- CHAPTER 1. PROTECTION OF INVENTIONS
- CHAPTER 2. PATENT GRANT
- Article 10. Filing a Patent Application
- Article 11. A Patent Application
- Article 12. Date of Filing a Patent Application
- Article 13. Disclosure
- Article 14. The Claims
- Article 15. Abstract
- Article 16. Unity of Invention
- Article 17. Division of Application
- Article 18. Right of Priority
- Article 19. Examination
- Article 20. Amendment or Correction of Application. Withdrawal of Application
- Article 21. Publication of Patent Application
- Article 22. Patent Grant
- Article 23. Register of Patents
- Article 24. Inspection of Patent Applications Files
- Article 25. Settlement of Disputes
- CHAPTER 3. EFFECTS OF A PATENT
- Article 26. Rights of the Owner of a Patent
- Article 27. Term of Patents and Maintenance Fees
- Article 27(1). Supplementary Protection Certificate
- Article 28. Scope of Legal Protection and Interpretation of Claims
- Article 28(1). Scope of the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions
- Article 29. Right of Prior Use
- Article 30. Rights of the Owner of the Patent with respect to Foreign Means of Transport
- CHAPTER 4. CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP
- CHAPTER 5. LICENCE AGREEMENT. LICENCE OF RIGHT
- CHAPTER 6. COMPULSORY LICENCE
- CHAPTER 7. DISPUTE SETTLEMENT. ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHTS
- Article 40. Institutions having Jurisdiction in Disputes relating to the Legal Protection of Inventions
- Article 41. Enforcement of Rights
- Article 41(1). Right of information
- Article 42(2). Evidence
- Article 41(3). Provisional measures and measures for preserving evidence
- Article 41(4). Corrective measures
- Article 41(5). Recovery of material damage
- Article 41(6). Publication of judicial decision
- Article 41(7). Declaration of Non-Infringement
- Article 42. Application of customs supervision measures
- CHAPTER 8. CHANGES IN PATENTS. SURRENDER. INVALIDATION
- CHAPTER 9. INTERNATIONAL PATENT APPLICATION
- CHAPTER 10. EXTENSION OF EUROPEAN PATENTS
- Article 50. General provisions
- Article 51. Request for Extension
- Article 52. Extension Fee
- Article 53. Effects of European Patent Applications
- Article 54. Effects of European Patents
- Article 55. Authenticity of Texts of European Patent Applications or European Patents
- Article 56. Right of Earlier Date
- Article 57. Simultaneous Protection
- Article 58. Renewal Fees for Extended European Patents
- CHAPTER 101. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN PATENT CONVENTION
- Article 59. Application of the European Patent Convention
- Article 59(1). Filing of a European Patent Application
- Article 59(2). Validity of a European Patent Application
- Article 59(3). Validity of a European Patent
- Article 59(4). Authenticity of the Text of a European Patent Application and a European Patent
- Article 59(5). Annual Fees of European Patents
- Article 59(6). Replacement of a European Patent Application with a National Application
- Article 59(7). Double Protection
- CHAPTER 11. INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
- CHAPTER 12. FINAL PROVISIONS
- EU LEGAL ACTS IMPLEMENTED BY THE PATENT LAW
THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
PATENT LAW
18 January 1994 No. I-372
Vilnius
(As last amended on 10 May 2007 – No. X-1119)
This Law shall legitimise inventions as objects of industrial property, regulate the rights and duties of legal and natural persons with respect to inventions, and provide legal protection thereof.
The provisions of this Law have been harmonised with the legal acts of the European Union referred to in the Annex to this Law.
The form of protection of inventions shall be a patent granted by the State Patent Bureau in the procedure established by this Law.
Patents shall be available for any inventions in all fields of technology, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application.
