Patent law

Plants. AsexuaHy reproducing plants, ie, those not propagated by means of seed, also represent a legally recognized class of patentable subject matter under U.S. patent laws. Additionally, the inventor must have discovered and asexuaHy reproduced the plant that is to be the subject of the patent apphcation. Plant patents are assigned a different series of numbers than the majority of patents discussed in the foregoing, such as U.S. Plant Patent No. 3,360 titled "Peach Tree" (7). 

Patent laws provide for several stages in the life of an application for a patent on an invention. The pattern followed by patent laws in effect in most industrialized countries during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and still in effect in the United States in 1995, calls for the examination of all patent appHcations to certify that the claimed invention meets the national standards for novelty, usehilness, and inventiveness. The owner of the technology to be patented files appHcation papers that include a specification containing a description of the invention to be patented (called the disclosure) and claims defining the limits of the invention to be protected by the patent, a formal request for the issuance of a patent, and fees. Drawings of devices and apparatuses, electrical circuits, flow charts, etc, are an important part of the disclosures of most nonchemical and many chemical patents. 

Because each country has its own patent laws, the precise meaning of the bibhographic data and the legal significance of the pubUshed patent document vary from country to country. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provides a recommended code to distinguish the various types of documents and to simplify storage and retrieval of patent data (2), but the code is implemented differentiy by different countries. For example, in the United States an A-document in 1995 was a patent in the Nethedands, an A-document was a pubUshed unexamined appHcation. It is essential to understand each country s system to interpret the status of its patent documents. 

EDOC, available on the Questel host from INPI, is unique among non-Japanese language databases in including information on C-stage Japanese patents, ie, those that have successfiiUy weathered the pregrant opposition period and been sealed as patents under pre-1966 patent law. It also contains some information on patent family relationships from the period long before the advent of patent family databases. 

Patents afford the owner the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention, and are entirely dependent on statutory registration. They are acquired by disclosing an invention in an appHcation duly filed and prosecuted in accord with the patent laws (see Patents and trade secrets). 

Patent-frage, /. patent question or problem, -gelb, n. patent yellow, -gesetz, n. patent law. -griin, n. patent green, -gummi, n. (Rubber) cut sheet, patentierbar, a. patentable, patentieren, v.t. patent. 

Litigation in the plastic and other industries usually involves patent infringement, theft of trade secret, product liability, or a specific performance. With the usual patent law, the expert is expected to report on the obviousness of an invention. Prior art and knowledge of the requirements for patentability will often be key parts of the expert s... 

In USA a patent is awarded to the person first producing an invention, not necessarily who first applied for a patent. The opposite policy prevails in the rest of the world with USA policy probably changing in order to achieve worldwide patent law harmonization. USA utility patents (machines, equipment, etc.) in the past where good for at least 17 years after date the patent was issued. As of 1995, the patent is good for 20 years after the date the patent is filed (prior to the date it is issued) that eliminated those who would file for a patent and let it drag out for many years prior to being issued when it would be needed for infringement, etc. 

Bodini S. EU software patent law is dead managing intellectual property. Weekly News, 11 July 2005. Accessible at http //www.managingip.com/ Page= 9 PUBID=198 ISS=17456 SID=524170 SM=ALL SearchStr=computer-... 

Drugs Under Patent. This book [77] is a cross-referenced listing of over 2500 drugs covered in the United States under patent law and marketing exclusivity provisions of the Waxman-Hatch Act. Eight indexes provide market and patent status information by company, trade name, generic name, expiration date, dosage form, exclusivity code, patent number, and NDA number. Updated annually, this book is available commercially. 

While the tripartite countries of the more developed regions of the world have their own patent laws, and while they honor each other s property protection rights, some countries do not. Patent pirates in these countries freely copy (pirate) innovator drugs and drug products that are under patent protection in the United States and elsewhere without compensating patent holders. India is perhaps the worst pirate offender,... 

In my essays it was stated that the people of Europe would approach each other economically more closely after the war. In the patent field, I said, internal conditions in Europe bordered on the ridiculous. There were no fewer than thirty different patent systems in Europe I said. The Vatican had its own patent laws. The City of Gibraltar, the Island of Malta, and even the tiny Channel Islands between England and France had their own patent laws. 

After the war, I said, the European states should get together and equalize their patent laws. And I stressed even then that I did not suggest this because Germany would have an accretion of power after the war. I added that perhaps the idea was a little radical, but that every state should express what it wanted changed. 

The philosophy underlining patent law is fairly similar throughout the world. Thus, although there is no worldwide patenting office, patent practice in different world regions is often quite similar. This is fortuitous, as there is a growing tendency towards world harmonization of patent law, fuelled by multinational trade agreements. 

Table 4.1 Some products of nature that are generally patentable under US patent law. Additional patenting criteria (e.g. utility) must also be met. For many products, the patent will include details of the process used to purify the product. However, process patents can be filed, as can use patents. Refer to text for further details...

Rapid technological advances in the biological sciences raises complex patenting issues, and patenting law as applied to modern biotechnology is still evolving. 

Goldberg, R. 2001. Pharmaceutical Medicine, Biotechnology and European Patent Law. Cambridge University Press. 

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