Inventions Eligible for Protection
Inventions which conform to the following in addition to not meeting any of the provisions set out in section 14 are eligible for protection:
a. Novelty
Explanation : An invention is novel if it is not previously existing technology. Previously existing technology includes technologies which have been printed and published, spoken of, used or disclosed to the public or includes technology which has been publicized in any manner or can be used by the public anywhere before the date of application for patent rights or, in the case of applying for right of priority, before the requested right of priority date.
b. Inclusion of an inventive step
Explanation : An invention, for which a patent right application has been made for, is considered to include an inventive step if an expert in a relevant technical field does not have the capability to easily understand it.
c. Industrial applicability
Explanation : Industrial applicability means that said invention is able to be produced or used in an industrial enterprise. The expression ‘industrial enterprise’ broadly includes socioeconomic work that precede manufacturing and service work, especially handicraft, agriculture, livestock breeding, fisheries, trade and service enterprises.
Inventions Ineligible for Protection
1. The following inventions are not eligible for patent rights protection:
a) Discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical calculations;
b) Systems, rules and regulations or methods relating to conducting business, pure psychology, or games;
c) Pure computer programs;
d) Biological production processes mainly used for growing plants or rearing animals, except non-biological and microbiological production processes;
e) Plants and organisms which include all organism and plant species, DNA – including complementary DNA sequences, cells, cell lines, cell cultures and seeds, including whole or part of organisms and biological materials found in nature, with the exception of man-made microbiological organisms;
f) Surgical methods or treatment methods for the bodies of humans and animals including methods of diagnosis discovered by conducting experiments on the bodies of human and animals;
g) Inventions related to objects which are known to the public or chemical products which are prescribed as necessary, including objects existing in nature, new ways of usage and new forms;
h) Inventions which are detrimental to public morale, order, human beings, animals, plants, health or the environment and inventions for which use is prohibited by any existing law within the territory of the Union.
2. According to the policy of the World Trade Organization Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Council, pharmaceutical products or production processes are ineligible for patent protection until 1 January 2033, unless specified otherwise by the Union Government.
3. The following are ineligible for patent rights protection under the policy of the World Trade Organization Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Council until 1 July 2021, unless specified otherwise by the Union Government:
- Chemical products used in agriculture;
- Food products;
- Microbiological material.
4. The Union Government may amend the terms of protection ineligibility contained in subsections (b) and (c) with approval of the World Trade Organization Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Council.
