(Shingō: Patent Act)

# P.R. 0919

**Chapter 1: Establishment**

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> * **(a)** The Patent and Trademark Office is established as an agency of the Imperial Republic of Shingō, within the Department of Commerce. In carrying out its functions, the Patent and Trademark Office shall be subject to the policy direction of the Minister of Finance, but otherwise shall retain responsibility for decisions regarding the management and administration of its operations and shall exercise independent control of its budget allocations and expenditures, personnel decisions and processes, procurements, and other administrative and management functions in accordance with this title and applicable provisions of law. Those operations designed to grant and issue patents and those operations which are designed to facilitate the registration of trademarks shall be treated as separate operating units within the Office.
> * **(b)** The Patent and Trademark Office shall maintain its principal office in the metropolitan Chūkyō area, for the service of process and papers and for the purpose of carrying out its functions. The Patent and Trademark Office may establish satellite offices in such other places in the Imperial Republic of Shingō as it considers necessary and appropriate in the conduct of its business.
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> **§2)** Powers & Duties
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> * **(a)** In General.—The Patent and Trademark Office, subject to the policy direction of the Minister of Finance—
> 	+ **(1)** shall be responsible for the granting and issuing of patents and the registration of trademarks; and
> 	+ **(2)** shall be responsible for disseminating to the public information with respect to patents and trademarks.
> * **(b)** Specific Powers.—The Office—
> 	+ **(1)** shall adopt and use a seal of the Office, which shall be judicially noticed and with which letters patent, certificates of trademark registrations, and papers issued by the Office shall be authenticated;
> 	+ **(2)** may establish regulations, not inconsistent with law, which shall govern the conduct of proceedings in the Office;
> 	+ **(3)** may acquire, construct, purchase, lease, hold, manage, operate, improve, alter, and renovate any real, personal, or mixed property, or any interest therein, as it considers necessary to carry out its functions;
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**Chapter 2: Patentable Inventions**

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> * **(a)** A patent may be granted only for an invention in respect of which the following conditions are satisfied, that is to say—
> 	+ **(1)** the invention is new;
> 	+ **(2)** it involves an inventive step;
> 	+ **(3)** the grant of a patent for it is not excluded by subsections (b) and (c) or section (d) below; and references in this title to a patentable invention shall be construed accordingly.
> * **(b)** It is hereby declared that the following (among other things) are not inventions for the purposes of this Act, that is to say, anything which consists of—
> 	+ **(1)** a discovery, scientific theory or mathematical method;
> 	+ **(2)** a scheme, rule or method for performing a mental act, playing a game or doing business, or a program for a computer;
> 	+ **(3)** the presentation of information; but the foregoing provision shall prevent anything from being treated as an invention for the purposes of this title only to the extent that a patent or application for a patent relates to that thing as such.
> * **(c)** A patent shall not be granted for an invention the commercial exploitation of which would be contrary to public policy or morality.
> * **(d)** For the purposes of subsection (c) above exploitation shall not be regarded as contrary to public policy or morality only because it is prohibited by any law in force in the Imperial Republic of Shingō or its territories.
> * **(e)** The Minister of Finance may by order vary the provisions of subsection (b) above for the purpose of maintaining them in conformity with developments in science and technology; and no such order shall be made unless a draft of the order has been laid before, and approved by resolution of, Parliament.
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> **§2)**
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> * **(a)** An invention shall be taken to be new if it does not form part of the state of the art.
> * **(b)** The state of the art in the case of an invention shall be taken to comprise all matter (whether a product, a process, information about either, or anything else) which has at any time before the priority date of that invention been made available to the public (whether in the Imperial Republic of Shingō or elsewhere) by written or oral description, by use or in any other way.
> * **(c)** The state of the art in the case of an invention to which an application for a patent or a patent relates shall be taken also to comprise matter contained in an application for another patent which was published on or after the priority date of that invention.
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> **§3)** An invention shall be taken to involve an inventive step if it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art, having regard to any matter which forms part of the state of the art by virtue only of section 2(b) above (and disregarding section 2(c) above).
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**Chapter 3: Right to Apply for and Obtain a Patent**

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> * **(a)** Any person may make an application for a patent either alone or jointly with another.
> * **(b)** A patent for an invention may be granted—
> 	+ **(1)** primarily to the inventor or joint inventors;
> 	+ **(2)** in preference to the foregoing, to any person or persons who, by virtue of any enactment or rule of law, or any foreign law or treaty or international convention, or by virtue of an enforceable term of any agreement entered into with the inventor before the making of the invention, was or were at the time of the making of the invention entitled to the whole of the property in it (other than equitable interests) in the Imperial Republic of Shingō;
> 	+ **(3)** in any event, to the successor or successors in title of any person or persons mentioned in paragraph (1) or (2) above or any person so mentioned and the successor or successors in title of another person so mentioned; and to no other person.
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**Chapter 4: Term of Patent**

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> * **(a)** A patent granted under this title shall be treated for the purposes of the following provisions of this title as having been granted, and shall take effect, on the date on which notice of its grant is published in the journal and, subject to subsection (b) below, shall continue in force until the end of the period of 20 years beginning with the date of filing the application for the patent or with such other date as may be prescribed.
> * **(b)** Where any renewal fee in respect of a patent is not paid by the end of the period prescribed for payment (the “prescribed period”) the patent shall cease to have effect at the end of such day, in the final month of that period, as may be prescribed.
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**Chapter 5: Rights of Patent Holders**

> **§1)** The owner or co-owners of a patent are permitted to take legal action against others who have used or are using his patented invention without his provable consent.
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> * **(a)** Municipal and District Courts in the Imperial Republic of Shingō are permitted to hear initial cases relating to the infringement upon patent holders’ rights and other violations of this title.
> * **(b)** Higher courts are permitted to hear appeals relating to the infringement upon patent holders’ rights and other violations of this title.
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> **§3)**
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> * **(a)** Anyone who makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patented invention domestically, or imports a patented invention into the Imperial Republic of Shingō during the term of the patent, is infringing the patent.
> * **(b)** Individuals or groups found to be in violation of this title shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
> * **(c)** Individuals or groups found to be in violation of this title shall have all patented inventions in their possession (or in the possession of an affiliated group or company) seized.
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