Allen Zhou | Apr 11, 2022

In recent weeks, our team has handled several urgent applications. I'm sharing this post today, as I received the exact same question from several different clients when working on those urgent cases lately - "why there is basically something not good enough about our provided documents every time?" Let's go through the info below together.

Generally speaking, every time we receive an application request from one of our foreign cooperation IP firms or an applicant, we will review the documents and instructions. And the problems we often find in this process are the following.

1. Drawings: Design patent practice is not consistent from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Even the drawings provided by the client are perfect for the prior application, however, once in a different jurisdiction, changes need to be made, such as shading, dashed lines, etc.

2. The title of the application: For example, in some jurisdictions, the name of an invention can be a broad and abstract term such as equipment, apparatus, etc. But in China, these abstract names are not allowed, we need specific terms to replace them.

3. The description of the function of the product. China's design patent practice values the deep-down meaning of "industrial" among the design patent applications. Therefore, the filing of one design patent must include a description of the function of the industrial product.

So to address the question mentioned by clients above, "not good enough" is not so much as inadequate, but the different requirements in different countries and regions. That's why, even if there is only one day left for an urgent case, we still ask our clients to confirm follow-up matters.

Hope this solves some confusion. Please feel free to leave comments and opinions.