Jamaica Intellectual Property Office (JIPO)
- Section 1 General
Section 1: General
1. As background for the exceptions and limitations to patents investigated in this questionnaire, what is the legal standard used to determine whether an invention is patentable? If the standard for patentability includes provisions that vary according to the technology involved, please include examples of how the standard has been interpreted, if available. Please indicate the source of law (statutory and-or case law) by providing the relevant provisions and/or a brief summary of the relevant decisions.
An invention as described under Jamaica’s a Patent act of 1857 includes any new and useful art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter not known or used within the Island, or some new improvement in any such invention or discovery.
Correspondingly, please list exclusions from patentability that exist in your law. Furthermore, please provide the source of those exclusions from patentability if different from the source of the standard of patentability, and provide any available case law or interpretive decisions specific to the exclusions.
The Legislation does not have any provision for exclusion.
2. As background for the exceptions and limitations to patents investigated in this questionnaire, what exclusive rights are granted with a patent? Please provide the relevant provision in the statutory or case law. In addition, if publication of a patent application accords exclusive rights to the patent applicant, what are those rights?
The patentee is granted the full and exclusive right and liberty to make, construct, use and vend to others to use the invention.
Publication: A short notice is published in a daily newspaper and the Jamaica Gazette indicating the name of the applicant and the title of the invention. The Specification is not published. The Patentee is not accorded exclusive right until the Governor General of Jamaica signs the Letters Patent.
3.-103.
[Note: Jamaica is currently preparing New Patent Legislation which will take us to the international standard that is required and where the questions on exceptions will be addressed.]
September 2011