BOOK ONE Patents and Utility Models, Layout-Designs for Integrated
Circuits, and Undisclosed Information
PART I PATENTS AND UTILITY MODELS
Article 1
A patent shall be granted, in accordance with the provisions of this
Law, to any industrially applicable invention, which is new, involves
an inventive step, whether connected with new industrial products, new
industrial processes, or a new application of known industrial
processes.
The patent is also granted, independently, for any modification,
improvement or addition to a previously patented invention, which meets
the criteria of being new, inventive and industrially applicable, as
stated in the preceding paragraph; in which case the patent shall be
granted, under the provisions of this Law, to the owner of the
modification, improvement or addition.
Article 2
Patents shall not be granted for:
(1) Inventions whose exploitation is likely to be contrary to public
order or morality, or prejudicial to the environment, human, animal
or plant life and health.
(2) Discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, programs
and schemes.
(3) Diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for humans and
animals.
(4) Plants and animals, regardless of their rarity or peculiarity, and
essentially biological processes for the production of plants or
animals, other than microorganisms, non-biological and
microbiological processes for the production of plants or animals.
(5) Organs, tissues, live cells, natural biological substances,
nuclear acid and genome.
Article 3
An invention shall not be considered wholly or partly new:
(i) if, before the filing date of the patent application, a patent
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