- PART I
- PART II
- PART III
- PART IV
- PART V
- PART VI
- PART VII
- PART VIII
- PART IX
- PART X
- PART XI
- PART XII
- PART XIII
- PART XIV
- PART XV
- PART XVI
- PART XVII
- PART XVIII
- PART XIX
- PART XX
- PART XXI
- PART XXII
- PART XXIII
- PART XXIV
CHAPTER 417
PATENTS AND DESIGNS ACT
To make provision for the registration and regulation of patents and designs.
1st June, 2002
ACT XVII of 2000, as amended by Acts IX of 2003 and XVIII of 2005.
1. The short title of this Act is the Patents and Designs Act.
2. In Parts II to XVII of this Act unless the context otherwise requires:
“biological material” means any material containing genetic information and capable of reproducing itself or being reproduced in a biological system;
“Budapest Treaty” means the Treaty for the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for the Purpose of Patent Procedure done at Budapest on the 28th April 1977;
“the Comptroller” means the Comptroller of Industrial Property and includes any other person delegated by the Comptroller or appointed by the Minister to exercise all or any of the powers and to perform all or any of the duties of the Comptroller;
“essential biological process for the production of plants and animals” means any process consisting entirely of natural phenomena such as crossing or selection;
“European Union means the European Union referred on the Treaty;
“microbiological process” means any process involving, or performed upon, or resulting in, microbiological material;
“Member State” means a state which is a member of the European Union;
“Minister” means the Minister responsible for the protection of industrial property and “Ministry” shall be construed accordingly;
“patent” means the exclusive right granted by the Comptroller in terms of the provisions of this Act;
“plant varieties” refers to all botanical genera and species, including, inter alia, hybrids between genera or species;
“prescribed” means prescribed by Parts of this Act;
“the register” means the register of patents kept under this Act and includes the register of patents kept under the Industrial Property (Protection) Ordinance, parts of which have been repealed by this Act;
Short title.
Amended by:
IX. 2003.106.
Interpretation.
Substituted by:
IX. 2003.107.
Cap. 29.
Cap. 460.
Appointment and duties of Comptroller.
Patentable inventions.
Amended by:
IX. 2003.108.
“the Treaty” has the same meaning assigned to it by the European Union Act;
“variety” means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank, which grouping, irrespective of whether the conditions for the grant of a plant variety right or patent are fully met, can be:
-defined by the expression of the characteristics that results from a given genotype or combination of genotypes,
-distinguished from any other plants grouping by the expression of at least one of the said characteristics, and
-considered as a unit with regard to its suitability for being propagated unchanged,
where a plant grouping consists of entire plants or parts of plants as far as such parts are capable of producing entire plants.
3. (1) The administration of this Act shall be entrusted to the Comptroller of Industrial Property, hereinafter referred to as "the Comptroller".
(2) The Comptroller shall be appointed by the Minister.
4. (1) Inventions which are new, involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial applications, shall be patentable:
Provided that such inventions shall also be patentable even if they concern a product consisting of or containing biological material or a process by means of which biological material is produced, processed or used:
Provided further that biological material which is isolated from its natural environment or produced by means of a technical process may be subject of an invention if it previously occurred in nature. subarticle only to the extent to which a patent application or patent relates to such subject matter or activities as such.
(4) A method for the treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and a diagnostic method practised on the human or animal body shall not be regarded as an invention capable of industrial application for the purposes of subarticle (1):
Provided that this subarticle shall not apply to products, in
particular substances or compositions, for use in any of these
methods.
(5) A patent shall not be granted in respect of: Provided that patents shall not be granted for plant varieties only after a new form of plant variety protection is introduced in such form as may be prescribed:
Provided further that a patent may still be granted for a plant variety in respect of which a patent application is still pending on the date that a new form of plant variety protection is prescribed;
(f) essentially biological process of the production of plants or animals:
Provided that this is without prejudice to the patentability of inventions which concern a microbiological or other technical process or a product obtained by means of such a process;
Novelty.
Inventive step.
Industrial applicability.
Disclosure of the invention.
(g) DNA sequence not containing any technical information and in particular any indication of its function. 5. (1) An invention shall be considered novel if it does not form part of the prior art. (a) an evident abuse in relation to the applicant or his legal predecessor, or
(b) the fact that the applicant or his legal predecessor has displayed the invention at an official, or officially recognised, international exhibition.
11. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of article 10, when an invention is made in execution of a commission or a contract of employment, the right to a patent for that invention shall belong, in the absence of contractual provisions to the contrary, to the person having commissioned the work or to the employer.
(2) The employee shall have a right to equitable remuneration taking into account his salary, the economic value of the invention and any benefit derived from the invention by the employer. In the absence of agreement between the parties, the remuneration shall be fixed by the Civil Court, First Hall.
12. The inventor shall be mentioned as such in the patent, unless in a special written declaration addressed to the Comptroller he indicates that he wishes not to be named.
13. (1) An application for a patent shall be made in the prescribed form and shall be filed at the Office of the Comptroller and shall contain Entitlement to file an application.
Right to a patent.
Invention made in execution of a commission or an employment contract.
Mention of inventor.
Requirements of application.
Amended by:
IX. 2003.109.
(e) an abstract of the invention. Date of filing. 14. (1) The filing date of an application shall be the date of receipt by the Office of the Comptroller of the documents that contain: (b) If any of the description referred to in subarticle (1)(c) or any text contained in any drawings is in a language other than the official languages of the Office, a translation thereof in one of the official languages of the Office shall be deposited at the Industrial Property Office within such time limit as may be prescribed.
15. (1) The application shall disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for the invention to be carried out by a person skilled in the art.
(2) (a) Where an application refers to an element isolated from the human body or otherwise produced by means of a technical process including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene, the industrial application of a sequence or a partial sequence of a gene must be disclosed in the patent application.
(b) When the application concerns a sequence or a partial sequence of a gene used to produce a protein or part of a protein, it is necessary to specify which protein or part of protein is produced or function or sequence it performs. Disclosure of the invention.
Amended by:
IX. 2003.110.
Claims.
Abstract.
Unity of invention.
Division of application.
Amendment or correction and withdrawal of applications.
the patent application was filed, and in such case the provisions of subarticle (5) shall apply. 16. (1) The claims shall define the matter for which patent protection is sought. (2) Failure to comply with the requirement of subarticle (1) shall not be a ground for invalidation or revocation of a patent.
19. (1) Until such time as a grant is made pursuant to a pending application, the applicant may divide such pending application into two or more applications ("divisional application"). 20. (1) The applicant shall have the right, subject to the payment of such fees as may be prescribed, to amend or correct the application, on his own initiative, up to the time when the application is in order for a grant.
(2) No amendment or correction of the application may go beyond what has been disclosed in the application as filed.
(3) The applicant may withdraw the application at any time during which it is pending. PART I
DESIGNATION
PART II
DEFINITIONS
PART III
THE OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER
PART IV
PATENTABILITY
PART V
RIGHT TO APPLY FOR AND OBTAIN A PATENT AND BE
MENTIONED AS INVENTOR
PART VI
APPLICATIONS