RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/172
20 April 2000
(00-1624)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
REVIEW OF LEGISLATION
Questions Posed by the European Communities and their Member States
By means of communications from the Permanent Delegation of the European Commission
dated 18 April 2000, the Secretariat has received copies of the following questions addressed to
Belize, Malta and Poland.
_______________
BELIZE
A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. Please describe if your legislation includes measures necessary to protect public health and
nutrition, and to promote the public interest in sectors of vital importance to your socio-economic and
technological development as mentioned under Article 8 of the TRIPS Agreement.  If yes, please
explain how such measures are consistent with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.
B. COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS
2. Please state how your legislation provides for the protection of the exclusive rights of authors
in relation to their literary and artistic works as specified in Article 9 of the TRIPS Agreement whichrequires Members to comply with Articles 1-21 of the Berne Convention and the Appendix to the
Berne Convention (1971).
3. Please describe the protection accorded to authors of computer programs, databases or
compilations of data.
4. Please state whether your legislation provides for a rental right and if so, the works to which it
applies.
5. Please describe the rights granted to performers, producers of phonograms (sound recordings)
and broadcasting organizations under your legislation.
6. Please state whether your legislation provides for any limitation or exception in relation to
each of the rights described above in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Berne and RomeConventions and in the light of Articles 13 and 14.6 of the TRIPS Agreement.
7. Please state the term of protection of each right described above and the work or subject-
matter to which it applies.IP/C/W/172
Page 2
8. Please state how your legislation grants the retroactive protection provided pursuant to
Article 18 of the Berne Convention (which ob ligation derives from Article 9 of the TRIPS
Agreement) and Article 14.6 of the TRIPS Agreement.
C. TRADEMARKS
9. Please give the definition of a sign under your national legislation and explain under which
conditions it is protectable.
10. Please confirm whether or not services are a protectable subject-matter in your trademark law.
Please confirm that signs such as trade names are protectable.  Please describe whether elements such
as sounds, perfumes and containers are protectable.
11. Please explain what the requirements of use are, if any, as a condition for a trademark
registration.  Please explain the definition of use and the conditions of maintenance of a registration in
that respect.
12. Please confirm whether or not your legislation permits the registration of trademarks to be
indefinitely renewable.
13. Please describe the special requirements, if any, prescribed by your legislation concerning the
use of a trademark.
D. GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
14. Please explain whether or not your trademark registration authority refuses a trademark
application if it contains a geographical indication.
15. Please give the definition of a geographical indication in your legislation.
16. Please describe and explain the provisions of your legislation establishing a link, if any,
between the characteristics of an indication and its geographical origin.
17. Please describe whether or not additional protection is granted by your legislation to wines
and spirits and if such protection is granted, please describe how.  Please mention other types of
products, if any, covered by this additional protection.
18. Please explain how exceptions under Article 24  of the TRIPS Agreement are used in your
jurisdiction.  Please provide examples of the use of the exceptions by courts or lists of namesconsidered as generic in your jurisdiction.
E. I
NDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
19. Please explain whether or not your legislation extends the protection to designs dictated
essentially by technical or functional considerations.  Please explain how textile designs are protected.
20. Please explain how your legislation protects ri ght holders of a design against importing of
articles bearing embodied or copied design.
21. Please mention whether or not your legislation provides for the right to issue a compulsory
licence for industrial designs.IP/C/W/172
Page 3
22. Please indicate for which period of time your legislation grants protection for industrial
designs.
F. PATENTS
23. Please describe how your legislation defines the notions of: novelty, inventiveness and
industrial application.
24. Please explain whether or not in your legislation, patent or otherwise, patent rights are
enjoyed without any exclusions.  If exclusions are provided for, please describe in detail how these
exclusions are applied in legal as well as practical terms.
25. Please explain whether your legislation provides for the exclusion of inventions from
patentability based on ordre public or morality.  If so, please explain the relevant section of your
legislation and explain its formulation.  Please also explain if it has been applied in practice.
