Title: | Section 1, §§ 4 and 5 of the Patents Acts No.9 of 15/12/1967 |
Field of IP: | Patents |
Type of flexibility: | Exclusion from patentability of plants |
Summary table: |
A patent cannot be granted in respect of plant or animal varieties. Inventions that concern plants or animals may, however, be patentable if usage of the patent is not technically limited to one particular plant or animal variety. The King may, by regulation, determine what should be considered a plant or an animal variety.
A patent cannot be granted for what are essentially biological processes to produce plants or animals. An essentially biological process means, for the purpose of this legal text, a process, which consists entirely of natural phenomena such as crossing or selection. A patent may, on the other hand, be granted for microbiological or other technical processes or for a product produced by such processes. A microbiological process means, for the purpose of this legal text, any process involving, performed upon or resulting in the production of microbiological material.