- via Paris Convention : 12 months from earliest priority date.
- via Nationalization of PCT : 30 months from the earliest priority date.
no
DIP conducts substantive examination of design patent applications, and only examines whether the conditions of novelty and industrial applicability are met.
The initial period of protection is 6 years, which can be renewed twice, up to a maximum of 10 years.
10 years
no
yes. Patent applicants can change the patent type from invention to petty patent (utility model) before the patent application is granted. The converted patent application has the filing date of the original patent application.
20 years
not applicable. Designs disclosed to the public prior to filing are not eligible for application.
If within 12 months before the filing date/priority date, the essence or details of the invention are maliciously disclosed, or exhibited by the inventor in an international or official exhibition, the invention does not lose its novelty.
The DIP conducts formality examination and substantive examination of the invention patent application. The formality examination generally takes 1-1.5 years. After the completion of the preliminary examination, the patent application will be published and enter a 90-day opposition period. The applicant can only submit a substantive examination request within 5 years after the application is published, and the examination results of other countries such as Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe need to be provided to the DIP.