Legislative Implementation of Flexibilities - El Salvador

Title:	Articles 138, 153 and 163 (1) (b) of the Intellectual Property Legislative Decree No. 604 of 15/07/1993 No. 604 as last amended by Legislative Decree No. 912 of 14/12/2005
Field of IP:	Patents
Type of flexibility:	Disclosure related flexibilities
Summary table:

Provisions of Law

Article 138

The description shall disclose the invention in a sufficiently clear and complete way for it to be assessed and for the invention to be carried out by a person skilled in the art without excessive experimentation.

The description shall give the name of the invention or utility model and shall include the following information:

(a) the area of technology to which it refers or applies;

(b) the prior art known to the applicant that might be considered useful for the understanding and examination of the invention or utility model, and references to previous documents and publications relating to the technology concerned;

(c) a description of the invention or utility model in terms that allow the technical problem and the solution provided to be understood and explain the advantages of the invention or utility model in relation to earlier technology;

(e) a description of the best method known to the applicant for carrying out the invention or making the utility model, using examples and references to drawings;

(f) the manner in which the invention or utility model may be produced or used in any activity, except where that is clearly apparent from the description or the nature of the invention or model.

Where the invention refers to a biological product or process requiring the use of biological material that is not available to the public and cannot be so described that the invention may be carried out by a person skilled in the art, the description shall be completed with the deposit of such material at a depositary institution that complies with the requirements specified in the Regulations under this Law. In such a case the deposit shall be made not later than on the filing date of the domestic application or, where priority is claimed, not later than on the priority date.

Where the deposit of biological material is made to complete the description, that fact shall be specified in the description, together with the name and address of the depositary institution, the date of the deposit and the number assigned to it by the institution. The nature and characteristics of the material deposited shall likewise be described where necessary for the disclosure of the invention.

Article 153

For the purposes of the substantive examination, the Registry may require the applicant to provide, duly translated into Spanish, one or more of the following documents relating to foreign applications mentioned in the application:

(a) Copy of the foreign application and its accompanying documents;

(b) Copy of any communication or report referring to the results of searches for anticipation or examinations carried out in relation to the foreign request;

(c) Copy of the patent or other title of protection granted on the basis of the foreign application.

When the application filed in El Salvador includes inventions claimed in two or more foreign applications, in such a way that none of these totally includes what is claimed in the application filed, the Registry may ask the applicant to submit the documents mentioned in the above letters that relate to other foreign applications that correspond partially or totally to the application filed in El Salvador.

Article 163

Any patent or certificate registration shall be declared invalid in the following cases:

(b) if the disclosure of the invention in the patent is not sufficiently clear for a person skilled in the relevant technical field to be able to carry it out, or if the claims are not supported by the disclosure;