[author: Bayou Zhang]
Article 27(2) of the Chinese Patent Law provides that the relevant drawings or photographs submitted by the applicant shall clearly indicate the design of the product for which patent protection is sought.
Article 64(2) of the Chinese Patent Law provides that for the patent right for design, the scope of protection shall be confined to the design of the product as shown in the drawings or photographs. The brief description may be used to explain the design of the product as shown in the drawings or photographs.
It can be seen that the scope of protection of a design patent is determined by the views and that "clear expression" is a mandatory requirement for the views of the design patent filed. Whether "clearly expressed" directly reflects the quality of the design patent application and is related to the stability of the design patent right.
In this respect, the Guidelines for Patent Examination contain a number of provisions concerning the basic forms of the views filed, such as line styles, drawing tools, etc. The applicant may refer to these provisions when preparing the views.
However, as the structures of different products vary greatly, if the applicant only prepares the views per the above formality requirements, but fails to provide the views required for the specific shapes of the products, the applicant may not be able to "clearly express" and may fall into the unfavorable situation of "unclear scope of protection".
In the following, the author will illustrate the typical design cases that fail to be "clearly expressed" in practice.
Typical problem 1. Defects in views
Specifically, there are inconsistencies in the views. The six views contradict each other and the projection relationship does not match, resulting in an inability to determine the shape of the product. As shown below, there is no correspondence between the views, which makes it impossible to determine the overall shape of the product and does not clearly show the design of the protected product.
Typical problem 1
Suggestions for improvement: Ensure that views are consistent.
Perform rigorous proofreading before submitting views to ensure that all views are consistent in scale, design content, etc.
Typical Problem 2. Lack of representations in the design of the product
2.1 Insufficient number of views: In three-dimensional products, complete six side-views or three-dimensional drawings were not provided, so the design could not be clearly represented.
The following are six side-views of a toy design, omitting the three-dimensional view.
Insufficient number of views
Upon observation, it is easy to see that the specific design of many parts of the front of the product shown in the main view cannot be determined solely based on the submitted six side views. This "lack of clarity" would be eliminated if the three-dimensional view shown below were also submitted.
three-dimensional view
2.2 Inadequate representation of details: The design of the detailed parts is not clearly shown in the views submitted.
The following drawing shows a connector product with six views and a three-dimensional view and appears to be a ‘qualified’ application from the perspective of the number of views. However, after observation, it is easy to find that the right view shows the multiple concentric circles of the part of the specific structure cannot be judged.
Suggestions for improvement
Submission of complete views. For products with a three-dimensional structure, ensure that the application document contains complete six side views and three-dimensional views. In addition, in Chinese design examination practice, for three-dimensional products, it is preferable to submit several three-dimensional views with different angles. According to the analysis of the above cases, the angles of the three-dimensional views should be selected in accordance with the actual structure of the product to serve the "clear expression" of the design.
In addition, auxiliary views are supplemented for the details of the design. For the detailed design of the product, it may not be possible to express it clearly only with the six-sided view and the three-dimensional drawing, and it can be expressed by means of partial enlargement and sectional view.
The necessity and significance of clear expression
The requirement of "clear expression" of the design is not merely about the formality but is the basis for ensuring a clear scope of patent protection and the stability of the patent right.
Clear and complete views not only help the examiner to understand the content of the design quickly and accurately for a smooth grant but also provide the patentee with strong support for future enforcement.
When preparing the application, the applicant must pay attention to three aspects of the overall design, i.e., standardization of the form, completeness of the expression, and clarity of the details.
By preparing and filing drawings scientifically and reasonably, the grant rate of the design patent application and the stability of the patent right can be effectively enhanced, thus providing stronger legal protection for the innovative design of the product.