26. Please explain whether or not diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods are excluded from
patentability in your legislation.  If so, please ex plain the relevant section of your legislation and
explain its formulation.
27. Please explain whether or not plants, animals and essentially biological processes are
excluded from patentability in your legislation.  If so, please explain the relevant section of your
legislation and explain its formulation.
28. Please describe how micro-organisms, non-essen tially biological processes, microbiological
processes and plant varieties are protected in your legislation.  Please explain in this respect the
relevant sections of your legislation.
29. Please explain how your legislation protects pa tent right holders against importing and against
offering for sale of a patented invention.
30. Please indicate if your legislation provides for patent product protection of pharmaceutical
and agricultural chemical products.  If your response is in the affirmative, please indicate the legal
reference.
31. Please clarify if the patent protection of a proces s, as provided for in your legislation, covers
the product obtained directly by that process.
32. Please explain the additional conditions, if any, in your legislation other than the sufficient
disclosure of the invention in Article 29 of the TRIPS Agreement (e.g. submission of justification for
access to genetic material or prior informed consent to its use).  If such additional conditions exist,
please point out the relevant legislation and describe the additional conditions in detail.
33. Please describe if your legislation provides for limited exceptions to the exclusive rights
conferred by a patent.  If your response is in the affirmative, please make a reference to relevant
legislation.
34. Please explain whether or not your legislation provides for compulsory licensing.  If so,
please explain in detail the conditions under which a compulsory licence may be granted.  In
particular, please explain how your national legislation considers individual merits in the
authorization of such use.IP/C/W/172
Page 4
35. Please explain how your legislation explicitly ensures that a proposed user has made efforts to
obtain authorization from the right holder on reasonable commercial terms and conditions and that
such efforts have not been successful within a reas onable period of time. In this context, how do you
define "reasonable period of time"?  Please also explain how your legislation ensures that the use of a
compulsory licence shall be authorized predominan tly for the supply of the domestic market of the
Member authorizing such use.
36. Please mention if your legislation grants additional protection for innovations after the
20 years of patent protection have lapsed.
37. Please explain how your legislation provides for the enhanced patent protection of patents or
patent applications pending on 1 January 1995.
38. Please explain how your legislation provides for the reversal of the burden of proof in relation
to process patents.
G. LAYOUT -DESIGNS (TOPOGRAPHIES ) OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
39. Please describe how your legislation protects topographies.
40. Please explain what protection your national le gislation grants to right holders against the
unlawful importation, sale or distribution for commercial purposes of topographies including
integrated circuits or other articles in which a topography is incorporated in accordance withArticle 36 of the TRIPS Agreement.
41. Please explain how your legislation provides for the derogation from Article 36 as specified
in Article 37 of the TRIPS Agreement where a person has no knowledge or reasonable grounds to
know when acquiring an integrated circuit or an arti cle incorporating such an integrated circuit that it
contains an unlawful topography.
42. Please state the term of protection granted by your legislation to topographies.
H. P
ROTECTION OF UNDISCLOSED INFORMATION
43. Please explain whether or not your legislation grants a defined period of time for the
protection of undisclosed information.  If so, please give the time span.
44. Please explain how your legislation defines "undisclosed information".
45. Please explain how your legislation defines data submitted to governments or governmental
agencies.
I. ENFORCEMENT
46. See the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement (document IP/C/5).IP/C/W/172
Page 5
MALTA
A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. Please describe if your legislation includes measures necessary to protect public health and
nutrition, and to promote the public interest in sectors of vital importance to your socio-economic and
technological development as mentioned under Article 8 of the TRIPS Agreement.  If yes, pleaseexplain how such measures are consistent with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.
B. C
OPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS
2. State how your legislation provides for the protection of the exclusive rights of authors in
relation to their literary and artistic works as specified in Article 9 of the TRIPS Agreement which
requires Members to comply with Articles 1-21 of the Berne Convention and the Appendix to the
Berne Convention (1971).
3. Please describe the protection accorded to authors of computer programs, databases or
compilations of data.
4. Please state whether your legislation provides for a rental right and, if so, the works to which
it applies.
