Filing is the start. Prior-art search, layout, watch, freedom-to-operate (FTO) analysis and invalidation sit on one chain, timed to R&D and launch.
Invention, utility model and design: mining, filing and later procedures.
International routes, IP5 offices, or post-grant work. Greater China and annuity watch can sit on the same file.
Patent landscape, FTO investigations and review opinions.
Watch before a technology is published, a line is scaled, a show, or a cluster of competitor filings.
Patent and technology maps for a sector or line, for R&D and partner talks.
Turn certificates into a package that can be valued and developed.
Before launch, finance or scale-up, find third-party patents that could block the product.
Find the inventive point and the right filing type.
Prior-art search; claims and specification.
File; handle formalities and Office Action (OA) letters.
Grant formalities, annuities, licences and pledges.
Utility models and designs are usually faster than invention patents. Invention examination time varies by field. Foreign entry needs official deadlines and translation time.
Methods and controls usually go to invention patents. Structural products may fit a utility model. Appearance is a design (industrial design). One product can support more than one filing.
Novelty is at risk. Sale, shows and online disclosure can destroy novelty except in a narrow 6-month grace period. File before you publish.
Yes in practice. It is not only collision-checking: it shows the art, competitor filings and what is worth claiming. High-value technology should get a patentability analysis first.
No. Broader claims are easier to attack. A useful patent balances scope, grant chance and commercial value.
Often yes, for the same technical solution, to get an earlier utility-model grant while the invention is examined. It depends on the disclosure and launch date.
Usually not. OAs are common in invention examination. We answer novelty, inventive step, clarity or support — the point is a defensible scope, not a few word tweaks.
Not always. Re-examination and further remedies may be available. Many refusals come from claim scope or response strategy, not from a worthless invention.
PCT is a procedure, not a granted world patent. Each national phase is examined locally. Plan foreign filing within the priority year if you have overseas markets.
Yes. Core technology as invention, structure as utility model, appearance as design. A small portfolio is often more robust than a single patent.
Not by itself. Your patent says what you can stop others doing. Freedom-to-operate (FTO) analysis asks whether you infringe someone else’s patent.
Patent filing and Office Action (OA) support for a hospital research team.
A structural improvement was mined from the disclosure and claimed as a utility model.
