Title: | Articles 1-4 of the Act on the Protection of Utility models No. XXXVIII of 1991 |
Field of IP: | Patents |
Type of flexibility: | Utility models |
Summary table: |
Article 1
(1) Utility model protection shall be granted to any solution relating to the configuration or construction of an article or to the arrangement of parts thereof (hereinafter referred to as "utility model") which is new, involves inventive step and is susceptible of industrial application.
(2) Utility model protection, within the meaning of paragraph (1), shall not be granted in particular for
(a) the aesthetic design of an article;
(b) plant varieties.
Article 2
(1) A utility model shall be considered new if it does not form part of the state of the art.
(2) The state of the art shall be held to comprise everything made available to the public by means of a written description or by public use in the country before the date of priority.
(3) The content of any patent application or utility model application having an earlier date of priority shall also be considered as comprised in the state of the art, provided that it was published or announced in the course of the granting procedure at a date following the date of priority. The content of such a European patent application and international patent application shall only be considered as comprised in the state of the art on special conditions laid down in the Act on the protection of inventions by patents (hereinafter referred to as "the Patent Act". For the purposes of these provisions, the abstract shall not be considered as comprised in the content of the application.
(4) For the application of paragraphs (1) and (2), a written description or public use during the six months preceding the date of priority of the application shall not be taken into consideration if it was made by or with the consent of the applicant or his predecessor in title, or if it was due to an abuse of the rights of the applicant or his predecessor in title.
Article 3
(1) The utility model shall be considered to involve an inventive step if it is not obvious to a skilled craftsman as compared with the state of the art.
(2) For the application of paragraph (1), the part of the state of the art referred to in Article 2(3) shall not be taken into consideration.
Article 4
The utility model shall be considered susceptible of industrial application if it can be made or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture.