Title: | Articles 12 (1), 17, 23 (5) and 35 (1) (b) of the Law on Industrial Property No. 79 of 25/05/2005 |
Field of IP: | Patents |
Type of flexibility: | Disclosure related flexibilities |
Summary table: |
Article 12(Description)
1.The description must disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art and in particular, it must give one or more examples the applicant knows to perform the invention.
Article 17(Deposit of microbiological material)
1. If an invention concerns a microbiological process or a product thereof and involves the use of a micro-organism which is not available to the public and cannot be described in such a manner as to enable the invention to be carried out by a person skilled in the art, the invention shall only be regarded as being disclosed only if:
a) a sample of the micro-organism has been deposited with a depositary institution under the provisions of the Budapest Treaty, and not later than the date of filing of the patent application;
b) the filed application contains the relevant information which is available to the applicant on the characteristics of the micro-organism;
c) the application indicates a recognised depositary institution with which a sample of the micro-organism has been deposited and the number and date of the deposit of the sample, unless the Patents and Trade Marks State Office requires a copy of the receipt of the deposit. Depositary institutions are considered to be institutions recognised for the purposes of obtaining a European patent or any international authority which is recognised under a convention ratified by the Republic of San Marino.
2. The information referred to in letter c) may be submitted within a period of two months after the date of filing of the patent application. The communication of this information shall be considered as constituting the unreserved and irrevocable consent of the applicant to make the deposited sample available to any person making a request to the depositary institution from the date of publication of the patent application.
3. The request shall be notified to the applicant or the patent owner and it shall indicate:
a) the name and address of the person making the request;
b) the undertaking by the person presenting the request vis---vis the applicant or the patent owner not to make the sample available to any third party;
c) the undertaking to use the sample through a named qualified expert only for experimental purposes up until the date on which the patent application is refused or withdrawn or the patent has finally expired or been declared to be null and void and can no longer be restored in favour of the applicant for or the proprietor of the patent.
4. The expert designated to use the sample shall be jointly responsible for any violation committed by the person making the request.
5. If the biological material, deposited in accordance with the previous paragraphs, is no-more available from the recognised institution with which it was deposited, it is allowed to make a new deposit of the material under the conditions laid down in this article.
6. Any new deposit shall be accompanied by a statement signed by the depositor certifying that the newly deposited biological material is the same as that originally deposited.
Article 23 (Examination of the application and findings)
5. The applicant shall provide, on request of the Patents and Trade Marks State Office, a copy of any communication received concerning the results of search activities or examinations related to a patent application or another title of protection filed by the applicant abroad, concerning the same or substantially the same invention claimed in the application filed with the Patents and Trade Marks State Office.
Article 35 (Nullity of patent)
1. The Patent is null and void:
b) if the application does not meet the provisions contained in article 12, paragraph 1 above;