浅谈外观设计专利申请方式及保护范围

Analysis on Application Forms of Design Patent and the Scope of Protection thereof

在外观设计实践中,由于申请人不能准确把握外观设计专利申请方式,造成外观设计申请文件不能充分地展现申请人的保护意图,从而在后续程序中造成无法弥补的损失。为此,笔者基于《专利审查指南2010》《中华人民共和国专利法》及《中华人民共和国专利法实施细则》整理出申请阶段外观设计专利的申请方式,结合无效阶段无效宣告程序中外观设计专利的审查标准,辅以实例介绍不同申请策略所限定的保护范围。

In the practice of design, due to inaccurate application form selected by the applicant, the scope of protection intended by the applicant cannot be fully demonstrated by the application documents for design patent resulting in irreversible loss in the follow-up processes. To this end, based on Guidelines .for Patent Examination 2010, Patent Law of People＇s Republic of China and Implementation Regulation of the Patent Law of People＇s Republic of China, the author sorts out the application forms for the patent for design in the application stage and introduces different scopes of protection defined by different application forms by examples, in combination with the criteria for examination of patent for design in the procedure of invalidation declaration in the invalidation stage.