Macau is one of two Special Administrative Regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. Registering your patents in China Mainland and Hong Kong doesn't give you protection in Macao, so it’s necessary to file Macau Patents if you want to obtain patent protection in Macau.
There are three patent types in Macau, i.e., invention, utility, and design and model. Macau Patent Office carries out a substantive examination to all of the three types of patents.
1. Invention patent
According to the Patent Act 1999, the term "invention” refers to any new technical solution relating to a product, a method or an improvement thereof.
“Product” refers to all kinds of new products manufactured by industrial methods, including items with a certain shape and structure, such as solid, liquid and gas.
"Method" refers to the method of processing the raw materials into a variety of products. It is not required that an invention patent can be directly applied to industrial production and technological achievements. It can be a solution or an idea to solve the technical problem, having the possibility of industrial application. However, such technical solution or idea should not be confused with proposing pure conceptions because pure conceptions cannot be applied to industrial applications.
There are two ways to obtain a patent in Macau – through filing of a new patent application, or by re-registration of a patent granted by CNIPA. Continue Reading