Patents

A patent is a set of exclusive rights,

while territorial in nature, granted by a sovereign state or a country to an inventor or assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention when certain conditions are met according to set standards.

  • Inventions eligible for patents
    In order for an invention to be patentable, it must be (1) novel (at least some aspect of the invention must be new), (2) creative or non-obvious (capable of producing technical effects on the basis of the law of nature), and (3) useful or be susceptible of industrial application.
  • Inventions not eligible for patents
    An invention is not patentable if found to pose a threat to social and public security and order (e.g. an apparatus to produce counterfeit currency, an apparatus needed for gambling, an apparatus for inhalation of narcotic substances, etc). 　
Patent Rights

Patents provide an owner of the patent of an invention with the right to exclude others from exploiting the invention. Generally, patents are granted for 20 years, starting from the date on which the first patent application is filed. The term of the patent right of a legal owner of the patent with respect to an entity or an individual who is a non-legal owner of the patent will expire after 20 years from the date on which the patent application was filed by the non-legal owner of the patent.