- Chapter I General Provisions
- Chapter II Preconditions for Patent Protection
- Section 4. Patentability of an Invention
- Section 6. Information Made Public, which does not Cause Harm to Novelty
- Section 5. Novelty
- Section 7. Inventive Step
- Section 8. Industrial Application
- Section 9. Subject-matter of an Invention and Non-patentable Subject-matter
- Section 10. Biotechnological Inventions
- Section 11. Secret Inventions
- Chapter III Persons Having the Right to a Patent
- Chapter IV Rights Resulting from the Patent and Patent Application
- Section 16. Exclusive Rights
- Section 17. Scope of Exclusive Rights
- Section 18. Terms of Exclusive Rights
- Section 19. Scope of Exclusive Rights Resulting from Biotechnological Inventions
- Section 20. Limitations of Exclusive Rights Resulting from the Patent
- Section 21. Exhaustion of Rights
- Section 22. Rights of Prior Use
- Chapter V Patent Office
- Chapter VI Procedures for the Grant of a Patent
- Section 27. Patent Application
- Section 28. Submission of the Patent Application and Filing Date
- Section 29. Priority Right
- Section 30. Description, Claims and Abstract of the Invention
- Section 31. Unity of Invention
- Section 32. Authorisation of Representation
- Section 33. Determination of the Filing Date of the Patent Application
- Section 34. Examination of the Formal Requirements of a Patent Application
- Section 35. Making a Patent Application Publicly Available
- Section 36. Amendments in the Patent Application and the Division thereof
- Section 37. Substantive Examination of the Patent Application
- Section 38. Grant, Registration and Publication of a Patent
- Section 39. Submission of an Appeal
- Section 40. Progress of an Appeal
- Section 41. Opposition to the Grant of a Patent
- Section 42. Examination of Appeals and Oppositions
- Section 43. Maintaining the Patent in Force
- Section 44. Extension of Time Periods
- Section 45. Continuation of Processing after the Non-observance of Time Periods
- Section 46. Reestablishment of Rights
- Section 47. Register of Patents
- Section 48. Public Access to the Information of the Patent Applications and Patent Register
- Section 49. State Fees for the Activities in the Patent Office
- Chapter VII Patent as a Subject of Ownership
- Chapter VIII Patent Invalidation
- Chapter IX Protection of the Rights Related to Patents
- Section 60. Protection of an Inventor’s Rights
- Section 61. Warning regarding Exclusive Rights
- Section 62. Illegal Use of an Invention (Patent Infringement
- Section 63. Responsibility for an Illegal Use of a Patent
- Section 64. Procedures for the Determination of the Amount of Damages and Compensation for Moral Harm
- Chapter X Examination of Disputes in Court
- Chapter XI International Application in Accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty
- Chapter XII European Patent Application and European Patent
- Section 69. European Patent Application
- Section 70. Legal Effect of the European Patent Application in Latvia
- Section 71. Legal Effect of a European Patent
- Section 72. Authentic Text of the European Patent Application or European Patent
- Section 73. Payment for Maintaining the European Patent in Force
- Section 74. Conversion of the European Patent Application in the National Patent Application
- Section 75. Impossibility of Simultaneous Protection
- Chapter XIII Supplementary Protection Certificate
- Transitional Provisions
- Informative Reference to European Union Directives
Patent Law
Adopted: Entered info Force: Published:
15.02.2007 01.03.2007 Vēstnesis, 27.02.2007, Nr. 34
Chapter I
General Provisions
Section 1. Terms used in this Law
The following terms are used in this Law:
1) national patent application – a patent application, which has been filed to the Patent Office of the Republic of Latvia (hereinafter – Patent Office) in accordance with the requirements of this Law;
2) national patent – a Latvian patent granted on the basis of the national patent application;
3) Paris Convention – the 20 March 1883 Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (as revised at Stockholm on 14 July 1967, and as amended on 28 September 1979);
4) Paris Union – the Union of the states that are parties to the Paris Convention;
5) priority – the date of priority, which is assigned to the patent application in accordance with the Paris Convention;
6) Patent Cooperation Treaty – a treaty concluded on 19 June 1970 (as revised on 2 October 1979 and 3 February 1984);
7) international application – an application, which has been filed in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty in any of its Contracting States;
8) European Patent Convention – a convention to which the Republic of Latvia has acceded with the Law On the Convention regarding the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973 (European Patent Convention), Agreement of 17 October 2000 regarding the Application of Article 65 of the Convention regarding the Grant of European Patents and the Amendments of 29 November 2000 in the Convention regarding the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973 (European Patent Convention);
9) European patent application – a patent application which has been filed in accordance with the European Patent Convention;
10) European patent – a patent granted in accordance with the European Patent Convention, on the basis of the European patent application by the European Patent Office;
11) biological material – a material which contains genetic information and is capable of reproducing itself or which may be reproduced in a biological system;
12) biotechnological inventions – inventions that pertain to the products which consist of biological material or contain biological material or to the methods with which biological material is obtained, processed or used;
13) microbiological method – a method in which microbiological material is involved or in the result of which it appears or which has been carried out with biological material; and
14) biological method – a plant or animal production method which consists entirely of natural phenomena, such as crossing or selection.