5. Please describe the rights granted to performers, producers of phonograms (sound recordings)
and broadcasting organizations under your legislation.
6. Please state whether your legislation provides for any limitation or exception in relation to
each of the rights described above in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Berne and Rome
Conventions and in the light of Articles 13 and 14.6 of the TRIPS Agreement.
7. Please state the term of protection of each right described above and the work or subject-
matter to which it applies.
8. Please state how your legislation grants the retroactive protection provided pursuant to
Article 18 of the Berne Convention (which ob ligation derives from Article 9 of the TRIPS
Agreement) and Article 14.6 of the TRIPS Agreement.
C. TRADEMARKS
9. Please give the definition of a sign under your national legislation and explain under which
conditions it is protectable.
10. Please confirm whether or not services are a protectable subject-matter in your trademark law.
Please confirm if signs such as trade names are protectable.  Please describe whether elements such as
sound, perfumes and containers are protectable.
11. Please explain what the requirements of use are, if any, as a condition for a trademark
registration.  Please explain the definition of use and the conditions of maintenance of a registration in
that respect.
12. Please confirm whether or not your legislation permits that the registration of trademarks be
indefinitely renewable.IP/C/W/172
Page 6
13. Please describe the special requirements, if any, prescribed by your legislation concerning the
use of a trademark.
D. GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
14. Please explain whether or not your trademark registration authority refuses a trademark
application if it contains a geographical indication.
15. Please give the definition of a geographical indication in your legislation.
16. Please describe and explain the provisions of your legislation establishing a link, if any,
between the characteristics of an indication and its geographical origin.
17. Please describe whether or not additional protection is granted by your legislation to wines
and spirits and if such protection is granted, please describe how.  Please mention other types of
products, if any, covered by this additional protection.
18. Please explain how exceptions under Article 24  of the TRIPS Agreement are used in your
jurisdiction.  Please provide examples of the use of the exceptions by courts or lists of names
considered as generic in your jurisdiction.
E. INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
19. Please explain whether or not your legislation extends the protection to designs dictated
essentially by technical or functional considerations.  Please explain how textile designs are protected.
20. Please explain how your legislation protects ri ght holders of a design against importing of
articles bearing embodied or copied design.
21. Please mention whether or not your legislation provides for the right to issue a compulsory
licence for industrial designs.
22. Please indicate for which period of time your legislation grants protection for industrial
designs.
F. PATENTS
23. Please describe how your legislation defines the notions of: novelty, inventiveness and
industrial application.
24. Please explain whether or not in your legislation, patent or otherwise, patent rights are
enjoyed without any exclusions.  If exclusions are provided for, please describe in detail how these
exclusions are applied in legal as well as practical terms.
25. Please explain whether your legislation provides for the exclusion of inventions from
patentability based on ordre public or morality.  If so, please explain the relevant section of your
legislation and explain its formulation.  Please also explain if it has been applied in practice.
26. Please explain whether or not diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods are excluded from
patentability in your legislation. If so, please explain the relevant section of your legislation andexplain its formulation.IP/C/W/172
Page 7
27. Please explain whether or not plants, animals and essentially biological processes are
excluded from patentability in your legislation. If  so, please explain the relevant section of your
legislation and explain its formulation.
28. Please describe how micro-organisms, non-essen tially biological processes, microbiological
processes and plant varieties are protected in your legislation. Please explain in this respect therelevant sections of your legislation.
29. Please explain how your legislation protects pa tent right holders against importing and against
offering for sale of a patented invention.
30. Please inform if your legislation provides for patent product protection of pharmaceutical and
agricultural chemical products.  If your response is in the affirmative, please indicate the legal
reference.
31. Please clarify if the patent protection of a proces s, as provided for in your legislation, covers
the product obtained directly by that process.
32. Please explain the additional conditions, if any, in your legislation other than the sufficient
disclosure of the invention in Article 29 of the TRIPS Agreement (e.g. submission of justification for
access to genetic material or prior informed consent to its use).  If such additional conditions exist,
please point out the relevant legislation and describe the additional conditions in detail.
