Patents and Trademarks in China

We have witnessed cases in China where a design of Company A was copied by Company B. Company B applied for a patent, and successfully sued Company A for infringement of intellectual property. Company A ended up having to modify their design to avoid such harassment.

Therefore, we do recommend our clients to have their unique and valuable designs patented. The advantages are obvious, avoiding the scenario mentioned above is only one of them.

AETIKS uses reliable agents for application of these patents. AETIKS will provide all technical papers, drawings, translation etc to the agent, who is definitely not as competent and professional in the technical aspects, so the patent granted eventually will be accurate, useful, and relevant.

There are basically two common types of patents, i.e., the "Design Patent", as shown in photo on the right, refers to the general outlook of a product. The "Utility Model Design", shown below, concerns the functionality of a design. The former would take about 6 months, and the latter 1 year, to complete.

There is also an annual fee payable to the Chinese government after the patent has been granted. AETIKS can provide service to handle this as well, so that our clients will not accidentally lose their patents.