The draft legislation does not extend to the protection of designs dictated essentially by technical or functional considerations. Textile designs are not provided for.

Section 21 of the draft legislation states that exploitation of a registered industrial design in Grenada by persons other than the registered owner requires the agreement of the right holder. The exploitation of a registered industrial design under the Act means the making, selling, importation of articles incorporating the industrial design.

There is no provision for the issue of compulsory licence for industrial designs under the Act.

Under the draft legislation, the registration of an industrial design is for a period of 5 years from the filing date of the application for registration, renewable for two further consecutive periods of 5 years.

Section 3(2)(a) of our draft legislation states "for the purposes of this Act, "invention" means an idea of an inventor which permits in practice the solution to a specific problem in the field of technology". It also states that an invention may be, or may relate to, a product or a process.

Section 12(4)(a) of the draft legislation states that rights under the patent do not extend to: (i) acts in respect of articles which have been put on the market in Grenada by the owner of the patent or with the owner's consent; (ii) to the use of articles on aircraft, land vehicles or vessels of other countries which temporarily or accidentally enter air space, territory or waters of Grenada; (iii) acts done only for experimental purposes relating to a patented invention; (iv) acts performed by any person who in good faith, before the filing or, where priority is claimed, the priority date of the application on which the patent is granted, was using the invention or was making effective and serious preparations for such use in Grenada.

Section 4(5) states "Inventions the commercial exploitation of which would be contrary to public order or morality are not patentable".

Section 3(3)(c) of the draft legislation excludes from patentability diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals, and products for use in any of those methods.

There is no provision in the present draft for addressing the protection of plants, animals and essentially biological processes.

[No response received]

Section 12 of the draft legislation states that the exploitation of a patented invention requires the agreement of the right holder. Exploitation therein means the making, importing, offering for sale, selling or using the product, stocking the product for the purposes of offering for sale, selling or using it.

There is no provision in the draft for patent product protection of pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products.

Yes, in accordance with section 12(2) of the draft legislation, the exploitation of patent granted in respect of a process or a product obtained directly by means of the process, requires the agreement of the right holder.

There are no such additional conditions in the draft legislation other than the sufficient disclosure of the invention.

Section 14 of the draft legislation states that in the public interest, in particular national security, nutrition, health or the development of vital sectors of the national economy, the Minister has determined that the manner of exploitation by the owner of the patent or a licensee is anti-competitive, he/she may remedy such practice. The minister may decide that, even without the agreement of the owner of the patent, a Government agency or a third person designated by the Minister may exploit the invention.

If the public interest (in particular, national security, nutrition, health or the development of other vital sectors of the national economy) so requires; or the relevant authority has determined that the manner of exploitation by the owner of the patent or a licensee is anti-competitive, and is satisfied that the exploitation of the invention in accordance with this subsection would remedy such practice, may decide that, even without the agreement of the owner of the patent, a Government agency or a third person designated by the Minister may exploit the invention. The exploitation of the invention is limited to the purpose for which it was authorized and is subject to the payment to the owner of adequate remuneration, taking into account the economic value of the Authority's decision, and the need to correct anti-competitive practices. The Authority must only take a decision after hearing the owner of the patent and any interested person who wishes to be heard.

In accordance with section 14(8) of the draft legislation, "A request for the Minister's authorization must be accompanied by evidence that the owner of the patent has received, from the person seeking the authorization, a request for a contractual licence, but that that person has been unable to obtain such a licence on reasonable commercial terms and conditions and within a reasonable time". There is no definition of "reasonable period of time". In accordance with section 14(9) "The exploitation of the invention by the Government agency or third person designated by the Minister must be predominantly for the supply of the market in Grenada".

There is no provision in the draft legislation for additional protection for innovations after the 20 years of patent protection has lapsed.

There is no provision in the draft legislation for patents pending on 1 January 1995.

Section 50(4) states that for the purposes of proceedings, other than criminal proceedings, in respect of the violation of the rights of the owner of a patent, if the subject matter of the patent is a process for obtaining a product, the burden of establishing that a product was not made by the process is on the alleged infringer subject to the product being new, and a substantial likelihood exists that the product was made by the process and the owner of the patent has been unable through reasonable efforts to determine the process actually used.