- Section 1
- Section 2
- Section 3
- Section 4
- Section 5
- Section 6
- Section 7
- Section 8
- Section 9
- Section 10
- Section 11
- Section 12
- Section 13
- Section 14
- Section 15
- Section 16
- Section 17
- Section 18
- Section 19
- Section 20
- Section 21
- Section 22
- Section 23
- Section 24
- Section 25
- Section 26
- Section 27
- Section 28
- Section 29
- Section 30
- Section 31
- Section 32
- Section 33
- Section 34
- Section 35
- Section 36
- Section 37
- Section 38
- Section 39
- Section 40
- Section 41
- Section 42
- Section 43
- Section 44
- Section 45
- Section 46
- Section 47
- Section 48
- Section 49
- Section 50
- Section 51
- Section 52
Legislative Texts
Unofficial translation
No. 669 of September 26, 1980, as amended by Decrees No. 505/85, No. 583/92, No. 71/94, No. 595/94, No. 104/96 and No. 246/97.
Finnish patent applications shall be filed with the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (the Patent Office).
International applications designating Finland shall be filed with an authority or international organization that is a receiving Office authorized under the Patent Cooperation Treaty done at Washington on June 19, 1970, and its Regulations. Sections 45 to 51 contain provisions on the Patent Office acting as a receiving Office.
The provisions in this Decree concerning patent applications shall only apply, unless otherwise specified, to: (4a) a statement, where appropriate, that the application includes the deposit of a culture of a microorganism under Section 8a of the Patents Act; (14.6.1985/505) and
Legislative Texts The prescribed application fee shall be paid when filing an application.
If the document is not written in one of the languages laid down by the fifth paragraph of Section 8 of the Patents Act, the applicant shall also submit to the Patent Office a translation of the document into Finnish or Swedish. For a document other than a description, an abstract or claims or for the text of the description or claims of a Finnish application not included in the basic documents under the first paragraph of Section 21 , the Patent Office may waive the requirement for a translation or may accept a translation into a language other than Finnish or Swedish.
The Patent Office may take up an application for processing before a translation thereof into one of the languages laid down by the first paragraph has been submitted. The translation has to be submitted before the application under Section 22 of the Patents Act becomes available to the public. The Patent Office shall specify the prerequisites under which the application is taken up for processing before the translation has been submitted. (21.3.1997/246)
The description, abstract and claims shall be in black type or black print on white paper, size A4 (210 mm × 297 mm).
Drawings shall be executed in dark, preferably black, lines on a light, preferably white, background on durable material, size A4.
The description, with accompanying drawings, if any, and the claims and abstract shall be submitted in a form suitable for printing.
Regulations on further requirements concerning the form of the documents and the number of copies to be filed with the Patent Office by the applicant shall be given by the Patent Office.
Section 5
To obtain a novelty search as referred to in Section 9 of the Patents Act, the applicant shall make a Legislative Texts
by the Searching Authority. Where the application is not drawn up in a language acceptable to the Searching Authority, the request shall be accompanied by a translation of the application into a language prescribed by the Patent Office.
If the search referred to in the first paragraph can be carried out by more than one authority and if the applicant wishes to specify which of such authorities is to carry out the search, he shall name that authority in his request.
The request shall be deemed withdrawn if, on expiration of the time limit laid down in the first paragraph, the application and the translation do not satisfy the formal requirements for an international application.
Section 6
The Patent Office shall enter on the application the date on which it was received at the Patent Office.
The Patent Office shall keep a record of patent applications filed. The record shall be accessible to the public.
The following particulars shall be entered in the record for each application: Legislative Texts
(9a) if the application has been converted from a European patent application into a national application, the filing date in accordance with the European Patent Convention (Finnish Treaty Series 8/96) and the date on which the application was received by the Patent Office for conversion; (15.2.1996/104) The Patent Office shall prepare a weekly list of patent applications that have been filed. The list shall contain for each application the particulars listed in the second paragraph of Section 7 under items (1) , (3) , (5) to (11) , (14) and (14a) .
The Patent Office shall further prepare a weekly list of international applications designating Finland, on the basis of the information received by the Office from the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The list shall contain, as far as possible, for each application the particulars listed in Article 30(2)(b) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
The Patent Office shall further prepare a weekly list of published European patent applications on the basis of the information received by the Office from the European Patent Office. The list shall contain for each application the data listed in Article 128(5) of the European Patent Convention. (15.2.1996/104)
These lists shall be accessible to the public on payment of a prescribed fee. (15.2.1996/104)
Section 9
Where notice is given that an invention for which a patent has been sought has been assigned to another person, the latter person shall be recorded as the applicant in the record of applications only if proof of the assignment is furnished.
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Section 10
To enjoy priority under Section 6 of the Patents Act, the applicant must claim priority in writing within three months of the date on which the application was filed or is deemed to have been filed, simultaneously stating where and when the application given as a basis for the priority was filed and, as soon as possible, its serial number. In the case of an international application, the priority claim shall be made in the application itself, stating the place and date the application given as the basis for priority was filed and, in the case of an international application, at least one country designated in such application. In such case, the serial number of the application given as the basis for priority shall be communicated to the receiving Office for the international application or to the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization within 16 months from the priority date which is claimed. (14.6.1985/505)
Where the application is divided under Section 22 , a claim to priority in respect of the parent application shall also apply, without separate request, to the new application resulting from division.
