Information for Review of Art. 27.3(b) (Patentable Subject Matter) - View

Slovak Republic

The protection of plant and animal inventions is regulated in the Slovak Republic with the provisions of two laws: the provisions of Law No. 527/1990 Coll. on Inventions, Industrial Designs and Rationalization Proposals and Law No. 132/1989 Coll. on the Protection of Rights of New Varieties and Animal Breeds. In Section 4, paragraph (c) of the Slovak Patent Law there is an exclusion of plant and animal varieties from patentability. The sui generis system of their protection is provided by Law No. 132/1989 Coll. on the Protection of Rights of New Varieties and Animal Breeds.

List of Questions

Illustrative List of Questions Prepared by the Secretariat.

N.B. Please ensure that your responses to the questions above cover each category of subject matter specified in Article 27.3(b), namely micro-organisms, essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals, microbiological processes, non-biological processes, plant varieties and other inventions concerning plants or animals.

Representative Questions for TRIPS 27.3(b) Review Submitted by the Delegations of Canada, the European Union (formerly European Communities), Japan and the United States

Yes, pursuant to Section 4, paragraph (c) of the Slovak Patent Law No. 527/1990 Coll., "patents shall not be granted in respect of plant or animal varieties and biological processes for the production and improvement of plants or animals, with exception of industrial micro-organisms serving for production and biotechnological processes and the products thereof, which are patentable." The patent practice in the Slovak Republic does not dispose of any precedent of patent claim, which would explicitly cover a plant or an animal.

See the answer to question 1 above.

[Answer A.1: Yes, pursuant to Section 4, paragraph (c) of the Slovak Patent Law No. 527/1990 Coll., "patents shall not be granted in respect of plant or animal varieties and biological processes for the production and improvement of plants or animals, with exception of industrial micro-organisms serving for production and biotechnological processes and the products thereof, which are patentable." The patent practice in the Slovak Republic does not dispose of any precedent of patent claim, which would explicitly cover a plant or an animal.]

See the answer to question 1 above.

[Answer A.1: Yes, pursuant to Section 4, paragraph (c) of the Slovak Patent Law No. 527/1990 Coll., "patents shall not be granted in respect of plant or animal varieties and biological processes for the production and improvement of plants or animals, with exception of industrial micro-organisms serving for production and biotechnological processes and the products thereof, which are patentable." The patent practice in the Slovak Republic does not dispose of any precedent of patent claim, which would explicitly cover a plant or an animal.]

According to Section 4, paragraph (a) of the Slovak Patent Law No. 527/1990 Coll., "patents shall not be granted in respect of inventions contrary to public interest, particularly the principles of humanity and morality."

We have not had such a case in our practise yet.

See the reply above.

[A.3(a): We have not had such a case in our practise yet.]

See the reply above.

[A.3(a): We have not had such a case in our practise yet.]

Extract from Law No. 132/1989 Coll., on Protection of Rights to New Varieties and Animal Breeds, Section 2, paragraphs (a) and (c): "Terms Definitions "For the purposes of this Law, under the following terms it is understood: (a) 'variety' shall mean a set of plants within a common lowest botanical taxon, which regardless of whether the terms for granting a Breeder's Certificate are fulfilled, may be: (1) defined by the expression of characteristics arising from the given genotype or combination of genotypes; (2) distinguished from any other set of plants by expression of at least one of the said characters; (3) deemed to be unified owing to its ability to remain unchanged in propagation. (c) a 'breed': refers to an animal population derived from single origins, with characteristic morphological and physiological features, capable of reproduction besides breed, this includes its lower taxons - races, strains and lines as well as their hybrids and eventually also utility breeds of farm animals."

Yes.

No. See Section 4(c) of the Slovak Patent Law.

No, according to Section 3, paragraph (1) of the Slovak Patent Law patents shall be granted for any inventions which are new, which involve an inventive step and which are susceptible of industrial application. Because mere discoveries, including materials existing in nature, do not meet all mentioned criteria, they are not patentable.

Yes, Slovak laws provide for a sui generis form of protection for a new plant variety.

Yes, it does.

Law No. 132/1989 Coll. on the Protection of Rights of New Varieties and Animal Breeds was in conformity with standards defined in the 1978 Act, but the amendment introduced by Law No. 22/1996 Coll. brought the protection system in conformity with standards defined in the 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.

There is no need for the prior authorization.

Yes, the prior authorization is required.

There is no need for the prior authorization.

No, there is not such requirement.

Law No. 132/1989 Coll. on the Protection of Rights of New Varieties and Animal Breeds as amended by No. 22/1996 Coll. in Part II, Article 4, paragraph 5 determines the conditions for granting breeder's certificates in respect of a variety. The variety is "new" if its propagating or harvesting material has not been sold or otherwise disposed to others: (a) within the territory of the Slovak Republic previous to one year before the date of filing the application; (b) within the territory of any country: (1) in the case of varieties of fruit trees, forest or garden woods, or wines, previous to six years before the date of filing the application; (2) in the case of varieties of any other species, previous to four years before the date of filing of the application.

No.