I'm Giancarlo Enrico S. Pozon, a Wushu instructor, investor and Barrister... That's right, Barrister; I graduated from law school and took the Bar Exams, now I'm waiting for the results. I created this blog to make Philippine Law easy to understand for the average person. It's all about free legal advice. There are many law blogs. But the problem is that many of them are written for lawyers and law students. They use words that can't be understood by ordinary people.
Many lawyers, judges and law students consider themselves as superior to most human beings because of their knowledge of the law. It bothers me since the law is supposed to serve society. Since the law is meant to serve society as a whole, it is important that is must be understood by everybody.
This does not mean that we should all become lawyers. It means that although law is a highly specialized profession, the first duty of everybody in this profession is to make the law understandable to all; that's why all these articles are free legal advice.
Like I said, this blog is about law -but it's for the ordinary people, not the lawyers. It's for the ordinary folk so they will know what is good and bad for them, and that making them aware of the law will help us all improve society as a whole. This is free legal advice for everybody!
The following things can't be patented:
1.) Discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods
2.) Schemes, methods and rules for playing games, doing business or performing thought processes and computer programs (computer programs fall under copyright)
3.) Surgical, therapeutic or diagnostic methods for treating humans and animals (but products used in such methods can be patented)
4.) Plant and animal species and breeding processes for the production of plants and animals (this doesn't apply to microorganisms as well as non-biological and mircobiological processes)
5.) Aesthetic creations
6.) Anything contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order or public policy
Regarding #4, other countries have already made such processes and species patentable.
Another thing you should remember about patents is that if the inventor is an employee or a certain company and he created his invention in his free time, he owns the patent. But if he worked on the invention as part of his job, then the company owns the patent; this also happens if the inventor was commissioned to create the invention.
When applying for the patent, you are required to disclose everything about it. To find out if the applicant for a patent has disclosed everything about his invention, the following tests are employed:
1.) Best Mode
Whether or not the inventor knew or withheld a better way of working the invention other than what he laid down in the specs.
2.) Enabling
Determining if the specs of the invention conforms to the "newness" requirement to enable a specialist in the "prior art" to work it.
Disclosure is important because it fulfills 2 important roles:
1.) Guarantee the patent holder the protection he is entitled to
2.) Inform the public of what they can still appropriate
Double Patenting
Once a patent is granted, it has a lifetime of 20 years. That includes later modifications and improvements. So you can't apply for a new patent for an improved version of your previously-patented invention. It's called double patenting and it's not allowed.
After the 20-year period, the patent can now be appropriated by the public.
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