Patents: Procedure and Limitations

Procedure

1.) File your application with the IPO

2.) The application will be published in the IPO Gazette after 18 months from the filing date

3.) Within 6 months from publication, file a written request for examination to determine if all the requirements have been met and the dues have been paid on time

4.) The patent will take effect on the day its granting is published in the IPO Gazette

5.) After 4 years from publication of the grant of the patent, start paying the annual dues

If you don't pay the annual dues, the patent will be withdrawn. A 6-month grace period, however, may be granted if you pay a surcharge.

Cancellation of Patent

A patent can be cancelled by the filing of a verified complaint before the IPO's Bureau of Legal Affairs for any of the following grounds:

1.) The "invention" isn't new or patentable

2.) The invention's disclosure isn't sufficient for it to be worked on by any person skilled in the "prior art"

3.) It's contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order or public policy

If somebody has been deprived of his patent by fraud, he can choose between cancellation of the patent or substitution as holder of the patent. If he chooses cancellation, he has 2 years to file the complaint and he can claim damages if allowed. If he wants substitution, he can't ask for damages.

Limitations on Patent Rights

A patent holder does not have the right to to prevent third persons to perform acts under the enumerated circumstances:

1.) Using the product after the owner introduced it to the market

2.) If the act is done privately and for non-commercial purposes, as long as it doesn't significantly injure the patent owner's economic rights

3.) If the act is for purely experimentation purposes related to the subject matter of the patented invention  

4.) If it consists in of a medicine in a pharmacy or by a medical practitioner for individual specifications based on a doctor's prescription or acts concerning medicine so prepared

5.) If it is used on board any aircraft, ship or vehicle of any country entering the Philippines temporarily so long as it's not used for the manufacture of anything sold in the Philippines.