The following shall not be regarded as inventions:
1) discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;
2) design of products;
3) schemes, rules and methods of games, intellectual or economic activities, as well as programmes for computers; and
4) presentations of information;
5) the human body or its element, including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene, at the various stages of its formation and development. This provision shall not apply to an element isolated from the human body or otherwise produced by means of a technical process, as well as to the sequence or partial sequence of a gene, even if the structure of that element is identical to that of a natural element.
Patents shall not be granted for:
1) methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy, and diagnostic and prophylactic methods practised on the human or animal body. This provision shall not apply if an object of invention is equipment or materials utilised for such methods;
2) plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals. This provision shall not apply to microbiological processes for the production of plants or animals or the products thereof, as well as to plants or animals, if technical implementation of the invention is not restricted to a concrete plant or animal variety;
3) inventions the commercial exploitation of which would be contrary to public interests, principles of morality and humanity. Decisions to refuse granting patents may not be adopted merely because the exploitation of such inventions is prohibited by laws or other legal acts.
On the basis of subparagraph 3 of paragraph 3 of this Law, the following inter alia shall be considered unpatentable:
1) processes for cloning human beings;
2) processes for modifying the germ line genetic identity of human beings;
3) uses of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes;
4) processes for modifying the genetic identity of animals which are likely to cause them suffering without any substantial medical benefit to man or animal, and also animals resulting from such processes.
inventions which concern a product consisting of or containing biological material or a process by means of which biological material is produced, processed or used, may be recognized as patentable. Biological material which is isolated from its natural environment or produced by means of a technical process may be the subject of an invention even if it previously occurred in nature.
Where the object of invention is a method, patent protection shall also be granted with respect to a product made by such method.
An invention shall be considered new if it does not form part of the state of the art.
The state of the art shall consist of everything which, before the filing date of patent application or where priority is claimed, before the priority date, has been published or was in public use in the Republic of Lithuania or abroad.
An invention shall not be considered new if although unknown from the state of the art it had been described in an application for patent of a different applicant having an earlier filing date and published in the Official Bulletin of the State Patent Bureau later or on the same date, that the state of the art had been established.
An invention shall be considered as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the state of the art, it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art.
If the state of the art also includes documents within the meaning of paragraph 3 of Article 3 of this Law, these documents are not to be considered in deciding whether there has been an inventive step.
An invention shall be considered industrially applicable if it can be made or used in industry, agriculture, health protection and other spheres.
Disclosure of information shall not effect the patentability of an invention if the information was disclosed within 6 months preceding the filing date of a patent application and where the disclosure of information has been made:
1) by a person having an interest in making an abuse with respect to inventor or his successor in title to their disadvantage;
2) where an inventor or his successor in title displayed his invention at an official or officially recognised exhibition in accordance with the Convention on International Exhibitions signed at Paris on 22 November 1928.
An inventor or his successor in title willing to benefit from the grace period provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article, shall have the burden of proving that he has the right to the grace period.
The right to a patent shall belong to the inventor or his successor in title, or the employer, in the case of a service invention. If an invention is made at an enterprise, institution or organisation which carries out scientific research, designing, construction works and other works of creative character under contract with a client who finances an appropriate work, the right to a patent for the invention shall be established by such contract. If the employer renounces the right to a patent or, within four months, does not inform the inventor about the intention to make use of this right, the right to a patent shall be passed over to the inventor. Joint inventors shall, unless they agree otherwise, have equal rights to the patent.
Where several inventors have made the same invention independently of each other, the right to a patent shall belong to the inventor whose application has the earliest filing date with the State Patent Bureau or who has the earliest priority right to this invention as long as his application is not withdrawn or deemed to be withdrawn.
A service invention shall be an invention made:
1) during the execution of an employment contract which provides for inventing activities;
2) on a concrete assignment, in the course of designing, constructing, scientific research or creation of technologies;
3) when using the experience accumulated by an enterprise, institution or organisation, or its technologies and equipment.
The worker who made a service invention must immediately inform the employer in writing. Until the filing of a patent application, the employer and worker may not disclose the essence of an invention.
A patent application regarding a service invention shall be filed with the State Patent Bureau, on behalf of an enterprise, institution or organisation.
