Patent

You must apply to each country in which you wish to seek patent protection.

There is no one single patent that covers the entire world. For that matter, China, Hong Kong, and Macau each has its own patent system. The European Patent is close to being a European region-wide patent, but it also requires additional procedures in order to be enforceable in each of its constituent countries.

We offer direct filing in the US and Hong Kong. We are capable of filing and prosecuting patent applications around the world, streamlining the application process for your multi-country portfolio.

Timing is critical.

The filing date of your application determines the novelty of your invention. You must not publicly disclose your invention before you file your first application. But if you are pressed for time, you can consider filing a US provisional application without a formal patent specification. The filing of a US provisional patent application is cost effective and we can help you file one in a matter of hours.

You do not need to file in all countries at the same time, you can selectively file in a first country (e.g. a US provisional application or a HK short-term patent application), then within 12 months subsequently file in other countries. Or if needed, file a PCT application and you can extend the 12 months to 30 months. We can help you to work out a filing strategy that best fits your needs.

The patent application process can be very long, 3-4 years in many cases. With a strategic filing sequence and use of different examination mechanisms, we can help to organically build up a valuable patent portfolio in a matter of months rather than years.

Here are some mechanisms to speed things up:

US Priority Track I

The US provides the Priority Track I option where, for a fee, an application can be taken up for expedited examination to reach a final decision within one year of its request.

US Age-based Accelerated Examination

In the US, if one of the inventor(s) named in a patent application is 65 years old or above, the applicant can request Age-based Accelerated Examination.

UK Green Channel

An environmental benefit related invention patent application may be accelerated in UK. The Green Channel significantly reduces the standard prosecution time (2-3 years) to as little as nine months from the filing date of the application.

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)

A number of patent offices in the world have setup bi-lateral and multi-lateral treaties with one another to leverage the positive patent examination result in one country to speed up examinations on corresponding patent applications. This PPH mechanism is particularly applicable in cases where the first-filed patent application has obtained a positive examination result, and the subsequently filed patent applications in other countries that claim priority to the first-filed patent application may leverage the positive examination result on the first-filed patent application to speed up their own examinations.

Prioritized Examination in China

Prioritized examination (PE) was introduced in China in August 2017. For invention patent applications, PE aims to issue a first office action within 45 working days from the date the request for PE is approved and to complete the examination within one year of the approved date. For utility model and design patent applications, PE aims to complete the examination within 2 months of the approval date.

Inventions that are eligible for PE include those related to energy saving, new-generation information technology, environmental protection, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, intelligent manufacturing and others.