18
Government Gazette 23 March 2012
Act No. 1, 2012
No. 4907
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ACT, 2012
“Patent Co-operation Treaty” means the Patent Co-operation Treaty concluded
at Washington on June 19, 1970 and the Regulations issued thereunder, as
amended from time to time; and
“prior art” means the art at a date immediately prior to the filing date or, where
appropriate, the priority date of an application claiming the invention.
(2)
An invention -
(a)
may be, or may relate to, a product or a process applicable in any field
of technology; and
(b)
may comprise a micro-organism or a microbiological process and the
product of such process.
Patentable inventions
13.
Patents are available for any inventions, whether products or processes,
in all fields of technology, provided the invention is new, involves an inventive step and
is industrially applicable.
Novelty, inventive step and industrial application
14.
(1)
An invention is new if it is not anticipated by prior art.
(2)
For the purposes of subsection (1) disclosure to the public of the
invention may not be taken into consideration if it occurred within six months
preceeding the filing date or, where applicable, the priority date of the application, and
if it was by reason or in consequence of –
(a)
acts committed by the applicant or his or her predecessor in title, or of
an unauthorised disclosure; or
(b)
an abuse committed by a third party with regard to the applicant or his
or her predecessor in title.
(3)
For the purposes of subsection (1), prior art also includes matter
contained in an application, open to public inspection, for a patent, despite that the
application was lodged at the Office and became open to public inspection on or after
the priority date of the relevant invention, if –
(a)
that matter was contained in that application both as lodged and as open
to public inspection; and
(b)
the priority date of that matter is earlier than that of the invention.
Inventive step
15.
(1)
An invention must be considered as involving an inventive step
if, having regard to the prior art relevant to the invention claimed in the application and