Difference between invention patent and utility model patent

Difference between invention patent and utility model patent:

1. The object of protection is different. Utility model patents are also called small inventions. It can be seen that the scope of object protection of invention patents is larger than that of utility models. Utility model patents are generally innovations of mechanical structure, and the degree of expertise is not very high. If the degree of expertise is high, an invention patent should be applied for. In addition, the innovation of formula, process and method can only apply for invention patent.

2. The duration of protection is different. The invention patent is protected for 20 years, while the utility model patent is protected for 10 years.

3. The examination cycle is different. The invention patent needs to go through preliminary examination and substantive examination, and it usually takes two to three years to have a result, while the utility model patent has only one preliminary examination, which basically takes seven or eight months to have a result.

4. The licensing rate is different. According to the official data released by the National Patent Office, the average licensing rate of invention patents applied in China in 2020 is 33%, while the average licensing rate of utility model patents is 81%. The licensing rate is so different, mainly because the examination requirements of invention patents are much higher than that of utility model patents.

5. In the later stage, the protection of rights is different. The invention patent has undergone substantive examination and can be directly used to protect rights, while the utility model patent needs the patent office to issue a patent evaluation report when protecting rights. The process of the patent office to issue a patent evaluation report is similar to another substantive examination of our patent, and the final report may be negative.

6. The costs are different. Whether it is the service fees of the agency or the official fees of the National Patent Office, the cost of invention patents is several times that of utility model patents, because the workload of agency and review of invention patents is several times that of utility model patents.

To sum up, compared with utility model patents, invention patents have high creative standards, good legal stability, long protection period and wide protection scope. I hope that the above sharing can help us.