and carries out his profession in Rwanda, having acquired an average expertise and
experience in the technical field of the claimed invention of utility model.
The empowered authority may, at any time before the grant of the patent of utility model,
require the description in foreign patent applications to be adapted to the ordinary skill in the
art of the citizens of Rwanda, or any person with habitual residence in Rwanda and carries out
his profession in Rwanda, so as to ensure technology transfer and dissemination.
Article 67: Claims of novelty of a utility model
The claims of novelty of utility model shall define the scope of the desired protection and the
protection for an invention of utility model shall be determined by the content of the claims of
novelty of utility model.
The claims of novelty of utility model shall be clear and concise. The claims shall be based
entirely on the description of the innovation. The description and drawings may be used to
interpret the claims of novelty of utility model.
Article 68: Abstract
The abstract shall be used exclusively for technical information purposes; it shall not, in
particular, be taken into consideration when assessing the scope of protection.
Article 69: Unity of innovation
The application may relate to one invention of utility model only or to a group of inventions
so linked as to form a single general inventive concept of utility model.
The fact that a patent of utility model has been granted on the basis of an application not
satisfying the rule of unity of invention of utility model shall not serve as grounds for
canceling the patent of utility model.
Article 70: Amendment and division of the application for examination
Until such a time as it is observed that the application meets the requirements for the grant of
the patent of utility model, the applicant may amend the application, but the amendment may
not go beyond the disclosure of the description of the novelty of utility model as it appears in
the original application.
Until such a time as it is observed that the application meets the requirements for the grant of
the patent of utility model, the applicant may divide the application into more than one
application, known as “divisional applications”, but no divisional application may go beyond
the disclosure as it appears in the original application. Each divisional application shall enjoy
the filing date and, where appropriate, the priority date of the original application.
Article 71: Right of priority
The application may contain a declaration in which is claimed, in accordance with Paris
Convention or a bilateral, regional, or multilateral convention to which the Republic of