Comparative Research On System For Patent Application In China And The United States Of America

President Barack Obama signed into law the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act onSeptember16,2011. Its biggest change is to shift from first-to-invention to first-inventor-tofile. The modification of America’s patent law which is one of the most influential patentsystems in the world has reference meaning to China undoubtedly.This paper carries comparative research on the U.S. and China’s system for patentapplication. Patent application system is that applicants make applications to the patentadministration department under the laws of a country，then the administration departmentexamines to grant a patent. Patent application system involves the requirements for patentsuch as inventors, applicants, owner of patent and subject matter of patent, and the forms ofsexual conditions such as patent application documents and patent examining procedure. Thispaper mainly discourses the substantive conditions and the full paper is divided into fiveparts.The first part is the overview of U.S and China’s patent application system. Firstly, theorigin of patent application system was introduced, and then the construction anddevelopment of patent application system of two countries were compared. The characters ofthe development of two countries were concluded in the end.The second part is about the owner of patent of U.S and China. The concept of the rightof patent application and the right of patent were compared at first. And then first-to-inventionand first-inventor-to-file were introduced as an entry point to the right to apply for a patent. Atlast, the protection system to inventors in China’s patent law was introduced and thedifferences of protection system to inventors of two countries were concluded.The third part is about the subject matter of patent in China and the United States. Theconcept and the characters of the subject matter of patent were discussed. Then the type ofprotected object by patent of two countries was analyzed. At last, bilateral biotechnology,computer programs and business methods were discussed, and the differences between theprotected object by patent were concluded.The fourth part is about the requirements for patent of China and America.“Novelty”and “creativity” and “utility” in patent law of two countries were analyzed, and then thedifferences between the substantive elements of patent system were concluded.The fifth part is about the thinking and recommendations to improve China’s patent application system. The characters of America’s patent application system and the role inpromoting economic development of the patent application system were analyzed. Therevelation of America patent application system to China was concluded. At last therecommendations on the next revision of China’s patent law were put forward.