utility model patent and a design patent is 10 years, both of which are calculated from the filing date. After the expiration of the term of the patent right, the patent right finally ceases to be successful. Before the expiration of the term of the patent right, the patentee may renounce the patent right in writing.

Extended Material: Patents.

Patent right, referred to as "patent", is a kind of intellectual property right that the inventor or the assignee of his rights enjoys in accordance with the law for the invention and creation of the invention and creation within a certain period of time. China promulgated the Patent Law in 1984 and promulgated the detailed rules for the implementation of the Law in 1985, making specific provisions on relevant matters.

Patent right refers to the right of the patentee to use, benefit and dispose of his invention and creation exclusively within the scope prescribed by law, and to exclude the interference of others. Patent rights are temporal, territorial, and legally confirmed.

Legal characteristics of patent rights:

1. Patent right is a right of two rights in one, which has both personal rights and property rights.

2. The acquisition of the patent right shall be granted by the Patent Office.

3. The occurrence of patent rights is premised on the disclosure of the results of the invention.

4. If the patentee does not exploit or does not permit others to exploit its patent, the relevant departments will take compulsory licensing measures to make full use of the patent.

Scope of patent protection.

The scope of protection of a patent for invention or utility model shall be subject to the content of its claims, and the description and drawings may be used to explain its claims. This means that the scope of protection of a patent right shall be subject to the scope determined by the necessary technical features clearly recorded in the claims, and also include the scope determined by the features equivalent to the necessary technical features.

An equivalent feature is a feature that achieves essentially the same function and achieves essentially the same effect by the described technical feature by essentially the same means, and can be associated with a person skilled in the art without creative labor.

The scope of protection of the design patent right shall be subject to the design patent product indicated in ** or **. The scope of protection of a design patent depends on two aspects: one is the design that is expressed in ** or **; The second is the scope of the product to be used in the design, which is specified at the time of grant of the patent.

To determine whether a design is identical or similar, it should be based on similar products.

The term of the patent right refers to the time when the legal term of the patent right expires and terminates. From the date of the announcement of the grant of the patent right, if there is no other reason for the termination of the patent right, the patent right shall be terminated until the expiration of the patent right. According to the provisions of the Patent Law, the term of an invention patent is 20 years; The term of a utility model patent and a design patent is 10 years, both of which are calculated from the date of filing.

Legal analysis. If the flow rate is much lower than the minimum flow rate to ensure accuracy, it will result in no output (e.g., vortex flowmeter) or the output signal will be cut off as a small signal (e.g., differential pressure flowmeter), which is unfavorable and unfair to the supplier. In order to prevent the loss of benefits, for a specific set of thermal energy metering equipment, the supply and demand parties often agree that a certain flow value is "agreed lower limit flow" according to the flow measurement range and the range that can be achieved, and if the actual flow rate is less than the agreed value, the lower limit of the charging flow will be charged.

The people's metrology administrative departments at or above the county level may set up metrological verification institutions as needed, or authorize other units of metrological verification institutions to carry out compulsory verification and other verification and testing tasks. Personnel who perform the verification and testing tasks provided for in the preceding paragraph must pass the assessment. This function is usually implemented in flow meters.

According to the needs of the region, the local people's measurement administrative department at or above the county level shall establish social public measurement standard instruments, which shall be used after passing the examination of Zheng Huaiju presided over by the people's measurement administrative department at the higher level. Enterprises and institutions may establish the measurement standard instruments used by the unit according to their needs, and the highest measurement standard instruments shall be used after passing the examination presided over by the relevant people's measurement administrative department. Metrological verification work should be carried out in accordance with the principle of economic reasonableness and in the nearest place.

Metrological verification must be carried out in accordance with the national metrological verification system table. The national metrology verification system table shall be formulated by the administrative department of metrology.

Legal basis. Article 8 of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China Where two or more units or individuals cooperate to complete an invention-creation, or an invention-creation completed by a unit or individual entrusted by other units or individuals of Mingxiang, unless otherwise agreed, the right to apply for a patent belongs to the unit or individual that has completed or jointly completed the invention-creation; After the application is approved, the applicant is the patentee.

There are three kinds of patents in China, namely invention patents, utility model patents, and design patents, among which the validity period of invention patents is 20 years, the validity period of utility model patents is 10 years, and the validity period of design patents is 15 years.

Applying for a patent is not permanent. According to the relevant laws and regulations, the term of a patent right for invention is 20 years, the term of a patent for utility model is 10 years, and the term of a design patent right is 15 years, all of which are calculated from the date of filing. Moreover, after the expiration of the aforesaid period, it is not possible to apply for the renewal of the grant of the forest rights, that is, after the expiration of the period, the patent rights must be terminated.

Article 45 of the Patent Law stipulates that the term of an invention patent is 20 years, and the term of a utility model patent and a design patent is 10 years, both of which are calculated from the date of application.