Section 2. Purpose of this Law
The purpose of this Law is to promote the activity of inventors and the industrial development of the State, ensuring the protection of the rights of the inventor and the proprietor of the patent.
Section 3. Regulation of Legal Relations in the Field of Patents - (1)
- The provisions of the Law regarding patents shall also apply to the filing of international applications and European patent applications of inventions, as well as to the rights that are related with European patents, the validity, use and protection thereof, insofar as the provisions of the European Patent Convention and of the Patent Cooperation Treaty or special provisions of Chapters XI and XII of this Law regarding the filing of international patent applications, European patent application and European patent do not provide for otherwise.
- (2)
- A person has the right to patent, use and protect inventions in other states in accordance with the regulatory enactments of these states and international agreements.
- (3)
- If the international agreements binding on Latvia include provisions, which differ from the norms of this Law, the provisions of the international agreements shall be applied.
Chapter II
Preconditions for Patent Protection
Section 4. Patentability of an Invention
An invention shall be protected with a patent in any field of technology, if the invention is new, it has an inventive step and it is susceptible of industrial application.
Section 5. Novelty - (1)
- An invention shall be considered as new, if it is not a part of the state of the art.
- (2)
- The state of the art shall include any knowledge which is publicly available in writing or orally, is used publicly or made public in any other way prior to the date of filing of patent application in accordance with Section 28, Paragraph two of this Law or prior to the date of priority in accordance with Section 29 of this Law.
- (3)
- As a part of the state of the art shall be considered also the national patent applications the filing date of which in accordance with Section 29 of this Law is earlier than the date referred to in Paragraph two of this Section and which have been published on this date or after this date. This condition shall also be applied to the European patent applications with an earlier priority.
- (4)
- The provisions of Paragraphs two and three of this Section shall not prohibit patentability to substances or to compositions, which are known from the state of the art, if the substances or compositions thereof:
1) are intended to be used by using the methods referred to in Section 8, Paragraph two of this Law, and this use is not a part of the state of the art; or
2) are intended for a specific use in the methods referred to in Paragraph one of this Section in the cases when the specific use is not a part of the state of the art.
Section 6. Information Made Public, which does not Cause Harm to Novelty
(1) The provisions of Section 5 of this Law shall not be applied, if the invention has been made public not earlier than six months prior to the patent application filing date and if the communication to the public thereof is:
1) an abusive action against the applicant of the patent (hereinafter – applicant) or against the legal predecessor; or
2) demonstration of the invention of the applicant or the legal predecessor thereof has taken place in an official international exhibition or international exhibition equivalent to it, which has been organised in accordance with the Convention on International Exhibitions in Paris signed on 22 November 1928 and last revised on 30 November 1972.
(2) The provisions of Paragraph one, Clause 2 of this Section shall be applied only if the applicant, when filing the patent application, declares that the invention has been demonstrated in such exhibition, and submits a document certifying this fact within a time period of four months from the application filing date.
Section 7. Inventive Step - (1)
- An invention shall be deemed as conforming with the inventive step if, taking into consideration the state of the art, the invention is not obvious to a person skilled in the art.
