Valters Gencs - Patent registration in Latvia

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Patent registration in Latvia

For registration of a patent, an application has to be submitted to the Latvian Patent Office. The description of the invention has to disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete so that a specialist would be able to carry out this invention. The invention shall not be in conflict with the scientifically attested laws of nature. The opposition against a patent may be filed by third persons challenging the novelty of the patent within 9 months period starting from patent publication (state fee for opposition – 200 EUR).

Brief summary of the patent application process

Patent application with respective documentation shall be submitted to the Latvian Patent Office of the Republic of Latvia. The Patent Office makes the examination of the documents and whether the filed documents conform to requirements of Patent Law. If the submitted documents conform, the Patent Office sets the patent application filing date. The next step is the formal examination of the patent application by the Patent Office, after which the date shall be set for publication of the application.

à [The next step is the formal examination of the patent application by the Patent Office, after which the date shall be set for publication of the application.]

The publication shall be made within 18 months of the filing date or – if a priority has been requested – from the earlier priority date of the application. Afterwards the substantive examination of a patent application shall be carried out and if the application corresponds to the requirements of the Law, a decision shall be taken regarding the patent grant.

After the State fee has been paid by the applicant, the Patent Office registers the patent in the State Patent Register, publishes the notification regarding the grant of a patent in the Official Gazette of the Patent Office and issues the patent to the owner of the patent.

During the examination of the documents and application the applicant is able to eliminate the deficiencies in submitted documents, if any, the provided term. Until the grant of a patent is published, the applicant has the right to make amendments to the patent application once, upon their own initiative, provided that they do not change the essence of the invention and do not go beyond the scope of the claims. Furthermore, the applicant may divide it in two or more applications by maintaining the date of priority of the initial application for each of them. The decisions of the Patent Office are appealable.

Detailed search and examination before grant?

No - before grant the Patent Office performs mostly formal examination of the patent application and respective documents, however a detailed search shall not be carried out.

Follow requirements of EPC?

Yes

Patentability requirements/details

- Novelty

- Inventive Step

- Industrial Application

- Added Matter

- Sufficiency

- Check for Exclusion from Patentability

List of exclusions to patentability

discoveries, scientific theories and mathematic methods;
aesthetic creations;
schemes, intellectual activities, rules and methods for commercial activities and games, as well as computer programs;
methods for presentation of information;
inventions whose making public or utilisation is in conflict with public order or the principles of morality accepted in society, however, the decision not to grant a patent shall not be taken only on the basis of the fact that such utilization is prohibited by a regulatory or administrative enactment;
plant or animal varieties or to the basically biological methods for the acquisition of plant or animal varieties;
biotechnological inventions pertaining to human cloning, modification of the genetic identity of human beings in germ cells, utilisation of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes, methods for modifying the genetic identity of animals likely to cause them suffering without any substantial medical benefit to people or animals, as well as animals resulting from such methods;
human body in different stages of formation and development and a simple discovery of one of its elements, including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene.
In states 1-4 mentioned subject patenting is not possible only if the patent protection for these subjects as such is sought.

Does the Patent Office carry out detailed examination against the patentability criteria before grant?

Yes – However, the examination shall be carried out only in relation to the few criteria of patentability.

Brief summary of the patent examination process?

First the Patent Office shall carry out formal examination of the documentation and patent application. In a later stage of application examination substantive examination of the patent application shall be performed, during which it must be verified that the invention corresponds to the criteria of industrial application, invention subject, unity of an invention, biotechnological invention requirements, claim formatting rules, sufficiency and added matter requirements. However, the substantive examination shall not include examination of the patentability of the invention in relation to conformity with the requirements of novelty, inventive step and industrial application.