- Patent Applications and Register of Applications
- Priority
- Claims
- Description
- Abstract
- Amendments to Applications
- Division and Separation
- Availability to the Public
- Processing of Patent Applications
- Laying Open to Public Inspection
- Issue of Detailed Rules
- Patent Register
- Notifications by the Patent Office
- Special Right to Take Legal Action
- Receiving Office for International Applications
- Transmitting International Applications to the International Bureau
- Pursuing International Applications
- Supplementary Protection Certificates for Medicinal Products
- Receiving European Patent Applications
- into National Applications
- Diary to be kept of European Patent Applications
- Translating European Patents and European Patent Applications
- Entry into Force and Transitional Provisions
Legislative Texts
(Unofficial translation)
(No. 669 of September 26, 1980, TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sections
Patent Applications and Register of Applications ............................................................................. 1 to9 1. Finnish patent applications shall be filed with the National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (the Patent Office).
International applications designating Finland shall be filed with an authority or international organization that is a receiving Office authorized under the Patent Cooperation Treaty done at Washington on June 19, 1970, and its Regulations. Sections 45 to 51 contain provisions on the Patent Office acting as a receiving Office.
The provisions in this Decree concerning patent applications shall apply, unless otherwise specified in a specific respect, exclusively to: Legislative Texts
(3) European patent applications converted into national applications pursuant to Section 70 s of the Patents Act.
2. Finnish patent applications shall contain an application document and accompanying documents. The application document shall be signed by the applicant or his representative and shall state: The following documents shall accompany the application document: The prescribed application fee shall be paid when filing an application. Drawings shall be executed in dark, preferably black, lines on a light, preferably white, background on durable material, size A4. The description, with accompanying drawings if any, and the claims and abstract shall be submitted in a form suitable for printing.
Information on further requirements concerning the form of the document and the number of copies to be filed with the Patent Office by the applicant shall be given by the Patent Office.
5. If he wishes a novelty search to be carried out under Section 9 of the Patents Act, the applicant shall make a written request within three months of the filing date of the application or, where applicable, of the date on which it is deemed to have been filed, to the Patent Authority and shall pay the fee prescribed by the Searching Authority. Where the application is not drawn up in a language acceptable to the Searching Authority, the request shall be accompanied by a translation of the application into a language prescribed by the Patent Authority.
If the search referred to in the first paragraph can be carried out by more than one authority and if the applicant wishes to specify which of such authorities is to carry out the search, he shall name that authority in his request.
Legislative Texts
The request shall be deemed withdrawn if, on expiration of the time limit laid down in the first paragraph, the application and the translation do not satisfy the formal requirements for an international application. The following particulars shall be recorded in the register for each application: 8. The Patent Office shall prepare a weekly list of patent applications that have been filed. The list shall contain for each application the particulars listed in the second paragraph of Section 7 under items (1), (3),
(5) to (11), (14) and (14a).
The Patent Office shall further prepare a weekly list of international applications that designate Finland, on the basis of the information received from the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The list shall contain, as far as possible, for each application the particulars listed in Article 30(2)(b) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
The Patent Office shall further prepare a weekly list of published European patent applications on the basis of the information received by the Office from the European Patent Office. The list shall contain for each application the data listed in Article 128(5) of the European Patent Convention.
Legislative Texts
These lists shall be accessible to the public on payment of a prescribed fee.
9. Where notice is given that an invention for which a patent has been sought has been assigned to another person, the latter person shall be recorded as the applicant in the register of applications only if proof of the assignment is furnished.
is claimed was filed, stating the filing date of the priority application and the applicant’s name and also a copy of the application certified by that same authority. The copy shall be filed in the form prescribed by the Patent Office.
However, for an international application, the certificate shall be filed only after the Patent Office has issued the corresponding official action. For such application the priority document may also be filed in accordance with Rule 17.1 of the Regulations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty with the International Bureau referred to in Section 8 or with the authority that received the application, or a request may be made to such latter authority to forward the priority document to the International Bureau.
The Patent Office may grant an exemption from the obligation to file the certificate and the copy referred to in the first paragraph.
Where a copy of an application that is the basis for the priority of an international application has been filed with the International Bureau referred to in the first paragraph, the Patent Office may only require a copy and a translation of such copy in accordance with Rule 17.2 of the Regulations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.
12. Priority may only be based on the first application in which the invention was disclosed.
If the person who filed the first application or his successor in title has filed a subsequent application with the same patent authority, relating to the same invention, the subsequent application may be cited as a basis for priority, provided that at the time of filing of the later application the earlier application was withdrawn, dismissed, or rejected without having become available to the public and without there being any rights subsisting, and had not served as a basis for priority. Where priority has been obtained on the basis of the subsequent application, the prior application may no longer serve as a basis for claiming priority.
The provision in the second paragraph shall apply mutatis mutandis to an application whose filing date has been amended.
13. Priority may also be obtained for a part of an application.
Legislative Texts
An application may claim priority deriving from several earlier applications even where they relate to differing countries.
14. The claims shall contain: Each claim may relate to one invention only.
Where possible, the invention shall relate to one of the following categories: product, apparatus, process or use.
A claim may not contain any matter irrelevant to the invention disclosed therein or irrelevant to the exclusive right claimed by the applicant.
15. An application may contain more than one claim. Where the application includes more than one claim, they shall be arranged and numbered consecutively.
A claim may be independent or dependent. A dependent claim is a claim that relates to an embodiment of the invention disclosed in another claim of the application and which, therefore, comprises all the features of that claim. All other claims are independent.
One or more dependent claims may relate to one claim. A dependent claim may refer to several preceding claims. It shall begin with a reference to a preceding claim and shall state the additional features characterizing the invention.
16. Where an application contains several inventions they shall be interdependent. Inventions shall be deemed to be interdependent, if there is a technical connection between all of them in that the inventions have, in whole or in part, the same or similar special technical characteristics. The term special technical characteristics shall mean the technical characteristics contributed by each single invention going, in considering the invention as a whole, beyond the state of the art.
The question whether the inventions are interdependent shall be determined irrespective of whether they are stated in separate patent claims or as alternatives in a single claim.
17. The description may contain only subject matter that assists in understanding the invention.
Where a newly-coined word or a technical term that is not generally accepted has to be used, such term shall be explained. The designations and units of measure may not depart from those in general use in the Nordic countries.
Where the application includes the deposit of a culture of a microorganism under Section 8 a of the Patents Act, the applicant shall, on filing the application, give all relevant information regarding the characteristics of the microorganism that is available to him.
17 a. Deposits under the first paragraph of Section 8 a of the Patents Act shall be made with an institution that is an international depositary authority under the Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit
Legislative Texts
of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (the Budapest Treaty) done at it Budapest on April 28, 1977, or with another deposit authority recognized by the European Patent Office.
Deposits shall be made in accordance with the Budapest Treaty.
The Patent Office shall keep a list of the institutions that are international depositary authorities under the Budapest Treaty.
17 b. Where a microorganism has been deposited, the applicant shall inform the Patent Office in writing, within 16 months of the filing date of the application or, where priority is claimed, of the date of the claimed priority, of the institution with which the deposit has been made, the date on which the deposit was made and the access code given to the deposit by that institution. For international applications, the information may be submitted, within the same time limits, to the International Bureau referred to in Section 8. Where the applicant requests that the application documents be made available to the public earlier than provided for in the first and second paragraphs of Section 22 of the Patents Act, the information referred to in the first paragraph shall be submitted, at the latest, together with the request. Where the applicant requests early publication of an international application under Article 21(2)(b) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the information shall be submitted, at the latest, together with the request for publication.
If the deposit has been transferred from one international depositary authority to another under Rule 5.1 of the Regulations under the Budapest Treaty, the applicant shall notify the Patent Office of the transfer and of the new access code for the deposit.
The Patent Office may require a copy of the receipt for the deposit issued by the institution as proof of the information referred to in the first and third paragraphs.
17 c. A new deposit as referred to in the second paragraph of Section 8 a of the Patents Act shall be made in accordance with the provisions for new deposits under the Budapest Treaty.
New deposits shall be made within three months of the date the depositor receives notification from the international depositary authority that samples of the previous deposit can no longer be furnished. Where the institution has ceased to act as an international depositary authority for the kind of microorganism to which the deposit belonged or if it has ceased to fulfill its obligations under the Budapest Treaty and the depositor has not received notification to such effect within six months of the announcement thereof published by the International Bureau, a new deposit may nevertheless be made within nine months of the said published announcement. As far as other depositary institutions are concerned, the period of time for making the deposit stated above begins once the European Patent Office has published a corresponding announcement of the matter.
Within four months of making the new deposit, the depositor shall submit to the Patent Office a copy of the receipt issued for the new deposit by the institution. However, if the time limit laid down in the first or second paragraph of Section 17 b expires at a later date, the receipt may be submitted within such later time limit. When submitting the receipt, the number of the application or patent to which the deposit relates shall be stated.
