The object of patent right, also known as the object protected by patent law, refers to the invention-creation that should be granted patent right according to law. According to Article 2 of China's Patent Law, the objects of the patent law include inventions, utility models and designs.
1. Invention refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement. An invention must be a technical scheme, the result of the inventor's application and combination of natural laws in a specific technical field, not the natural laws themselves, so scientific discovery does not belong to the category of invention. At the same time, inventions are usually intellectual achievements in the natural sciences, and achievements in the fields of literature, art and social sciences cannot constitute inventions in the sense of patent law.
According to the provisions of the patent examination system, inventions can be divided into product inventions and method inventions, which can be original inventions or improved inventions. Product invention is about the invention of new products or new substances. This kind of product or substance has never been seen in nature, and it is the result of people using natural laws to act on specific things. If an article is completely in a natural state and exists without anyone's processing or transformation, it is not a product invention as stipulated in China's patent law and cannot obtain a patent right. Method invention refers to the invention of methods and steps to solve specific technical problems. Patentable methods usually include manufacturing methods and operating methods. The former includes product manufacturing technology and processing methods, while the latter includes testing methods and product use methods. An improved invention is a technical scheme with substantial innovation on the existing product invention or method invention. For example, Edison invented the self-lighting lamp, which is an unprecedented new product and can apply for product invention; The method of producing white light can be patented; Filling inert gas into white light lamp obviously improves its quality and service life. This is an improvement on the original basis, and you can apply for improvement.
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Second, the utility model
Utility model refers to a new technical scheme suitable for practical use for the shape, structure or combination of products. The utility model patent only protects the product. Products should be manufactured by industrial methods and occupy a certain space. All related methods (including the use of products) and natural objects that have not been artificially manufactured are not protected by utility model patents. The above methods include manufacturing methods, using methods, communication methods, processing methods, computer programs and using products for specific purposes. For example, the manufacturing method of a gear, the dust removal method in the workshop, the data processing method, the naturally occurring rain flower stone and so on. Can't be protected by utility model patent.
The shape of a product refers to the definite spatial shape that the product has and can be observed from the outside. The technical scheme proposed for product shape can be the technical scheme proposed for product three-dimensional shape, such as the improvement of cam shape and cutter shape; It can also be a technical scheme of two-dimensional shape of products, such as the improvement of sectional shape of profiles. Gaseous, liquid, powdery, granular substances or materials, which have no definite shape, cannot be used as the shape characteristics of utility model products.
The structure of a product refers to the arrangement, organization and interrelation of various components of the product. It can be a mechanical structure or a circuit structure. Mechanical structure refers to the relative position relationship, connection relationship and necessary mechanical cooperation relationship between the parts that make up the product; Circuit structure refers to the determined connection relationship between components that make up a product.
Third, design.
Appearance design, also known as industrial product appearance design, refers to a new design with aesthetic feeling and suitable for industrial application based on the shape, pattern or their combination of products and the combination of color, shape and pattern.
The carrier of design must be the product. Product refers to any article produced by industrial methods. Handicrafts, agricultural products, livestock products and natural objects that cannot be produced repeatedly cannot be used as the carrier of design. Usually, the color of a product can't form a design independently unless the color change of the product itself has formed a pattern. The combinations that can constitute the design are: the shape of the product; The style of the product; The shape and pattern of the product; The shape and color of the product; Patterns and colors of products; The shape, pattern and color of the product.
Shape refers to the design of product modeling, that is, the appearance outline presented by the movement, change and combination of points, lines and surfaces outside the product, that is, the result of designing and manufacturing the product structure and appearance at the same time; Pattern refers to the pattern formed on the product surface by any arrangement or combination of lines, characters, symbols and color blocks. Patterns can be made by drawing or other ways that can reflect the designer's pattern design ideas. The pattern of the product should be fixed and visible, and should not be accidental and visible under specific conditions; Color refers to the color or color combination used in the product, and the natural color of the material used to manufacture the product is not the design color.
Articles not protected by patent law
1. Inventions and creations that violate laws, social ethics or harm public interests. National laws refer to laws formulated and promulgated by the National People's Congress or the NPC Standing Committee in accordance with legislative procedures. Excluding administrative regulations and rules. If the purpose of the invention itself violates the laws of the state, the patent right cannot be granted. Such as equipment, machines or tools for gambling; Drug abuse equipment, etc. Can't be patented. The purpose of the invention itself does not violate national laws, but those that violate national laws due to abuse do not belong to this category.
2. Scientific discovery. It refers to the revelation of objective phenomena, changing processes, characteristics and laws in nature. Scientific theory is a summary of the understanding of nature and a broader discovery. All belong to the extension of people's understanding. These recognized substances, phenomena, processes, characteristics and laws are different from the technical scheme to transform the objective world, and do not belong to inventions in the sense of patent law, so patent rights cannot be granted.
3. Rules and methods of intellectual activities. Intellectual activity refers to human thinking movement, which originates from human thinking and produces abstract results through reasoning, analysis and judgment, or indirectly acts on nature through human thinking movement as a medium to produce results. It is only the rules and methods to guide people to think, identify, judge and remember information. Because no technical means or laws of nature are used, and no technical problems are solved and technical effects are produced, it does not constitute a technical scheme. Such as traffic rules, grammar of various languages, fast algorithm or oral decision-making, psychological test methods, rules and methods of various games and entertainment, music scores, recipes, chess manuals, computer programs themselves, etc.
4. Diagnosis and treatment of diseases. It is a process of identifying, determining or eliminating the cause and focus with living people or animals as the direct implementation object. The exclusion of the diagnosis and treatment of diseases from the scope of patent protection is due to humanitarian considerations and social and ethical reasons. Doctors should have the freedom to choose various methods and conditions in the process of diagnosis and treatment. In addition, this method directly takes the living human body or animal body as the implementation object, which is theoretically considered not to belong to the industry, can not be used in the industry, and does not belong to the invention in the sense of patent law. For example, pulse diagnosis, psychotherapy, massage, various immune methods to prevent diseases, cosmetic or weight loss treatment, etc. However, drugs or medical equipment can be patented.
Legal basis: Article 2 of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) Invention-creation as mentioned in this Law refers to inventions, utility models and designs.
Invention refers to a new technical scheme proposed for a product, method or its improvement.
Utility model refers to a new practical technical scheme for the shape, structure or combination of products.
Appearance design refers to a new design with aesthetic feeling and suitable for industrial application based on the shape, pattern or combination of products and the combination of colors, shapes and patterns.