33. Please describe if your legislation provides for limited exceptions to the exclusive rights
conferred by a patent.  If affirmative, please make a reference to relevant legislation.
34. Please explain whether or not your legislation provides for compulsory licensing.  If so,
please explain in detail the conditions under which a compulsory licence may be granted.  In
particular, please explain how your national legislation considers individual merits in theauthorization of such use.
35. Please explain how your legislation explicitly ensures that a proposed user has made efforts to
obtain authorization from the right holder on reasonable commercial terms and conditions and that
such efforts have not been successful within a reas onable period of time. In this context, how do you
define "reasonable period of time"?  Please also explain how your legislation ensures that the use of acompulsory licence shall be authorized predominan tly for the supply of the domestic market of the
Member authorizing such use.
36. Please mention if your legislation grants additional protection for innovations after the
20 years of patent protection have lapsed.
37. Please explain how your legislation provides for the enhanced patent protection of patents or
patent applications pending on 1 January 1995.
38. Please explain how your legislation provides for the reversal of the burden of proof in relation
to process patents.
G. L
AYOUT -DESIGNS (TOPOGRAPHIES ) OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
39. Please describe how your legislation protects topographies.
40. Please explain what protection your national le gislation grants to right holders against the
unlawful importation, sale or distribution for commercial purposes of topographies includingIP/C/W/172
Page 8
integrated circuits or other articles in which a topography is incorporated in accordance with
Article 36 of the TRIPS Agreement.
41. Please explain how your legislation provides for the derogation from Article 36 as specified
in Article 37 of the TRIPS Agreement where a person has no knowledge or reasonable grounds to
know when acquiring an integrated circuit or an arti cle incorporating such an integrated circuit that it
contains an unlawful topography.
42. Please state the term of protection granted by your legislation to topographies.
H. PROTECTION OF UNDISCLOSED INFORMATION
43. Please explain whether or not your legislation grants a defined period of time for the
protection of undisclosed information. If so, please give the time span.
44. Please explain how your legislation defines "undisclosed information".
45. Please explain how your legislation defines data submitted to governments or governmental
agencies.
I. ENFORCEMENT
46. See the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement (document IP/C/5).
POLAND
A. TRADEMARKS
1. Please give the definition of a sign under your national legislation and explain under which
conditions it can be protected.
2. Please confirm whether or not services are a subject-matter which can be protected in your
trademark law.  Please confirm if signs, such as trade names, can be protected.  Please describewhether elements such as sound, perfumes and containers can be protected.
3. Please explain what the requirements of use are, if any, as a condition for a trademark
registration.  Please explain the definition of use and the conditions of maintenance of a registration in
that respect.
4. Please confirm whether or not your legislation permits that the registration of trademarks be
indefinitely renewable.
5. Please describe the special requirements, if any, prescribed by your legislation concerning the
use of a trademark.
B. G
EOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
6. Please explain whether or not your trademark registration authority refuses a trademark
application if it contains a geographical indication.
7. Please give the definition of a geographical indication in your legislation.IP/C/W/172
Page 9
8. Please describe and explain the provisions of your legislation establishing a link, if any,
between the characteristics of an indication and its geographical origin.
9. Please describe whether or not additional protection is granted by your legislation to wines
and spirits and if such protection is granted, please describe how.  Please mention other types of
products, if any, covered by this additional protection.
10. Please explain how exceptions under Article 24  of the TRIPS Agreement are used in your
jurisdiction.  Please provide examples of the use of the exceptions by courts or lists of names
considered as generic in your jurisdiction.
C. INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
11. Please explain whether or not your legislation extends to the protection of designs dictated
essentially by technical or functional considerations.  Please explain how textile designs are protected.
12. Please explain how your legislation protects ri ght holders of a design against importing of
articles bearing embodied or copied design.
13. Please mention whether or not your legislation provides for the right to issue a compulsory
licence for industrial designs.
14. Please indicate for which period of time your legislation grants protection for industrial
designs.
__________