How to fill in and write application documents

The principle of writtenness in patent applications makes it very important to fill in or write application documents. How well the application documents are filled out or written often affects the length of the approval process, the scope of protection, and sometimes even whether the patent application can be approved as a patent. There are many techniques for writing and filling in application documents. Below is the editor of Legal Savior Network explaining the principles required by law and implementation rules.

How to fill in and write application documents

Request

There are three types of requests, namely invention patent requests Letter, utility model patent request and design patent request. Their columns and filling requirements are basically the same. When filling out the three types of requests, they should be typed or printed on the form uniformly formulated by the Patent Office in accordance with the provisions of the Patent Law and its implementing regulations. We now use the invention patent application form as a guide to explain the filling requirements and precautions for each column;

(1) To be filled in by the Patent Office.

(2) Invention name (utility model name, product name using the design).

①The name of the invention or utility model should be simple and clear To express the theme of creation, it is generally suitable to be 15 words, and the longest should not exceed25 words; the name of the product using the design should specifically and clearly reflect the category of the product, and should generally not exceed 10 words.

②The name of the invention should not be too trivial, nor should it be too trivial. It can't be too abstract and general. An invention or utility model shall have a name that is appropriate to the class group in the International Patent Classification (IPC) based on the breadth of the subject matter of the invention. Design products should try to use the product names listed on the International Classification of Designs (Locarno Classification).

③The name of the invention should not include the name of the person, It is also not allowed to use words with uncertain meanings in place names, company names, product models, trademarks, codes, etc., such as "...and the like", because this will obscure the subject of the invention. Design product names should not contain words that describe product functions and uses.

④The name of the invention-creation in the request should be consistent with The name of the invention in the description and various other application documents are consistent.

(3) Inventor or designer ①Invention The person or designer must be a natural person. It can be one person or multiple people, but it cannot be a unit or an organization such as "XX Research Laboratory" or "XX Collaboration Group".

②The inventor is not affected by nationality, gender, or age Regardless of restrictions on occupation or residence, anyone who has made a substantial contribution to an invention can become an inventor or designer.

③Invention rights cannot be inherited or transferred. If the inventor or designer dies, the name of the original inventor or designer should still be indicated, but the death can be indicated, for example, "Liu Bo (death) ".④The name of the inventor and designer shall be filled in by the Applicant, but the inventor and designer shall be notified of the filling situation. In the case of multiple inventors, if there is a sequence, they shall be indicated with Arabic numerals. order, otherwise the Patent Office will arrange it in the order of left to right, top to bottom.

⑤ If the inventor or designer requires that the name not be published due to special principles, he should fill in "I request that the name not be published" in this column. If any of the inventors or designers is willing to publish the name, If someone is unwilling to request that the name not be published by filling in the name that is willing to be published, a request should be submitted. The reasons should be stated in the request and signed by the inventor himself. After the request is approved, the name of the inventor will be published in the patent gazette, This will not be stated in the manual or patent certificate, and the inventor or designer may not request to have his or her name re-published in the future.

(4) Applicant ① The applicant can be an individual or an entity. If it is an entity, the entity should be a legal person or an organization that can independently assume civil liability.

② If the applicant is an individual, he/she should indicate his/her real name , pen names or pseudonyms cannot be used. Foreigners’ names are allowed to be in simplified form. Contents such as degrees, titles, etc. that are not part of the person’s name should be deleted. If the applicant is from an organization, his or her official full name should be stated.

③The applicant's address should indicate the province, city, and detailed address (including postal code) where the mail can be delivered quickly. Generally, the name of the unit cannot be used instead of the address. For example, "XX College" is not allowed to be used as the address. . If there are multiple units in one address, in addition to the address, the name of the unit should also be written. Applicants whose residence or regular business is outside China can only write the country and state for their address, such as California, United States. Taiwan, Hong Kong Applicants’ addresses in Taiwan and Macao can be written as: Taiwan, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or Macao respectively.

④ The nationality of the applicant can be the full name of the country or the abbreviation, for example, the People's Republic of China, or China.

⑤ If the applicant is an organization, in addition to stating the name of the organization, if a patent agency has not been entrusted, the applicant should also Designate a corporate patent worker as the contact person for case handling, and fill it in after the applicant's address. However, if you entrust a patent agency, you do not need to specify a contact person.

⑥If there are two or more applicants and no patent agent has been appointed, one of them shall be elected as the representative. Representative The person should fill in the first signatory position in the applicant column. In the patent approval process, the Patent Office generally only contacts the representative, and the representative is obliged to forward the patent office documents or their copies to other applicants. Unless common rights are involved In addition to other matters (such as withdrawing applications, giving up patent rights, changing rights holders, etc.), the representative can handle various procedures on behalf of all applicants.

⑦ The Patent Office only examines the application qualifications of foreigners in accordance with Article 18 of the Patent Law. For domestic applicants, except those with disputes over the right to apply Except for this, any unit or individual who fills in the "Applicant" column of the request form will be deemed as a legal applicant who has the right to apply for a patent during the patent approval process.

(5)Patent agency

① When applying for a patent, the applicant has two options for handling the application procedures: one is to handle it himself; the other is to entrust a patent agency to handle it. Only those who entrust a patent agency to handle the procedures need to fill in this column. Although it is not compulsory to appoint a patent agent, considering the importance of carefully drafting application documents and the legal rigor of the approval process, it is worth promoting for inexperienced applicants.

②The applicant has not completed the patent agency entrustment procedures. You are not allowed to fill in this column yourself, otherwise it will not only constitute a serious infringement of the patent agency, but may also cause serious adverse legal consequences to the applicant.

③China implements a patent agency responsibility system. When a person entrusts a patent agent, he shall enter into an entrustment contract with the patent agency, and then the patent agency shall designate its own agent to handle the application procedures for the applicant. A maximum of two agents can be designated to handle an application, at least one of whom will be a full-time agent.

④The patent agency entrusted by the applicant should be For formal filing with the Patent Office, the agent appointed by the agency shall be approved by the Patent Office and registered with the Patent Office. For this reason, this column should not only fill in the name of the patent agency, but also fill in its filing code and address. The agent should fill in his name and registration number with the patent office.

⑤Applicants are only allowed to entrust A patent agency. If there are multiple applicants, all applicants should jointly appointEntrust a patent agency. After entrusting a common patent agency, if a representative is nominated at the same time, it is equivalent to having the representative contact the patent agency with the consent of all applicants. After a patent agency accepts an entrustment, the actions it takes within the entrusted authority have the same effect as the same actions taken by the principal, and the consequences thereof are binding on the principal. However, according to regulations, when a patent agency handles the procedures for entrustment, transfer of application rights or patent rights, withdrawal of patent applications and surrender of patent rights, it must obtain the consent of all clients.

⑥The applicant has the right to revoke the request to the patent agency of commission. On the contrary, the patent agency can also resign its entrustment. Anyone who encounters the above situation should notify the other party and submit a statement to the Patent Office and go through the corresponding procedures for changing the bibliographic items.

⑦ No long-term residence or business in my country When foreigners and entities from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao apply for patents, they should entrust a patent agency designated by the Patent Office authorized by the State Council to handle the application procedures. When individuals from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao, as well as Chinese personnel working and studying abroad, apply for patents, in addition to entrusting the above-mentioned agencies to handle the application, they can also entrust domestic patent agencies to handle it, but they are not allowed to entrust individuals or themselves to handle it.

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