- (2)
- If the state of the art is formed by the patent applications referred to in Section 5, Paragraph three of this Law, they shall not be taken into consideration when evaluating the inventive step.
Section 8. Industrial Application - (1)
- An invention shall be deemed as susceptible of industrial application, if the subject-matter thereof may be manufactured or it may be used in any kind of industry, in agriculture or other field of economy.
- (2)
- Therapeutic or surgical treatment methods and diagnostic methods, which are practised on the human or animal body, shall not be deemed as susceptible of industrial application. This exception shall not apply to devices and substances or the compositions thereof, which are used when employing the referred to methods.
Section 9. Subject-matter of an Invention and Non-patentable Subject-matter - (1)
- The subject-matter of an invention may be a device, method, substance, composition of substances, or biological material.
- (2)
- Within the meaning of this Law, the following shall not be considered as inventions: 1) discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods; 2) aesthetic creations; 3) schemes, methods of performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, as well as
computer programs; and
4) presentation of information.
- (3)
- The patenting of the subject-matter referred to in Paragraph two of this Section shall be excluded only to the extent to which patent protection is sought for these subject-matters as such.
- (4)
- A patent shall not be granted to inventions, the making public of which or use of which is in conflict with public order or the principles of morality accepted in society, however, the decision not to grant the patent shall not be taken only on the basis of the fact that such use is prohibited with a regulatory or administrative enactment.
Section 10. Biotechnological Inventions
(1) A patent shall be granted to biotechnological inventions, which:
1) contain biological material, which is isolated from its natural environment or produced by means of a technical method, even if it previously occurred in nature;
2) pertain to plants or animals, if the technical feasibility of the invention does not confine itself to a particular plant or animal variety; and
3) pertain to microbiological or other technical method, or to the product obtained by means of such method, if it is not a plant or animal variety. - (2)
- A patent shall not be granted to plant or animal varieties or basically biological methods for the production of plant or animal varieties.
- (3)
- In accordance with Section 9, Paragraph four of this Law, a patent shall not be granted to biotechnological inventions that pertain to: 1) human cloning; 2) modification of the genetic identity of human beings in germ cells; 3) use of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes; and
4) methods for modifying the genetic identity of animals, which are likely to cause them suffering without any substantial medical benefit to people or animals, as well as animals resulting from such methods.
- (4)
- A human body in different stages of formation and development and the simple discovery of one of its elements, including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene, cannot be patented.
- (5)
- An element, which has been isolated from the human body or produced otherwise with a technical method, including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene, may be patented, even if the structure of this element is identical to the natural element.
- (6)
- The industrial application of the sequence or partial sequence of a gene must be disclosed in the patent application.
Section 11. Secret Inventions - (1)
- If an invention affects the interests of State defence, it shall be secret and it shall be registered by the Ministry of Defence, according to the procedures specified by the Cabinet.
- (2)
- The condition for the utilisation of a secret invention, as well as compensation for the utilisation thereof shall be determined by the agreement between the inventor and the Ministry of Defence. If the parties fail to agree regarding the compensation, it shall be determined by a court, according to the procedures specified by the Civil Procedure Law.
- (3)
- The patent application in relation to the invention, which is referred to in Paragraph one of this Section, may be submitted to the Patent Office, after the receipt of the relevant permission from the Ministry of Defence.
Chapter III
Persons Having the Right to a Patent
Section 12. Holders of the Right - (1)
- An inventor or his or her successor in title has the right to the patent.
- (2)
- If several persons have jointly created an invention, they shall have joint rights to the patent.
- (3)
- If several persons have invented an invention independently from each other, the rights to the patent shall belong to the person, the filing date of the patent application of which is earlier, if this earlier application has been published.
Section 13. Recognition of the Rights - (1)
- If the patent application has been filed by a person, which did not have such rights or if the patent has already been granted to such person, then the person, which in accordance with Section 12 of this Law has the right to the patent and also has relevant evidence, may bring an action to a court to recognise and transfer to it the rights to the patent application or patent.
- (2)
- If a person in accordance with Section 12, Paragraph two of this Law has joint rights to a patent together with another person, and such rights have not been observed, the referred to persons may in accordance with the procedures specified in Paragraph one of this Section request to be recognised as the joint applicants or joint proprietors of the patent.
