The Patent Law of China went into force on 12 March 1984, and was amended on 4 September 1992 and 25 August 2002.

There are three types of patents in China:

• Invention patents
• Utility model patents
• Design patents

For Chinese invention patents, they must possess novelty, inventiveness (the same as non-obviousness) and practical applicability (utility).
For Chinese utility models, they are sometimes referred to as small inventions because they have comparatively lower level of inventive step and are less costly than an invention. Subject to preliminary examination, a utility model only takes several months from filing to grant. Therefore utility model protection is worthwhile for some invention-creations that have small technical improvements but are of significant commercial value.
For Chinese design patents, an application is also preliminarily examined only. A design is an artistic creation which features a decorative or aesthetic exterior appearance of an article, unlike invention or utility model which involve technical solutions. 
Precise IP Firm’s patent services include:

Original drafting of patent specifications in Chinese or English
Filing and prosecuting patent applications
Maintaining issued patents
International patent prosecution
Practice Areas:Electronics
Semiconductors, computer hardware, digital signal processing, semiconductor processing and packaging, communications, etc Information Technology
Computer networks, image/data processing, character and speech recognition, etc Engineering
Chemical, electrical, mechanical, electromechanical and biomedical, comprising communications, composite structures, hydraulics, bio-engineering, surgical instruments, vision and robotics, optics, heat transfer, material processing, manufacturing processes, compressors, etc Chemical and Biological Sciences
Chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology and molecular biology, life science, pharmaceuticals, etc.