Upon the receipt of a patent on a service invention, the employer must pay remuneration to the inventor. The amount of remuneration shall depend on the economic value of the invention and any benefit derived by the employer from the utilisation of the invention. The conditions of remuneration and the payment thereof shall be established in a remuneration agreement which is signed by the employer and inventor, and which is concluded within six months following the granting of a patent or within one year of the beginning of the use of an invention, if the beginning of the use of the invention is prior to the granting of a patent.
Remuneration shall not be paid if the employment contract of a worker provides for making inventions and he has been or is paid an agreed increased salary.
If no agreement exists between the parties, the amount of remuneration shall be established by the court.
The rights and duties of the employer and worker, related to service inventions, with the exception of the payment of remuneration, shall expire when the patent becomes null and void or after one year of the termination of labour relations.
A patent application and patent must contain mention of the name of the inventor or inventors.
Any publication of the State Patent Bureau of a patent application or patent, must mention the name of the inventor or inventors.
An inventor shall have the right to request that his or her name should not be mentioned. Therefore, he shall have to file a declaration with the State Patent Bureau. The State Patent Bureau shall have to proceed accordingly.
A person wishing to obtain a patent for an invention must file a patent application with the State Patent Bureau. An application may be filed by several legal or natural persons, or by both natural and legal persons.
A patent application may be filed through a representative whose name must be entered in the Register of Patent Attorneys of the Republic of Lithuania, with the exception of the case specified in paragraph 3 of this Article.
An applicant having his residence or principal place of business, registered branch office or representative office in the Republic of Lithuania, any other state of the European economic area or in one of the Contracting States to the European Patent Convention, may be represented by an employee authorised in accordance with the procedure laid down by the legal acts.
Natural and legal persons of foreign states not having either a residence or their principal place of business, registered branch office or representative office in the Republic of Lithuania, any other state of the European economic area or in of the Contracting States to the European Patent Convention, shall file patent applications to the State Patent Bureau and perform all actions relating to the granting of a patent in the State Patent Bureau, including also representation at the Appeals Division of the State Patent Bureau, through the patent attorney of the Republic of Lithuania whose name appears on the Register of Patent Attorneys of the Republic of Lithuania.
A patent application shall contain:
1) a request for the grant of a patent;
2) a description of the invention;
3) one or more claims;
4) drawings if necessary for the understanding of the essence of the invention;
5) an abstract;
6) a document confirming payment of the fee;
7) a document confirming the right to file a patent application (provided it is filed not by inventor himself) and the declaration regarding inventorship of the invention;
8) a document confirming the deposit of a biological material (when necessary).
A request to grant a patent shall be filed in the Lithuanian language. Other documents shall be filed in Lithuanian or any other language designated by the State Patent Bureau. In the event that the documents comprising a patent application are filed in another language, translation thereof into Lithuanian must be supplied. Translation of documents comprising a patent application must be supplied by an applicant to the State Patent Bureau within 3 months after the date of filing a patent application.
Translation of the documents comprising a patent application, referred to in subparagraphs 2-8 of paragraph 1 of this Article, which have been filed in the language other than Lithuanian, shall be considered conforming to the original text, until proved otherwise.
The filing date of a patent application shall be the date of receipt by the State Patent Bureau of the following documents:
a request to grant a patent;
a description of the invention together with claims;
any drawings if necessary for the understanding of the essence of the invention;
a document confirming payment of the fee.
Where an applicant fails to supply all the documents as stated in paragraph 1 of this Article, the patent application shall be treated as if not have been filed.
A specification must disclose the invention in such full and clear terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains to use the invention.
Where a patent application is filed for an invention involving the use of or concerning biological material which is not available to the public and which cannot be described in such a manner as to enable the invention to be reproduced by a person skilled in the art, the description of the invention shall be considered inadequate. This provision shall not apply, if the biological material has been deposited no later than the date on which the patent application was filed with a depositary institution.
