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Article 21
The invention may cover products, processes or any new application or a
combination of known means to arrive at a result that is unknown in relation to the
state of the art.
Article 22
Any new invention which involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable may
be patented.
Article 23
An invention shall be considered to be new if it does not form part of the prior art.
An invention shall be considered to involve an inventive step if, for a person skilled in
the art, it is not obvious from the state of the art.
Prior art shall consist of everything made available to the public by means of written
or oral description, use or any other way before the date on which the patent
application is filed in Djibouti or a patent application is filed abroad, for which priority
has been validly claimed.
The state of the art shall also include the contents of patent applications filed in
Djibouti or abroad that have a filing date earlier than the date of the patent application
referred to in the second paragraph of this Article, and have not been published until
that date or until a later date.
Article 24
An item of prior art with respect to a invention claimed in a patent application filed in
Djibouti shall not affect the patentability of that claimed invention, in so far as that
item would have included in the prior art on a date during the 12 months preceding
the date when the application was filed in Djibouti or the priority date of the claimed
invention owing to acts committed by:
(i) the applicant or his legal predecessor,
(ii) a Patent Office that has unduly published or made available to the public a patent
application filed by the applicant or his legal predecessor, or an application filed
without the knowledge or consent of the applicant or his legal predecessor by a third
party which obtained information directly or indirectly from the applicant or his legal
predecessor, or
(iii) a third party which obtained the information contained in the item of prior art
directly or indirectly from the inventor.
Article 25