China Utility Model Patent Application
Hotline: 86-755-82143348,email: anitayao@citilinkia.com
China utility model patent application is one of the intellectual property services provided by Tannet. China’s patent system provides three types of patent rights: invention, utility model and design. Utility models are used extensively by Chinese applicants. Utility model patents, which have a 10-year term, are not substantively examined and are granted after a formal examination, which generally takes about one year to one and a half years or less.
Reasons for applying for utility model patent in China
1. Obtaining utility model patents is generally less expensive than invention patents and the rights are granted relatively quickly, e.g. normally within 6 to 12 months.
2. The product being protected may be of a type that does not require more than the 10 years of protection provided by a utility model patent.
3. Infringers may act quickly to copy the product and thus the utility model patent provides a basis for acting earlier against the infringers than would likely be the case with an invention patent.
4. Chinese jurisprudence is evidence based. This requires documents as evidence to establish that a right being asserted is not valid. Although utility model patents are not substantively examined and therefore may be more open to challenge, it can still take very considerable efforts to obtain documentary evidence of sufficient quality to establish that a utility model patent is not valid.
Requirement on utility model patent application
The requirements for filing are generally the same as those for filing a regular Chinese invention patent application, but the claims may include only one independent claim. Where an applicant wishes to file both an invention patent application and a utility model patent application for the same invention, these must be filed on the same day with each accompanied by a notification identifying the filing of the other application.
Items cannot be registered as utility model
Methods and processes, products without a definite shape, products that have been changed by substitution of material or differences in manufacturing technique but have retained the same known form and construction, products characterized only by a planar pattern design without resolving a technical problem, or the molecular structure and components of a substance.
Other items that are not patentable: computer programs, inventions contrary to the laws of the State, inventions contrary to social morality, inventions being detrimental to public interest, scientific discoveries, rules and methods for mental activities, methods for the diagnosis or treatment of diseases, animal and plant varieties, and substances obtained by means of nuclear transformation.
Examination and Grant
A utility model patent application can often be granted well within a year from filing largely owing to the fact that the application is subjected to only a formal examination procedure and not a substantive examination procedure. Consequently, if the formal examination shows the application to be in order, the application will proceed to grant in a relatively short time period compared to an invention patent application.
Contact Us
If you have further inquires, please do not hesitate to contact Tannet at anytime, anywhere by simply visiting Tannet’s website www.tannet-group.net, or calling Hong Kong hotline at 852-27826888 or China hotline at 86-755-82143348, or emailing to tannet-solution@hotmail.com. You are also welcome to visit our office situated in 16/F, Taiyangdao Bldg 2020, Dongmen Rd South, Luohu, Shenzhen, China.