As from the day on which a person provides proof of having instituted legal
proceedings, the applicant may not withdraw the patent application without the agreement of
both parties. The suspension and resumption of the patent grant procedure shall be recorded
in the National Register of Patents.
At the end of an action claiming ownership of the application in respect of the
invention, the owner of the application shall be the person designated by the court.
35. Patents shall be issued at the applicants’ own risk and without any State guarantee
either of the genuineness, novelty and merit of the invention or of the accuracy of the
description.
36. The term of protection of the patent shall be 20 years from the filing date of the
application.
37. The entity responsible for industrial property shall keep a register called the
National Register of Patents. The procedure for the keeping of the register and for entries in
the register shall be laid down by decree.
All patent applications and patents and all acts relating to them shall be entered in the
Register. No entry may be made in the National Register of Patents prior to publication of the
filing of the patent application.
Where a patent application does not conform to the conditions of registration, the entity
responsible for industrial property shall serve a notice with a statement of reasons on the
applicant or his agent by registered letter with advice of receipt or by any other means
affording written proof that it has been dispatched by the sender.
The entity responsible for industrial property shall give the applicant a period of one
month within which to rectify his application or make comments. That period shall run from
the date of notification.
In the absence of rectification or comments, the application shall be rejected by decision
of the legal representative of the entity responsible for industrial property.
Requests for entries in the Register shall be subject to payment of a fee the amount of
which shall be fixed by decree.
Any person may consult the National Register of Patents. Any person may also obtain
extracts from the Register against payment of a fee the amount of which shall be fixed by
decree.
38. Any person has the right of access to a file concerning a patent or to a file
concerning a patent application, and may obtain copies thereof against payment of a fee the
amount of which shall be fixed by decree.
However, consultation or the obtaining of a copy of an unpublished patent application
shall be possible only with the written and duly signed authorization of the patent applicant or
his agent.
Chapter V
Appeals
39. Appeals against decisions of the legal representative of the entity responsible for
industrial property regarding the grant or rejection of patents shall lie to the competent courts.
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