Section 11
An applicant who has claimed priority shall, within 16 months of the date for which priority is claimed, file with the Patent Office a certificate issued by the authority with which the application for which priority is claimed was filed, stating the filing date of the priority application and the applicant’s name, and also a copy of the application certified by that same authority. The copy shall be filed in the form prescribed by the Patent Office. However, for an international application, the certificate shall be filed only after the Patent Office has issued the corresponding official action. For such application the priority document may also be filed in accordance with Rule 17.1 of the Regulations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty with the International Bureau referred to in Section 8 or with the authority that received the application, or a request may be made to such latter authority to forward the priority document to the International Bureau.
The Patent Office may grant an exemption from the obligation to file the certificate and the copy referred to in the first paragraph.
Where a copy of an application that is the basis for the priority of an international application has been filed with the International Bureau referred to in the first paragraph, the Patent Office may only require a copy and a translation of such copy in accordance with Rule 17.2 of the Regulations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
Section 12
Priority may only be based on the first application in which the invention was disclosed.
If the person who filed the first application or his successor in title has filed a subsequent application with the same patent authority, relating to the same invention, the subsequent application may be cited as a basis for priority, provided that at the time of filling of the later application the earlier application was withdrawn, dismissed, or rejected without having become available to the public and without there being any rights subsisting, and had not served as a basis
Legislative Texts
for priority. Where priority has been obtained on the basis of the subsequent application, the prior application may no longer serve as a basis for claiming priority.
Section 13
Priority may also be obtained for a part of an application.
An application may claim priority deriving from several earlier applications even where they relate to different countries.
(14.6.1985/505)
Section 14
The claims shall contain: process or use. Section 15
An application may contain more than one claim. Where the application includes more than one claim, they shall be arranged and numbered consecutively.
A claim may be independent or dependent. A dependent claim is a claim that relates to an embodiment of the invention disclosed in another claim of the application and which, therefore, comprises all the features of that claim. All other claims are independent.
One or more dependent claims may relate to one claim. A dependent claim may refer to several preceding claims. It shall begin with a reference to a preceding claim and shall state the additional features characterizing the invention.
Section 16
Legislative Texts
(26.6.1992/583) Where an application contains several inventions they shall be interdependent. Inventions shall be deemed to be interdependent, if there is a technical connection between all of them in that the inventions have, in whole or in part, the same or similar special technical characteristics. The term special technical characteristics shall mean the technical characteristics contributed by each single invention going, in considering the invention as a whole, beyond the state of the art.
The question whether the inventions are interdependent shall be determined irrespective of whether they are stated in separate patent claims or as alternatives in a single claim.
(14.6.1985/505)
Section 17
The description may contain only subject matter that assists in understanding the invention. Where a newly-coined word or a technical term that is not generally accepted has to be used, such term shall be explained. The designations and units of measurement may not depart from those in general use in the Nordic countries.
Where the application includes the deposit of a culture of a microorganism under Section 8a of the Patents Act, the applicant shall, on filing the application, give all relevant information regarding the characteristics of the microorganism that is available to him. (14.6.1985/505)
Section 17a
(14.6.1985/505) Deposits under the first paragraph of Section 8a of the Patents Act shall be made with an institution that is an international depositary authority under the Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (the Budapest Treaty) done at Budapest on April 28, 1977, or with another depositary authority recognized by the European Patent Office. (15.2.1996/104)
Deposits shall be made in accordance with the Budapest Treaty.
The Patent Office shall keep a list of the institutions that are international depositary authorities under the Budapest Treaty.
Section 17b
(14.6.1985/505) Where a microorganism has been deposited, the applicant shall inform the Patent Office in writing, within 16 months of the filing date of the application or, where priority is claimed, of the date of the claimed priority, of the institution with which the deposit has been made and the access code given to the deposit by that institution. For international applications, the information may be submitted, within the same time limits, to the International Bureau referred to in the second paragraph of Section 8 . (21.3.1997/246)
Where the applicant requests that the application documents be made available to the public earlier than provided for in the first and second paragraphs of Section 22 of the Patents Act, the
Legislative Texts
information referred to in the first paragraph shall be submitted, at the latest, together with the request. Where the applicant requests early publication of an international application under Article 21(2)(b) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the information shall be submitted, at the latest, together with the request for publication.
If the deposit has been transferred from one international depositary authority to another under Rule
5.1 of the Regulation under the Budapest Treaty, the applicant shall notify the Patent Office of the transfer and of the new access code for the deposit.
The Patent Office may require a copy of the receipt for the deposit issued by the institution as proof of the information referred to in the first and third paragraphs.
Section 17c
(14.6.1985/505) A new deposit as referred to in the second paragraph of Section 8a of the Patents Act shall be made in accordance with the provisions for new deposits under the Budapest Treaty.
The new deposit shall be made within three months of the date the depositor received notification from the international depositary authority that samples of the previous deposit can no longer be furnished. Where the institution has ceased to act as an international depositary authority for the kind of microorganism to which the deposit belonged or if it has ceased to fulfill its obligations under the Budapest Treaty and the depositor has not received notification to such effect within six months of the announcement thereof published by the International Bureau, a new deposit may nevertheless be made within nine months of the said published announcement. As far as other depositary institutions are concerned, the period of time for making the deposit stated above begins once the European Patent Office has published a corresponding announcement of the matter. (15.2.1996/104)
Patents Decree
Patent Application and Record of Applications
Section 1
Section 3
Section 4
�written request within three months of the filing date of the application or, where applicable, of the
�date on which it is deemed to have been filed, to the Patent Office and shall pay the fee prescribed
�
Section 7
Section 8
Priority
�
Claims
�Each claim may relate to one invention only.
�Where possible, the invention shall relate to one of the following categories: product, apparatus,
�
�A claim may not contain any matter irrelevant to the invention disclosed therein or irrelevant to the
�exclusive right claimed by the applicant.
�
Description