18. The abstract of a Finnish application shall be based on the description and claims as set out in the documents that constitute the basic documents pursuant to the first paragraph of Section 21 or the first paragraph of Section 24. The abstract shall contain the title of the invention and shall be drafted with sufficient clarity to disclose the technical problem to which the invention relates, the principles of the solution provided by the invention and the primary field in which the invention is to be used.
The final wording of the abstract shall be determined, wherever possible, before the application is made available to the public under the second paragraph of Section 22 of the Patents Act.
Legislative Texts
Where an international application or a European patent application converted into a national application contains an abstract confirmed by the International Searching Authority or the European Patent Office, the wording of that abstract shall be accepted. Where this is not the case, the Patent Office shall also confirm the abstract of such application. In the latter case, the provisions of the first paragraph shall be applicable.
19. Claims may not be amended to include subject matter not disclosed in a document constituting a basic document under the first or second paragraph of Section 21 or the first paragraph of Section 24. Where a claim is amended to add new features, the applicant shall at the same time state where those new features are to be found in the basic document.
Once the Patent Office has issued a novelty search report, no claim disclosing an invention that is independent of the invention disclosed in the previous claims may be included in the same application.
For international applications no novelty search report shall be issued before the period of time laid down in Section 52b has expired, unless the applicant agrees thereto.
An applicant may make amendments or additions to the description and drawings only where they are necessary according to Section 8 of the Patents Act.
Such amendments or additions may not make the claim encompass matters other than those that are to be found in the basic documents. The basic documents for international applications pursued under Section 31 of the Patents Act shall be deemed to be: If it is stated at the time of filing an application that an application for protection of the invention has been filed with a foreign patent authority, a subsequently filed certified copy of the foreign application shall be deemed to have been filed with the Patent Office at the same time as the filing of the application with the Finnish Patent Office, provided that the filing date and serial number of the foreign application have been indicated.
Division and Separation
22. Where more than one invention has been disclosed in the basic documents, the applicant may divide the application into more than one application.
Legislative Texts
In such case, a new application relating to an invention divided from the original application (parent
application) shall, at the applicant’s request, be deemed to have been filed at the same time as the parent application. The new application resulting from the division may only contain subject matter that could have been included under the second paragraph of Section 19 of the Patents Act in the claims of the parent application at the time the new application was filed with the Patent Office.
If the application is divided on the ground that it comprises two or more mutually independent inventions, the new application shall be considered to have been filed at the same time as the parent application only where the new application is filed no later than four months after the corresponding limitation was made to the parent application. A new application may be considered to result from division or separation only if this is evident from the application when filed. The serial number of the parent application shall be stated in such divisional or separated application.
25. Where the application documents have become available to the public under the second or third paragraph of Section 22 of the Patents Act prior to having been laid open for public inspection, the abstract shall be printed as soon as its final wording has been determined. The Patent Office may also decide to print other parts of the application together with the abstract. These documents shall be available to any person on payment of the prescribed fee.
The notification under the fourth paragraph of Section 22 of the Patents Act shall state the serial number and classification of the application, its filing date, the effective date, if different from the filing date, the title of the invention and the name and address of the applicant and of the inventor. Where priority has been claimed, the notification shall also state where the relevant prior application was filed, together with the filing date and serial number of such prior application. If the application includes the deposit of a culture of a microorganism, this shall be stated in the notification. If the applicant has requested under the seventh paragraph of Section 22 of the Patents Act that samples of the deposited culture be issued only to a special expert, this fact should also be stated in the notification.
If the translation of the description or claims in an international application has been amended within the time limit laid down in Section 52b, but after the documents have become available to the public, such amendment shall be notified.
25 a. A request made under the first sentence of the eighth paragraph of Section 22 of the Patents Act to obtain a sample of a deposit shall be formulated as prescribed in Rule 11 of the Regulations under the Budapest Treaty.
If the request is for a sample of a deposit relating to a patent application on which no final decision has been taken, a person wishing to obtain a sample shall give an undertaking to the applicant that the sample will not
Legislative Texts
be used for other than experimental purposes and will not be made available to anyone else before a final decision is given on the application or, if a patent has been granted, before the patent has expired.
If the request is for a sample of a deposit relating to a patent, the person wishing to obtain a sample shall declare in an undertaking to the owner of the patent that the sample will not be made available to anyone else before the patent has expired.
The same undertaking as is prescribed with respect to a sample shall also be given with respect to cultures derived from the sample which have retained those characteristics of the deposited culture that are essential for carrying out the invention.
