Legislative Implementation of Flexibilities - Albania

Title:	Articles 19, 28 and 73(1) (b) of the Industrial Property Law Nr. 9977 of 07/07/2008
Field of IP:	Patents
Type of flexibility:	Disclosure related flexibilities
Summary table:

Provisions of Law

Article 19

Disclosure of the Invention

1. The disclosure of the invention in the patent application shall be clear and shall contain the necessary information for a person skilled in the art to be able to carry it out.

2. If the invention involves the use of or concerns biological material which is not available to the public and that cannot be described in the application, in order to make it possible for a person skilled in the art to carry it out, the application would have to be accompanied by the filing of the necessary materials at an appropriate institution designated for this purpose.

Article 28

Examination of the Application and Grant of the Patent

After verifying that the application filed is in conformity with articles 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 24 of this Law, the GDPT shall grant the respective patent, subject to the payment of the relevant fee.

If the application does not meet, or partially meets, the requirements of paragraph 1 of this article, the GDPT shall notify the applicant, who, within a three months period, shall correct the deficiencies. If the deficiencies are not corrected in due time, the application shall be rejected and the GDPT shall notify the applicant of this decision.

A decision taken in conformity with paragraph 2 of this article may be appealed to the appeal board of the GDPT within a three months period from the date of receipt of notification, subject to the payment of a fee. The decision of the appeal board may be appealed to the court within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of notification.

The GDPT shall not make a substantive examination of the invention, in conformity with articles 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 of this Law. Therefore, the patent granted by GDPT shall have legal effect only if within 10 years from the filing date, the patent's owner files an examination report issued by an institution authorized in substantial examination of inventions, otherwise the patent shall be considered invalid.

Immediately after a decision to grant the patent, the GDPT shall publish it as provided in article 26 (4) of this Law.

Article 73

Revocation of a Patent

Where the validity of a patent has been contested, the court shall have the right to revoke or limit the patent if:

b) the invention is not disclosed in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art;