PART
2
PATENTABILITY
Rule 200.
Patentable inventions. Any technical solution of a
problem
in any field of human activity which is new, involves an inventive step
and is industrially applicable shall be patentable. [Sec.
21, IP Code]
Rule 201.
Statutory classes of invention. An invention may be, or may
relate
to:
a) a useful
machine;
b) a
product;
c) or
process or
an improvement of any of the foregoing;
d)
microorganism;
and
e)
non-biological
and microbiological processes. [Sec. 21, IP
Code]
Rule 202.
Non-patentable
inventions. The following shall be excluded from patent
protection:
(a)
Discoveries,
scientific theories and mathematical method;
(b)
Schemes, rules
and methods of performing mental acts, playing games or doing business,
and programs for computers;
(c)
Methods for treatment
of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic
methods
practiced on the human or animal body. This provision shall not apply
to
products and compositions for use in any of these methods;
(d) Plant
varieties
or animal breeds or essentially biological process for the production
of
plants or animals. This provision shall not apply to microorganisms and
non-biological and microbiological processes;
(e)
Aesthetic creations;
and
(f)
Anything which
is contrary to public order or morality. [Sec. 22,
IP
Code]
Rule
203.
Novelty. An invention shall not be considered new if
it forms
part of a prior art. [Sec. 23, IP Code]
Rule 204.
Prior art. Prior art shall consist of:
(a)
Everything
made available to the public by means of a written or oral disclosure,
by use, or in any other way, before the filing date or the priority
date
of the application claiming the invention. Prior use which is not
present in the Philippines, even if widespread in a foreign country,
cannot
form part of the prior art if such prior use is not disclosed in
printed
documents or in any tangible form.
(b) The
whole contents
of an application for a patent, utility model, or industrial design
registration,
published under Sec. 44 of IP Code, filed or effective in the
Philippines,
with a filing or priority date that is earlier than the filing or
priority
date of the application: Provided, That the application which has
validly claimed the filing date of an earlier application under Section
31 of IP Code, shall be prior art with effect as of the filing date of
such earlier application: Provided further, That the applicant or the
inventor
identified in both applications are not one and the same. [Sec.
24, IP Code]
Where two or more
applications are independently filed with respect to the same
invention,
and the later applications are filed before the first application or
earlier
application is published, the whole contents of the first or earliest
filed
application published in accordance with Sec. 44, IP Code on or
after
the filing date or priority date of the later filed application shall
be
novelty destroying with respect to the later filed application.
Rule 205. Non-prejudicial
disclosure. The disclosure of information contained in the
application
during the twelve (12) months preceding the filing date or the priority
date of the application shall not prejudice the applicant on the ground
of lack of novelty if such disclosure was made by:
(a) The
inventor;
(b) A
foreign patent
office, the Bureau or the Office, and the information was contained (a)
in another application filed by the inventor and should not have been
disclosed
by the office, or (b) in an application filed without the knowledge or
consent of the inventor by a third party which obtained the information
directly or indirectly from the inventor; or
(c) A
third party
which obtained the information directly or indirectly from the
inventor.
For purposes of subsection
(a), “inventor” also means any person who, at the filing date of
application,
had the right to the patent. [Sec. 25, IP
Code]
Rule
206.
Inventive step. (a) An invention
involves
an inventive step if, having regard to prior art, it is not obvious to
a “person skilled in the art” at the time of the filing date or
priority
date of the application claiming the invention.
[Sec. 26, IP Code]
(b) Only prior art
made available to the public before the filing date or priority date
shall
be considered in assessing inventive step.
Rule 207. Person
skilled in the art. The person skilled in the art is
presumed
to be an ordinary practitioner aware of what was common general
knowledge
in the art at the relevant date. He is presumed to have knowledge
of all references that are sufficiently related to one another and to
the
pertinent art and to have knowledge of all arts reasonably pertinent to
the particular problems with which the inventor was involved. He
is presumed also to have had at his disposal the normal means and
capacity
for routine work and experimentation.
Rule 208.
Industrial applicability. An invention which can
be produced and used in any industry shall be industrially applicable.
[Sec. 27, IP Code]
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