- (3)
- The rights provided for by Paragraphs one and two of this Section shall be used not later than within a period of two years from the day when the notification regarding the grant of a patent was published in the Official Gazette of the Patent Office. The limit of the term shall not be applied if the person who does not have the right to the patent has acted in bad faith during the time when the patent application was filed or the ownership rights to the patent were transferred to him or her.
- (4)
- A person who has brought an action to a court regarding the recognition of the rights to the patent, shall without delay inform the Patent Office thereof. If the action has been brought prior to the publication of the patent application in the Official Gazette of the Patent Office or the patent application has been disclosed otherwise to society, the Patent Office, court and participants in the proceedings shall observe the necessary confidentiality in relation to the essence of the patent application.
- (5)
- The person, for the benefit of which a court judgment is made, shall submit the copy thereof to the Patent Office which shall take into consideration the changes in the proprietorship rights and other amendments arising from the judgement in force when examining the patent application or, if the application has been already published, shall enter in the Patent Register and publish the relevant notification in the Official Gazette of the Patent Office.
Section 14. Moral Rights of an Inventor
The inventor, irrespective of the fact who is the applicant or the proprietor of a patent, shall have inalienable moral rights to the following:
1) inventorship – the right to be recognised as the inventor;
2) name – has the right to be indicated as the inventor in the patent application and in all documents and publications related to the patenting of the invention, or also to waive these rights, requesting in writing to the Patent Office that the name thereof would not be indicated.
Section 15. Inventions that are Invented within the Framework of Employment Legal Relations
(1) The employer has the rights to a patent, if the invention, in relation to which the patent application has been filed, has been invented by the employee, the work duties of which include:
1) the activity of an inventor; and
2) research, designing and construction or preparation of technological development. - (2)
- If the duties of the employee do not comprise the provisions of Paragraph one of this Section, but are related to the field of activity of the employer, then the rights to the patent shall belong to the inventor. The employer in such case has the right to use the invention as a non-exclusive licensee without the rights to grant the licence to other persons. If the undertaking of the employer is transferred in the ownership of another person, the rights to use the invention shall be transferred together with the undertaking to the legal successor of the employer rights. The transfer of these rights shall not be permitted in any other way.
- (3)
- The employee who has invented the invention in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph one of this Section, has the duty to immediately inform in writing thereof the employer and to submit the documents that allow to assess the invention.
- (4)
- If the employer waves the rights to the invention or within a time period of three months does not inform the employee regarding the intention thereof to exercise these rights, the rights to the invention shall be transferred to the employee.
- (5)
- Prior to the filing of the patent application to the Patent Office, the employer and the employee shall refrain from any disclosure of the essence of the invention to third persons.
- (6)
- The legal relations of the employer and the employee due to additional remuneration for the creation and use of the inventions referred to in Paragraph one of this Section shall be determined in the contract of employment or collective agreement.
- (7)
- A contract may be concluded regarding the rights of the patent, the provisions of which differ from the provisions of Paragraph one or two of this Section.
Chapter IV
Rights Resulting from the Patent and Patent Application
Section 16. Exclusive Rights
(1) A patent shall ensure exclusive rights to the proprietor thereof. It is prohibited to third persons without the permission of the proprietor of the patent:
1) to produce the patented product, to offer it for sale, place on the market otherwise, use it, as well as to import, export and store it for the referred to purposes;
2) to use the patented method;
3) to offer for sale, place on the market otherwise, use, as well as to import, export and store for the referred to purposes a product that has been directly obtained with the patented method; and
4) to supply or offer to supply the essential elements of the patented product, if the third persons knew or they should have known in the relevant circumstances that such elements are suitable and intended for the implementation of the invention.
(2) The provisions of Paragraph one, Clause 4 of this Section shall not be applied if the essential elements for the implementation of the invention are staple commercial products, except for the case when the third person with such supply induces to carry out the activities referred to in Paragraph one of this Section.
Section 17. Scope of Exclusive Rights - (1)
- The scope of exclusive rights resulting from the patent shall be determined by the claims of the patent. The description and drawings of the invention may be used for the interpretation thereof.
