According to the general characteristics of publications, publications can be divided into six categories: books, newspapers, periodicals, audio-visual products, electronic publications and Internet publications, among which books, newspapers and periodicals are paper publications, also known as printed publications. With the development of science and technology, six kinds of publications have appeared under different historical conditions.
The word publication has a broad meaning in patent law, not limited to printing, including typing, handwriting, optics, electricity, magnetism and photographic reproduction.
Its carrier is not limited to paper publications, but also includes audio-visual products, electronic publications, Internet publications and other information carriers, generally referring to information carriers that publish the contents of inventions or utility models by means of words, symbols, numbers, graphics, images, sounds, etc. through printing or other mechanical and chemical methods.
Such as books, newspapers, magazines, audio-visual products, microfilm, computer CDs, floppy disks, etc. Among them, the most typical are patent documents, scientific magazines, scientific books, professional documents, technical manuals, product samples, manuals, product catalogues, and public meeting minutes and technical reports.
According to different publishers, it can be divided into government publications, government organization publications and general publications. According to the distribution method, scope and object, it is divided into internal reading and public publication. According to binding, books are also divided into hardcover books and paperback books.