The undertaking shall be attached to the request.
25 b. A request made under the seventh paragraph of Section 22 of the Patents Act that samples should only be issued to a special expert must be made within 16 months of the filing date of the application or, where priority is claimed, of the claimed priority date.
The Patent Office shall draw up a list of those persons who have stated their willingness to assume assignments as experts and who are suitable for such a task. A decision on the persons chosen for inclusion in the list of experts shall be notified as prescribed in Section 43. Where a sample may be issued only to a special expert, the request for the sample shall state the person to be called upon as an expert. The request shall be accompanied by a written undertaking from the expert to the applicant corresponding to the undertaking prescribed by the second and fourth paragraphs of Section 25a.
Any person included in the list, or accepted by the applicant in a particular case, may be called upon as an expert.
25 c. Notwithstanding the undertakings required under Sections 25a and 25b of this Decree, a derived culture may be deposited for the purposes of a new patent application if it is necessary to deposit the culture for such purpose.
25 d. Where a request has been made for a sample and neither the Patents Act nor this Decree preclude the furnishing of a sample, the Patent Office shall issue a certificate to that effect. The Patent Office shall forward the request for the sample and the certificate to the institution where the deposit is kept. The Patent Office shall at the same time forward to the applicant or the owner of the patent a copy of the request and of the certificate.
Where the Patent Office decides that a certificate as referred to in the first paragraph cannot be issued, it shall give notice of that decision. The person who has requested the sample may lodge an appeal against such decision with the Board of Appeals of the Patent Office within 60 days of the date on which the decision was communicated to the appellant, not counting the date of communication. There shall be no appeal from the decision of the Board of Appeals.
26. When examining whether the conditions for granting a patent laid down in Section 2 of the Patents Act have been satisfied, the Patent Office shall consider all facts that come to its attention.
Legislative Texts
The examination at the Patent Office shall be carried out on the basis of patent specifications, published specifications and published applications, or abstracts thereof, from Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, the former German State and the European Patent Office, or on the basis of publicly available international applications or abstracts thereof as well as applications that have become available to the public in Finland. Other available literature may also be examined if found necessary.
The Patent Office shall issue more detailed rules regarding the conduct of the examination. Where particular circumstances require, such rules may differ from the provisions of the second paragraph. Patents Decree
as amended by Decrees No. 505 of June 14, 1985,
No. 583 of June 26, 1992, No. 71 of January 21, 1994,
No. 595 of June 28, 1994 and No. 104 of February 15, 1996)
Priority .............................................................................................................................................. 10 to 13
Claims ............................................................................................................................................... 14 to 16
Description ........................................................................................................................................ 17 to 17c
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. 18
Amendments to Applications ............................................................................................................ 19 to 21
Division and Separation .................................................................................................................... 22 to 24
Availability to the Public................................................................................................................... 25 to 25d
Processing of Patent Applications ..................................................................................................... 26 to 30
Laying Open to Public Inspection ..................................................................................................... 31 to 36
Issue of Detailed Rules...................................................................................................................... 37
Patent Register .................................................................................................................................. 37a to 42
Notifications by the Patent Office ..................................................................................................... 43
Special Right to Take Legal Action................................................................................................... 44
Receiving Office for International Applications................................................................................ 45 to 51
Transmitting International Applications to the International Bureau ................................................ 51a
Pursuing International Application ...................................................................................................s 52 to 52c
Supplementary Protection Certificate for Medicinal Products .......................................................... 52d to 52p
Receiving European Patent Applications .......................................................................................... 52q
Converting European Patent Applications into National Applications ............................................. 52r to 52s
Diary to be kept of European Patent Applications ............................................................................ 52t
Translating European Patents and European Patent Applications ..................................................... 52u to 52y
Entry into Force and Transitional Provisions .................................................................................... 53 and 54
Patent Applications and Register of Applications
(1) the applicant’s name, domicile and address and, if the applicant has appointed a representative, the name, domicile and address of the representative; (2) the inventor’s name and address; (3) a concise and factual title for the invention to which the application relates; (4) where a patent is applied for by several persons jointly, a statement as to whether one of such persons is entitled to receive communications from the Patent Office on behalf of all applicants; (4a) a statement, where appropriate, that the application includes the deposit of a culture of a microorganism under Section 8 a of the Patents Act; (5) a list of the documents accompanying the application document.
Priority
Claims
where necessary;
Description
Abstract
Amendments to Applications
Availability to the Public
Processing of Patent Applications