The patent application shall contain one or more claims. All claims above 10 shall be subject to payment of an additional fee.
The claims shall define the scope of legal protection.
All claims shall be clear and concise.
The claims shall be presented as prescribed by the State Patent Bureau.
The abstract shall merely serve for the purpose of technical information on the invention and shall be presented as prescribed by the State Patent Bureau. The abstract shall not be taken into account when establishing the scope of patent protection.
A patent application shall be filed so as to relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept.
Failure to comply with the requirements of unity of invention shall not be a ground for invalidation of a patent.
An applicant who does not observe the requirements of the unity of invention shall be obligated to divide his patent application into two or more applications (divisional applications). An applicant may divide his patent application into two or more applications on his own initiative.
In each separate patent application the essence of the invention must not be disclosed wider than it was disclosed in the initial patent application.
The filing date of the initial application shall be established for each separate patent application or, if priority is claimed, the priority date of the initial application.
Priority documents and any required translations thereof that are submitted to the State Patent Bureau in respect of the initial patent application shall be considered as having been submitted in respect of all divisional applications.
When filing a patent application the applicant may submit a declaration claiming the priority, pursuant the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, on the basis of one or several national or international applications earlier filed in foreign countries, specifying the filing date and the country of the said application or applications.
The State Patent Bureau may request from the applicant claiming priority within 3 months from the filing date of the application to furnish a copy or copies of previously filed applications and a translation thereof into the Lithuanian language.
Upon establishing that the requirements of paragraph 2 of this Article are not observed, the State Patent Bureau may request the applicant to fulfil the requirements. Upon failure to fulfil the requirements, the declaration claiming the priority shall be regarded as not has been filed.
The State Patent Bureau shall make an examination of a patent application and establish whether the application complies with the requirements provided for in paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 2, in Article 11, paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 13, as well as in Articles 14 and 18.
After having found that the application does not meet the requirements of the Articles set out in paragraph 1 of this Article, the State Patent Bureau shall invite the applicant to meet such requirements within a period prescribed by the State Patent Bureau. If the applicant fails to do so, the application shall be deemed to be withdrawn.
After having determined that an invention is unpatentable on the grounds laid down in paragraphs 2, 3 and (or) 4 of Article 2 of this Law, the State Patent Bureau shall make a decision to refuse granting a patent.
The applicant shall have the right to correct or amend the patent application during its pendency in the State Patent Bureau.
No amendment or correction of the patent application may go beyond what has been disclosed in the application as filed.
The applicant shall have the right to withdraw a patent application at any time during its pendency in the State Patent Bureau.
The State Patent Bureau shall publish the patent application as filed by the applicant within 18 months from its filing date, or if priority is claimed, from its priority date. In the event that the applicant files a written request with the State Patent Bureau to have his patent application published earlier, the State Patent Bureau proceeds accordingly, but no earlier than six months after the filing date of the application.
A patent application shall not be published if, within 17 months from its filing or priority date, it has been withdrawn, deemed to be withdrawn or an invention has been made secret in the manner prescribed by legal acts.
Temporary legal protection shall be provided to a published patent application from the date of its publication until the date of patent grant.
CHAPTER 1. PROTECTION OF INVENTIONS
Article 1. Form of Protection of Inventions
Article 2. Patentable Inventions
Article 3. Novelty of an Invention
Article 4. Inventive Step
Article 5. Industrial Applicability
Article 6. Grace Period
Article 7. Right to a Patent
Article 8. Service Inventions
Article 9. Mention of the Inventor
CHAPTER 2. PATENT GRANT
Article 10. Filing a Patent Application
Article 11. A Patent Application
Article 12. Date of Filing a Patent Application
Article 13. Disclosure
Article 14. The Claims
Article 15. Abstract
Article 16. Unity of Invention
Article 17. Division of Application
Article 18. Right of Priority
Article 19. Examination
Article 20. Amendment or Correction of Application. Withdrawal of Application
Article 21. Publication of Patent Application