Invention patents protect technical solutions for products, methods, or their improvements, and undergo substantive examination. The term is 20 years.
Utility model patents protect new technical solutions relating to a product's shape, structure, or a combination of the two, suitable for practical use. These do not undergo substantive examination for inventiveness. The term is 10 years.
Design patents protect new designs of the shape or pattern of a product, or a combination of the two, or a combination of color with shape or pattern, where the design has aesthetic appeal and is suitable for industrial application. The term is 15 years for applications filed on or after June 1, 2021, and 10 years for applications filed before that date.
Choosing between them: Processes, material formulations, and software- or algorithm-based inventions can be protected only by an invention patent. For a structural improvement to a product, filing an invention application and a utility model application on the same day is a common way to balance speed against robustness: the utility model grants first and gives you an enforceable right early. When the invention application is ready to be granted, one of the two must be given up — in practice, the utility model. Where the look of the product is what matters, consider combining a design patent with a three-dimensional trademark and copyright.