- (2)
- Assessing the scope of exclusive rights resulting from the patent in the case of an infringement of the patent, the equivalents of the features, which are elements of the subject-matter to be analysed, referred to in the claims shall be also observed. The element of the subject-matter to be analysed shall be considered as equivalent to the feature referred to in the claims if at the time of infringement of the patent it fulfils the same function in the same way and produces the same result as the feature
referred to in the claims and if it is evident to a skilled person in the art that it is possible to obtain the same result by using the equivalent element of the subject-matter to be analysed.
- (3)
- The description and drawings of the invention shall not be used for an extended interpretation of the claims of the patent.
Section 18. Terms of Exclusive Rights - (1)
- Exclusive rights shall come into force in full scope on the day when the notification regarding the grant of the patent is published, and shall expire not later than after 20 years from the filing date of the patent application.
- (2)
- Provisional protection shall be conferred to the invention for the time period from the day when the patent application was published according to the procedures specified in Section 35 of this Law until the day of the grant of the patent. If during this time period third persons use the invention to be patented without the consent of the applicant, the proprietor of the patent has the right to request a compensation.
- (3)
- Determining a compensation, the good faith of the user of the invention shall be taken into account.
Section 19. Scope of Exclusive Rights Resulting from Biotechnological Inventions - (1)
- The protection conferred by a patent to a biological material, which as a result of the invention has acquired special characteristics, shall apply to biological material directly obtained from the initial biological material through multiplication in an identical or divergent form and possessing the same characteristics.
- (2)
- The protection conferred by a patent, with which a biological material is processed, as a result of the invention has acquired special characteristics, shall apply also to the biological material, which has been directly obtained with that method, and to any other biological material, which is obtained from the directly obtained biological material in an identical or divergent form and possessing the same characteristics.
- (3)
- The protection conferred by a patent to the product, containing genetic information or consisting of genetic information, shall apply also to the whole material, except the human body or the element thereof, in which the product has been included and which contains genetic information and performs its function. (Section 10, Paragraph four).
- (4)
- If the proprietor of the patent or somebody else with his or her consent sells or implements otherwise to a farmer a plant multiplication material for agricultural purposes, which also implies a permission for the farmer to use the produced products for multiplication in the holding thereof, Paragraph one, two and three of this Section shall not be applied to such an extent and with such conditions, which conform with what is specified in Article 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2100/94 of 27 July 1994 on Community plant variety rights or Section 24 of the Plant Varieties Protection Law.
- (5)
- Paragraphs one, two and three of this Section shall not be applied, if the proprietor of the patent or somebody else with his or her consent sells or implements otherwise to a farmer breeding animals or the reproductive material of the animals, which also implies a permission for the farmer to use the domestic animals, protected by the patent, for agricultural purposes. This consent shall include the offering of an animal or of other reproductive material of animals for the performance of agricultural activities, but not selling for commercial multiplication or to the purposes thereof.
Section 20. Limitations of Exclusive Rights Resulting from the Patent
The exclusive rights resulting from the patent shall not extend to:
1) activities performed for personal needs and non-commercial purposes;
2) experimental or investigative activities;
3) examination of the subject-matter of a patent, as well as to the research of patented or protected with a supplementary protection certificate medicinal products or plant protection means, which is carried out in order to obtain a permission for the placing on the market thereof;
4) the extemporaneous preparation of medicinal products for individual cases in a pharmacy with a doctor’s prescription, as well as to the actions with medicinal products prepared in such a way; and
5) use of the invention in the construction or exploitation of such foreign vehicle which temporarily or accidentally enter the territory of Latvia, if the invention is used only for the vehicle.
Section 21. Exhaustion of Rights - (1)
- The rights resulting from the patent shall not extend to the activities which have been carried out with the patented product in the European Economic Area, after this product has been put on the market in the European Economic Area by the proprietor of the patent himself or herself or another person with his or her consent, unless the proprietor of the patent has a legal basis to object against the further commercialisation of the product.
- (2)
- The protection referred to in Section 19, Paragraphs one, two and three of this Law shall not extend to the biological material, which has been obtained by multiplying such biological material, which has been put on market in the European Economic Area by the proprietor of the patent himself or herself or by another person with his or her consent, if multiplication arises directly from the use thereof, for the purposes of which the biological material was sold with a condition that the obtained material shall not be used afterwards for another multiplication.
