Article 1709: Patents
1. Subject to paragraphs 2 and 3, each Party shall make patents
available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in
all fields of technology, provided that such inventions are new,
result from an inventive step and are capable of industrial application.
For purposes of this Article, a Party may deem the terms "inventive
step" and "capable of industrial application" to
be synonymous with the terms "non-obvious" and "useful",
respectively.
2. A Party may exclude from patentability inventions if preventing
in its territory the commercial exploitation of the inventions
is necessary to protect ordre public or morality, including to
protect human, animal or plant life or health or to avoid serious
prejudice to nature or the environment, provided that the exclusion
is not based solely on the ground that the Party prohibits commercial
exploitation in its territory of the subject matter of the patent.
3. A Party may also exclude from patentability:
(a) diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment
of humans or animals;
(b) plants and animals other than microorganisms; and
(c) essentially biological processes for the production of plants
or animals, other than non-biological and microbiological processes
for such production.
Notwithstanding subparagraph (b), each Party shall provide for
the protection of plant varieties through patents, an effective
scheme of sui generis protection, or both.
4. If a Party has not made available product patent protection
for pharmaceutical or agricultural chemicals commensurate with
paragraph 1:
(a) as of January 1, 1992, for subject matter that relates to
naturally occurring substances prepared or produced by, or significantly
derived from, microbiological processes and intended for food
or medicine, and
(b) as of July 1, 1991, for any other subject matter,
that Party shall provide to the inventor of any such product or
its assignee the means to obtain product patent protection for
such product for the unexpired term of the patent for such product
granted in another Party, as long as the product has not been
marketed in the Party providing protection under this paragraph
and the person seeking such protection makes a timely request.
5. Each Party shall provide that:
(a) where the subject matter of a patent is a product, the patent
shall confer on the patent owner the right to prevent other persons
from making, using or selling the subject matter of the patent,
without the patent owner's consent; and
(b) where the subject matter of a patent is a process, the patent
shall confer on the patent owner the right to prevent other persons
from using that process and from using, selling, or importing
at least the product obtained directly by that process, without
the patent owner's consent.
6. A Party may provide limited exceptions to the exclusive rights
conferred by a patent, provided that such exceptions do not unreasonably
conflict with a normal exploitation of the patent and do not unreasonably
prejudice the legitimate interests of the patent owner, taking
into account the legitimate interests of other persons.
7. Subject to paragraphs 2 and 3, patents shall be available and
patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the field
of technology, the territory of the Party where the invention
was made and whether products are imported or locally produced.
8. A Party may revoke a patent only when:
(a) grounds exist that would have justified a refusal to grant
the patent; or
(b) the grant of a compulsory license has not remedied the lack
of exploitation of the patent.
9. Each Party shall permit patent owners to assign and transfer
by succession their patents, and to conclude licensing contracts.
10. Where the law of a Party allows for use of the subject matter
of a patent, other than that use allowed under paragraph 6, without
the authorization of the right holder, including use by the government
or other persons authorized by the government, the Party shall
respect the following provisions:
(a) authorization of such use shall be considered on its individual
merits;
(b) such use may only be permitted if, prior to such use, the
proposed user has made efforts to obtain authorization from the
right holder on reasonable commercial terms and conditions and
such efforts have not been successful within a reasonable period
of time. The requirement to make such efforts may be waived by
a Party in the case of a national emergency or other circumstances
of extreme urgency or in cases of public non-commercial use. In
situations of national emergency or other circumstances of extreme
urgency, the right holder shall, nevertheless, be notified as
soon as reasonably practicable. In the case of public non-commercial
use, where the government or contractor, without making a patent
search, knows or has demonstrable grounds to know that a valid
patent is or will be used by or for the government, the right
holder shall be informed promptly;
(c) the scope and duration of such use shall be limited to the
purpose for which it was authorized;
(d) such use shall be non-exclusive;
(e) such use shall be non-assignable, except with that part of
the enterprise or goodwill that enjoys such use;
(f) any such use shall be authorized predominantly for the supply
of the Party's domestic market;
(g) authorization for such use shall be liable, subject to adequate
protection of the legitimate interests of the persons so authorized,
to be terminated if and when the circumstances that led to it
cease to exist and are unlikely to recur. The competent authority
shall have the authority to review, on motivated request, the
continued existence of these circumstances;
(h) the right holder shall be paid adequate remuneration in the
circumstances of each case, taking into account the economic value
of the authorization;
(i) the legal validity of any decision relating to the authorization
shall be subject to judicial or other independent review by a
distinct higher authority;
(j) any decision relating to the remuneration provided in respect
of such use shall be subject to judicial or other independent
review by a distinct higher authority;
(k) the Party shall not be obliged to apply the conditions set
out in subparagraphs (b) and (f) where such use is permitted to
remedy a practice determined after judicial or administrative
process to be anticompetitive. The need to correct anticompetitive
practices may be taken into account in determining the amount
of remuneration in such cases. Competent authorities shall have
the authority to refuse termination of authorization if and when
the conditions that led to such authorization are likely to recur;
(l) the Party shall not authorize the use of the subject matter
of a patent to permit the exploitation of another patent except
as a remedy for an adjudicated violation of domestic laws regarding
anticompetitive practices.
11. Where the subject matter of a patent is a process for obtaining
a product, each Party shall, in any infringement proceeding, place
on the defendant the burden of establishing that the allegedly
infringing product was made by a process other than the patented
process in one of the following situations:
(a) the product obtained by the patented process is new; or
(b) a substantial likelihood exists that the allegedly infringing
product was made by the process and the patent owner has been
unable through reasonable efforts to determine the process actually
used.
In the gathering and evaluation of evidence, the legitimate interests
of the defendant in protecting its trade secrets shall be taken
into account.
12. Each Party shall provide a term of protection for patents
of at least 20 years from the date of filing or 17 years from
the date of grant. A Party may extend the term of patent protection,
in appropriate cases, to compensate for delays caused by regulatory
approval processes.
Continue on to Chapter Seventeen, Article 1710