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FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
Which are the patentability requirements in Panama?
The patentability requirements are: novelty, inventive
step and industrial application.
How long is the term of protection given by a
patent?
The patents are granted for a term of twenty years,
counted as from the date of filing of the application,
non-extendable.
What inventions can obtain patent protection?
Our industrial property Law allows the registration
of inventions for all the technological fields
such as: a product and/or a procedure, or the
special use of a product or a non-evident use
of the product. Also any substance, composition
or material, any article, fixture, machine, equipment,
mechanism, device or object or tangible result,
or any of its parts. Also protectable are the
stages leading to the manufacturing or the obtainment
of a product or result, as well as the use or
application of a procedure or product for the
obtainment a specific result.
When is an invention new?
An invention is considered new when it does not
form part of the existent state of the art.
What is “state of the art”?
The “state of the art” comprises all
that has been disclosed or made accessible to
the public, in any part of the world, by means
of a tangible publication, an oral disclosure,
the sale or the marketing, the use, or by any
other means, before the date of presentation of
the application in Panama or, in this case, before
the acknowledged priority date.
Are biotechnological patents protected in Panama?
Yes. Our legislation contemplates the protection
of biotechnological inventions, for products or
biotechnological procedures. Among the products
that can be protected we can outline the following:
proteins, enzymes, compounds obtained from enzymatic
or biological synthesis, antigens and antibodies,
AND and ARN molecules. Methods for obtaining or
manufacturing microorganisms can also be protected.
Are there any exceptions to the concept of “invention”?
Yes, the following are not considered inventions:
1.Theoretical or scientific principles.
2.The discoveries that consist of making it known
or revealing something that already exists in
the nature, even though it was previously unknown.
3.The drafts, outlines, principles or economical
or business methods, those referred to as purely
mental activities and the games;
4.The computer programs per. se that are referred
to for use designated in a computer;
5.The information presentation forms;
6. Aesthetical creations and the artistic or literary
works;
7.Methods for surgical treatment, therapeutic
or diagnostics, applied to the human body, and
those related to animals. This arrangement will
not be applied to the products, especially to
substances or compositions, nor to the inventions
of fixtures or instruments to put such methods
into practice.
8.The juxtaposition of known inventions or mixture
of known products, the variation of its form,
dimensional or material, unless it really means
the combination or fusion so that that it cannot
function separately, or that its qualities or
characteristic functions are modified to obtain
an industrial result not obvious to a specialist
in the matter;
9.The inventions contrary to the national laws,
to health, to the public order, to the ethics,
the proper customs or the security of the State.
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