Section 22. Rights of Prior Use - (1)
- The person who in good faith had used the invention for commercial purposes or had carried out the necessary preparations for such use in the territory of Latvia prior to the filing or priority date of application has the right to use this invention further on for commercial purposes as planned during preparations, without hindrance and without paying a remuneration to the proprietor of the patent.
- (2)
- The rights of prior use may be transferred to another person only together with the undertaking or a part of the undertaking, in which the invention has been used within the meaning of Paragraph one of this Section.
Chapter V
Patent Office
Section 23. Basic Tasks of the Patent Office
Within the framework of the competence specified in the regulatory enactments, the Patent Office shall implement the State policy in the field of industrial property, ensuring the registration of the industrial property rights and promoting comprehension regarding the necessity of the protection of these rights in the State.
Section 24. Duties and Restrictions of the Employees of the Patent Office - (1)
- The employees of the Patent Office, on the basis of the result of an examination, independently and in conformity with the regulatory enactments in the field of industrial property shall, on behalf of the Patent Office, take the decision regarding the grant of a patent or the registration of a trademark, design, topographies of semiconductor products or supplementary protection certificate.
- (2)
- The employees of the Patent Office, while they are working at the Patent Office, as well as a year after the employment relations thereof with the Patent Office were terminated, do not have the right to file a patent application, as well as to obtain the patent directly or indirectly, except for an inheritance, which has been granted or shall be granted by the Patent Office, or also to obtain any of the rights resulting from the patent. The priority rights shall not be granted to the patent applications of these persons, if the relevant application has been filed within a time period of one year after these persons have terminated the employment relations with the Patent Office.
Section 25. Board of Appeal of the Patent Office - (1)
- The Board of Appeal of the Patent Office (hereinafter – Board of Appeal) shall be a collegial decision-making institution, which is developed as the structural unit of the Patent Office for the reviewing of the disputes related to the patents, trademarks, designs and topographies of semiconductor products.
- (2)
- After the recommendation of the Director of the Patent Office, the Minister for Justice shall determine the number of the members of the Board of Appeal and shall appoint members of the Board of Appeal for a period of three years, one of which shall be approved as the chair of the Board of Appeal. The representatives of the Patent Office and science, technology or law specialists shall be within the composition of the Board of Appeal.
- (3)
- The Board of Appeal shall, on the basis of a written appeal or opposition, review the disputes related to the patents, trademarks, designs and topographies of semiconductor products. The composition of the Board of Appeal for the review of a specific matter shall be approved by the chair of the Board of Appeal, taking into account the nature of the case, competence of the members of the Board of Appeal and workload. Each appeal and opposition shall be reviewed by an uneven number of the members of the Board of Appeal, but not less than by three members, besides at least one of them shall be a lawyer and at least one of them shall be a specialist, which is not an employee of the Patent Office. If necessary, the Board of Appeal may invite independent experts for the provision of the opinion in the cases of disputes.
- (4)
- A person, which has carried out the formal review and examination of the relevant application in the Patent Office, shall not be included within the composition of the Board of Appeal for the review of an appeal or opposition. A member of the Board of Appeal does not have the right to sit in a case if he or she personally is, directly or indirectly, interested in the outcome of the case, or if other circumstances exist which cause doubt as to his or her impartiality. The participants in the matter may submit a rejection of a member of the Board of Appeal. The decision regarding the submitted rejection shall be taken by the relevant composition of the Board of Appeal.
- (5)
- Upon taking the relevant decision, the members of the Board of Appeal shall be independent and shall not be subject to orders or any other influence. The decisions shall be taken by a simple majority vote. The member of the Board of Appeal, which has participated in the review of the case, does not have the right to abstain from voting.
- (6)
- The Board of Appeal shall review the appeals and oppositions according to the procedures specified in this Law, the Law On Trademarks and Geographical Indications, Law On Designs and Law On Protection of Topographies of Semiconductor Products.
Section 26. Representation - (1)
- A legal or natural person, the place of permanent residence of which or residence of which is not Latvia or which is not the owner of an undertaking in the territory of Latvia, shall be represented in the Patent Office by a professional patent attorney.
