25 years
10 years
no
The PPO only conducts formality examination of utility model patent applications, only examines novelty and industrial applicability, and does not examine inventive step.
- Grant fee: The applicant should pay the granted official 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: The applicant needs to pay the annual fee for the next stage in the sixth year and the eighth year respectively. Overdue annual fee can be paid within a grace period of 6 months. At the same time, 30% of the annual fee of the current year will be paid as a penalty.
The PPO conducts formal and substantive examinations of invention patent applications. There is no need to file a request for substantive examination, and the substantive examination starts automatically.
2-4 years
1-6 months
4-5 years
- via Paris Convention : 12 months from earliest priority date.
- via Nationalization of PCT : 30 months from the earliest priority date.
- Validation of European Patent in EPO member states: 3 months from the date of European patent grant.
- 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.