China's patent law stipulates that the protection period of invention patents is 20 years. From the date of application for the invention patent, the term of the invention patent is 20 years, the term of the utility model patent is 10 year, and the term of the design patent is 15 year, all from the date of application. Where the patentee of an invention patent fails to pay the annual fee as required, his invention patent shall be terminated by the patent administration department of the State Council.

According to the patent law of our country, the protection period of invention patent is 20 years, counting from the date of application. The patent term stipulated in the patent law is calculated from the date of application, but this is only the starting point of patent term calculation, which does not mean that the patent right will take effect from the date of application. According to the relevant provisions of the patent law, all patent rights shall take effect from the date of authorization announcement. Since the patent application must be examined by the Patent Office before the patent right can be obtained, it will take some time from the date of application to the announcement of authorization made by the Patent Office, so that the effective period for the invention patentee to actually obtain legal protection is less than 20 years.