- (2)
- A legal or natural person, the place of permanent residence of which or place of residence of which is Latvia or which is the owner of an undertaking in the territory of Latvia, may be represented personally in the Patent Office or by an employee thereof, or through an authorised representative. This representative may not be a professional patent attorney.
- (3)
- The Patent Office shall maintain the register of professional patent attorneys. The professional patent attorney may have a particular specialisation. The Cabinet shall determine the content of the entries to be made in the register of professional patent attorneys, as well as the procedures for the maintenance of the register.
- (4)
- Only the data of natural persons may be included in the register of professional patent attorneys, if the person conforms with the following requirements:
1) he or she is a citizen of Latvia or another European Union Member State;
2) he or she has an academic or vocational higher education of the second level (the diplomas issued in the relevant specialities by foreign higher educational institutions have to be recognised in Latvia);
3)
Adopted: Entered info Force: Published:
15.02.2007 01.03.2007 Vēstnesis, 27.02.2007, Nr. 34
Chapter I
General Provisions
Section 1. Terms used in this Law
The following terms are used in this Law:
1) national patent application – a patent application, which has been filed to the Patent Office of the Republic of Latvia (hereinafter – Patent Office) in accordance with the requirements of this Law;
2) national patent – a Latvian patent granted on the basis of the national patent application;
3) Paris Convention – the 20 March 1883 Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (as revised at Stockholm on 14 July 1967, and as amended on 28 September 1979);
4) Paris Union – the Union of the states that are parties to the Paris Convention;
5) priority – the date of priority, which is assigned to the patent application in accordance with the Paris Convention;
6) Patent Cooperation Treaty – a treaty concluded on 19 June 1970 (as revised on 2 October 1979 and 3 February 1984);
7) international application – an application, which has been filed in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty in any of its Contracting States;
8) European Patent Convention – a convention to which the Republic of Latvia has acceded with the Law On the Convention regarding the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973 (European Patent Convention), Agreement of 17 October 2000 regarding the Application of Article 65 of the Convention regarding the Grant of European Patents and the Amendments of 29 November 2000 in the Convention regarding the Grant of European Patents of 5 October 1973 (European Patent Convention);
9) European patent application – a patent application which has been filed in accordance with the European Patent Convention;
10) European patent – a patent granted in accordance with the European Patent Convention, on the basis of the European patent application by the European Patent Office;
11) biological material – a material which contains genetic information and is capable of reproducing itself or which may be reproduced in a biological system;
12) biotechnological inventions – inventions that pertain to the products which consist of biological material or contain biological material or to the methods with which biological material is obtained, processed or used;
13) microbiological method – a method in which microbiological material is involved or in the result of which it appears or which has been carried out with biological material; and
14) biological method – a plant or animal production method which consists entirely of natural phenomena, such as crossing or selection.
Section 2. Purpose of this Law
The purpose of this Law is to promote the activity of inventors and the industrial development of the State, ensuring the protection of the rights of the inventor and the proprietor of the patent.
Section 3. Regulation of Legal Relations in the Field of Patents Chapter II An invention shall be protected with a patent in any field of technology, if the invention is new, it has an inventive step and it is susceptible of industrial application.
Section 5. Novelty 1) are intended to be used by using the methods referred to in Section 8, Paragraph two of this Law, and this use is not a part of the state of the art; or
2) are intended for a specific use in the methods referred to in Paragraph one of this Section in the cases when the specific use is not a part of the state of the art.
Section 6. Information Made Public, which does not Cause Harm to Novelty
(1) The provisions of Section 5 of this Law shall not be applied, if the invention has been made public not earlier than six months prior to the patent application filing date and if the communication to the public thereof is:
1) an abusive action against the applicant of the patent (hereinafter – applicant) or against the legal predecessor; or
2) demonstration of the invention of the applicant or the legal predecessor thereof has taken place in an official international exhibition or international exhibition equivalent to it, which has been organised in accordance with the Convention on International Exhibitions in Paris signed on 22 November 1928 and last revised on 30 November 1972.