According to China's "Patent Fiction Calendar", the patent right "shall be calculated from the date of application." However, it does not mean that the patentee has the exclusive right to exploit from the date of application. In accordance with Article 8 of the Patent Law, a patent application shall be subject to examination and approval, and shall be formally generated only after the patent right has been granted by the Patent Office, and the patentee shall be prohibited from manufacturing, using, selling, or importing the patented product or using the patented process without the permission of the patentee.

In the case of invention patents, since the content of the invention is before the decision on grant is made (18 from the date of filing.

Therefore, Article 13 of the Patent Law stipulates that: "After the publication of the application for a patent for invention, the applicant may require the unit or individual who implements the invention to pay an appropriate fee." "Article 77 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law provides:

For the use of the invention after the publication of the invention patent application but before the grant of the patent right without payment.

The organ that pays the appropriate fee to mediate may also directly file a lawsuit with the people's court. ”

For example, the United States stipulates that the term of protection for drugs is 17 years from the date of approval, which can be extended for 5 years, and the European Community has also made a similar decision to extend the term of protection for drugs for 20 years from the date of application, which can be extended for 5 years. The "Supplementary Treaty to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property", the "GATT Uruguay Round" and the "**Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights Related to Poor Search" all clearly stipulate that the term of protection of an invention patent is at least from the date of filing.

In order to adapt to the trend of international harmonization of patent law, the amendment to China's 1992 Patent Law extended the protection period of three types of patents in China's 1984 patent law: invention, utility model and design.

According to China's 1984 Patent Law, the preliminary examination and opposition system is implemented for utility models and designs, and the 1992 amendment to the Patent Law abolished the opposition system for patent applications, and the date on which the Patent Office makes an examination decision is the date on which the patent is granted.

Legal analysis: The term of the invention patent right is 20 years, and the term of the model patent right and the design patent right is 10 years, both of which are calculated from the filing date.

Legal basis: Article 42 of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China The term of a patent for invention shall be 20 years, the term of a utility model patent right shall be 10 years, and the term of a design patent right shall be 15 years, all of which shall be calculated from the date of filing. If the patent right is granted after four years from the date of application for the invention patent and three years after the date of the request for substantive examination, the patent administration department shall, at the request of the patentee, compensate the patent right for the unreasonable delay in the process of granting the invention patent, except for the unreasonable delay caused by the applicant.

In order to compensate for the time taken by the new drug for review and approval in the market, the patent administration department shall compensate the patent right term at the request of the patentee for the invention patent related to the new drug that has been approved for marketing in China. The compensation period shall not exceed five years, and the total effective patent term of the new drug after approval shall not exceed 14 years.

1. Article 42 of the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that the term of a patent right shall be 20 years, and the term of a utility model patent right and a design patent right shall be 10 years, both of which shall be calculated from the filing date." 2. For the purposes of the Patent Law, if there is a right of priority, it refers to the date of priority.

3. Pay attention to the term of protection when applying for a patent, and the term of using another person's patent must be searched by the patent office before choosing to use it. 4. The validity period of the patent right is maintained on the premise that the patentee pays the annual fee according to the regulations, and the patent right is terminated in advance under the following circumstances: 1) The patentee fails to pay the annual fee in accordance with the regulations.

2) The patentee declares in writing that it has waived its patent right. 5. Article 39 of the Patent Law stipulates that: If no reason for rejection is found in the substantive examination of an application for invention for invention, the patent administration department shall make a decision to grant the invention patent, issue a certificate of invention patent, and register and announce the invention patent right at the same time, which shall take effect from the date of announcement.

6. For utility models and designs, Article 40 of the Patent Law also stipulates that if no reason for rejection is found in a patent application for utility model and design after preliminary examination, the patent administration department shall make a decision to grant the utility model patent or the design patent right, issue the corresponding patent certificate, and register and announce it at the same time. 7. The utility model patent right and the design patent right shall come into force on the date of announcement. 8. The validity period of an invention patent shall be from the date of publication of grant to the date of 20 years after the date of application, while the validity period of a patent for utility model and design shall be from the date of publication of grant to the date of 10 years after the date of application.

9. The starting point of the validity period of the invention patent right is the date of the announcement of the grant, and the end point is the expiration date of 20 years from the date of application. 10. The above validity period is based on the assumption that the patentee has paid the corresponding fees (such as annual fees) on time, and the patent has not been invalidated during this period. 11. If the patentee fails to pay the annual fee within the prescribed time limit, or the patent is invalidated and collapsed, the validity period of the patent will end in advance It can be seen that the reference factor for judging service inventions is actually very simple, because when we participate in the work of the employer, our spare time is allocated by ourselves, and we cannot use the time and place when and where the inventions created by the employees with their own wisdom should belong to the unit, and the unit has no right to steal the wisdom of the employees.