4-5 years
Reinstatement of priority is accepted on grounds of "due care."
- Grant fee: The applicant should pay the granted fee, announcement fee and the first annual fee (that is, the annual fee for the first to third years) within 3 months after receiving the notification of the granted decision.
- Annuity: Pay year by year in the first year from the date of application. Overdue annual fee can be paid within a grace period of 6 months. At the same time, 30% of the year's annual fee will be paid as a late fee.
The PPO only conducts formality examination of utility model patent applications, only examines novelty and industrial applicability, and does not examine inventive step.
10 years
no
25 years
2-4 years
yes. An invention applicant may propose to change the type of invention from an invention to a utility model during the process of examining the application or within two months from the date of the final decision on the refusal to grant a patent. The utility model application shall be deemed to have been filed from the date of the invention application. A utility model application converted from an invention must fully meet the requirements for utility model documents.
If disclosed by the author or his successor, the novelty grace period shall be enjoyed within 12 months after the first disclosure.
A 6-month novelty grace period is available if the disclosure is caused by a third party in bad faith.