(2) The provisions of Paragraph one, Clause 2 of this Section shall be applied only if the applicant, when filing the patent application, declares that the invention has been demonstrated in such exhibition, and submits a document certifying this fact within a time period of four months from the application filing date.
Section 7. Inventive Step Section 8. Industrial Application Section 9. Subject-matter of an Invention and Non-patentable Subject-matter Section 10. Biotechnological Inventions
(1) A patent shall be granted to biotechnological inventions, which:
1) contain biological material, which is isolated from its natural environment or produced by means of a technical method, even if it previously occurred in nature;
2) pertain to plants or animals, if the technical feasibility of the invention does not confine itself to a particular plant or animal variety; and
3) pertain to microbiological or other technical method, or to the product obtained by means of such method, if it is not a plant or animal variety. Section 11. Secret Inventions Section 12. Holders of the Right Section 13. Recognition of the Rights Section 14. Moral Rights of an Inventor
The inventor, irrespective of the fact who is the applicant or the proprietor of a patent, shall have inalienable moral rights to the following:
1) inventorship – the right to be recognised as the inventor;
2) name – has the right to be indicated as the inventor in the patent application and in all documents and publications related to the patenting of the invention, or also to waive these rights, requesting in writing to the Patent Office that the name thereof would not be indicated.
Section 15. Inventions that are Invented within the Framework of Employment Legal Relations
(1) The employer has the rights to a patent, if the invention, in relation to which the patent application has been filed, has been invented by the employee, the work duties of which include:
1) the activity of an inventor; and
2) research, designing and construction or preparation of technological development. Section 16. Exclusive Rights
(1) A patent shall ensure exclusive rights to the proprietor thereof. It is prohibited to third persons without the permission of the proprietor of the patent:
1) to produce the patented product, to offer it for sale, place on the market otherwise, use it, as well as to import, export and store it for the referred to purposes;
2) to use the patented method;
3) to offer for sale, place on the market otherwise, use, as well as to import, export and store for the referred to purposes a product that has been directly obtained with the patented method; and
4) to supply or offer to supply the essential elements of the patented product, if the third persons knew or they should have known in the relevant circumstances that such elements are suitable and intended for the implementation of the invention.
(2) The provisions of Paragraph one, Clause 4 of this Section shall not be applied if the essential elements for the implementation of the invention are staple commercial products, except for the case when the third person with such supply induces to carry out the activities referred to in Paragraph one of this Section.
Section 17. Scope of Exclusive Rights Section 18. Terms of Exclusive Rights Section 19. Scope of Exclusive Rights Resulting from Biotechnological Inventions Section 20. Limitations of Exclusive Rights Resulting from the Patent
The exclusive rights resulting from the patent shall not extend to:
1) activities performed for personal needs and non-commercial purposes;
2) experimental or investigative activities;
3) examination of the subject-matter of a patent, as well as to the research of patented or protected with a supplementary protection certificate medicinal products or plant protection means, which is carried out in order to obtain a permission for the placing on the market thereof;
4) the extemporaneous preparation of medicinal products for individual cases in a pharmacy with a doctor’s prescription, as well as to the actions with medicinal products prepared in such a way; and
5) use of the invention in the construction or exploitation of such foreign vehicle which temporarily or accidentally enter the territory of Latvia, if the invention is used only for the vehicle.
Section 21. Exhaustion of Rights Section 22. Rights of Prior Use Chapter V Within the framework of the competence specified in the regulatory enactments, the Patent Office shall implement the State policy in the field of industrial property, ensuring the registration of the industrial property rights and promoting comprehension regarding the necessity of the protection of these rights in the State.
Section 24. Duties and Restrictions of the Employees of the Patent Office Section 25. Board of Appeal of the Patent Office Section 26. Representation 1) he or she is a citizen of Latvia or another European Union Member State;
2) he or she has an academic or vocational higher education of the second level (the diplomas issued in the relevant specialities by foreign higher educational institutions have to be recognised in Latvia);
3)
Preconditions for Patent Protection
Section 4. Patentability of an Invention
4) presentation of information.
Chapter III
Persons Having the Right to a Patent
Chapter IV
Rights Resulting from the Patent and Patent Application
Patent Office
Section 23. Basic Tasks of the Patent Office