The law does not protect anything in an industrial design which serves only to obtain a technical result. The textile designs are protected like any other design if it is new and it is not scandalous or contrary to morality or public order or is not likely to offend religious or racial susceptibility of any community.

Section 44 of the Code grants the exclusive rights to the registered owner including to import, offer or sale, sell or use a product embodying such industrial design.

Does not provide.

Fifteen years.

Section 44(3) makes the necessary provisions.

(i) An invention is new if it is not anticipated by prior art. (ii) Prior art shall consist of - everything disclosed to the public, anywhere in the world, by written publication or, in Sri Lanka, by oral disclosure, by use or in any other way, prior to the filing or, where appropriate, priority date of the patent application claiming the invention; the contents of a domestic patent application having an earlier filing or, where appropriate, priority date than the patent application referred to in paragraph (a), to the extent that such contents are included in the patent granted on the basis of the said domestic patent application. (iii) A disclosure made under subsection (2)(a) shall be disregarded- if such disclosure occurred within one year preceding the date of the patent application and if such disclosure was by reason or in consequence of acts committed by the applicant or his predecessor in title; if such disclosure occurred within six months preceding the date of the patent application and if such disclosure was by reason or in consequence of any abuse of the rights of the applicant or his predecessor in title. Inventiveness An invention shall be considered as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the prior art relevant to the patent application claiming the invention, such inventive step would not have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art. Industrial application An invention shall be considered industrially applicable if it can be made or used in any kind of industry.

The patent rights: • extend only to acts done for industrial or commercial purposes and in particular not to acts done only for scientific research; • not preclude a person having the rights referred to in Section 83 or a licensee from exploiting the patented invention; • not extend to the presence or use of products on foreign vessels, aircraft, spacecraft, or land vehicles which temporarily or accidentally enter the waters, airspace or territory of Sri Lanka.

Under the proposed law any invention, the prevention within Sri Lanka of the commercial exploitation of which is necessary to protect the public order, or morality including the protection of human, animal or plant life or health or the avoidance of serious prejudice to the environment is not patentable.

Section 59(3)(d) provides that method for the treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy, and diagnostic method practised on human or animal body are not patentable.

Section 59(3)(b) provides that plants or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plant or animals, other than micro biological processes and the product of such processes are not patentable.

Please see the answer to question no. 28. A law is being prepared to protect plant varieties under a sui generis system.

Section 81 provides as follows: When the patent has been granted in respect of a product- • making, importing, offering for sale, selling and using the product; • stocking such product for the purpose of offering for sale, selling or using. When the patent has been granted in respect of a process- • using the process; • doing any of the acts referred to in paragraph (a), in respect of a product obtained directly by means of the process.

Yes. Section 59.

Yes. Section 81.

No additional conditions.

The patent rights: • extend only to acts done for industrial or commercial purposes and in particular not to acts done only for scientific research; • not preclude a person having the rights referred to in Section 83 or a licensee from exploiting the patented invention ; • not extend to the presence or use of products on foreign vessels, aircraft, spacecraft, or land vehicles which temporarily or accidentally enter the waters, airspace or territory of Sri Lanka.

Does not provide.

Not applicable.

No.

The proposed amendment (Section 81 (A)) provides as follows: "Where the subject matter of a patent is a process for obtaining a product, the burden of proof in a civil action of establishing that an alleged infringing product was not obtained by that patented process shall be on the alleged infringer- - if the product obtained by the patented process is new; or - if a substantial likelihood exists that the product was made by the patented 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 alleged infringer in protecting his undisclosed information shall be taken into account".