What inventions qualify as “new”
- Section 2 entitles the inventor to patent rights only for a new discovery or invention.
- Section 3(a) provides that a discovery or invention is not deemed new if it was known or used in another country before the discovery or invention.
- Section 3(b) provides that a discovery or invention is not deemed new if it was published or described in printed publications in this or any foreign country prior to the discovery or invention.
Exclusive rights and government patents
- Section 7 provides that patents are the exclusive right to make, use, vend, encumber, and turn to profit the invention or discovery in the Philippine Islands.
- Section 7 requires every patent to contain a concise and clear description of the invention or discovery and the grant of the exclusive privilege.
- Section 7 provides that any patent for an invention may be declared the property of the Government of the Philippine Islands upon indemnification of the inventor, when so ordered by an Act of the Legislature.
Who issues patents and duties of the Patent Office
- Section 7 provides that all patents are issued in the name of the Government of the Philippine Islands under the seal of the Bureau of Commerce and Industry and signed by the Director or a person legally authorized by him.
- Section 8 vests the Bureau of Commerce and Industry, under the control, direction, and supervision of the Secretary of Commerce and Communications, with powers and authority to carry out the Act.
- Section 8 requires the Bureau to:
- Receive applications for patents;
- Examine applications and determine whether the patent requested is proper to issue;
- Keep a record of all letters patent issued, with a description of the invention or discovery; and
- Keep open for public inspection, during office hours, a list of all inventions or discoveries patented.
- Section 9 allows the Director to consult any public officer and any technical man or scientist in Government employment with respect to pending patent applications.
- Section 9 imposes a duty on all public officers to furnish information, answer inquiries, and render service related to the Bureau’s powers and functions under the Act.
Obtaining a patent: application, publication, objections
- Section 10 provides that any person claiming a new discovery or invention may apply for a patent.
- Section 10 requires the application to comply with requirements established by regulations issued by the Secretary of Commerce and Communications.
- Section 10 requires the application to be accompanied by a model or copy of the invention or discovery.
- Section 10 mandates publication if the application satisfies the Act’s requisites and conditions:
- Publication in two consecutive issues of the Official Gazette;
- Publication in two newspapers most widely read in the Islands, one published in Spanish and the other in English;
- Publication for a period of six consecutive days.
- Section 10 requires a notice, together with the application publication, inviting persons with objections to file written objections at the Patent Office within an inextensible period of thirty days from and after the date of the last publication.
- Section 10 requires objections to specify clearly and in detail the reasons for opposition.
- Section 10 provides the consequences after the objection period:
- If no objection is filed, an investigation is made whether the invention has the requisite mentioned in Section 2;
- If an objection is filed, the applicant is directed to reply within ten days, and the Director renders a decision as soon as possible after the reply.
- Section 10 requires that when a patent is granted, it is published in two consecutive issues of the Official Gazette.
Tax, fees, and charges for patents
- Section 4 provides that patents for inventions or discoveries made or manufactured in the Philippine Islands do not pay any tax.
- Section 4 requires a PHP 20 payment upon receiving the patent for Philippine-made or Philippine-manufactured inventions, in addition to:
- the fees established in Section 33 for registration; and
- the expenses of publishing the application.
- Section 4 imposes a tax of twenty pesos per annum during the life of the patent for inventions or discoveries manufactured or made entirely or largely in foreign countries, and likewise on the date of their issue.
- Section 4 provides an exemption for public officers and employees registering patents for the use of the Government, where the applicant states in the application that the Government of the Philippine Islands and its officers or employees may use the patent in government work without any payment to the inventor, and this condition is set forth on the letters patent.
- Section 5 permits patenting in the Philippines of inventions patented in another country if the inventor/discoverer has a legal representative in the Philippine Islands.
- Section 5 provides that, as to patents registered in the United States Patent Office, Act Numbered Twenty-two hundred and thirty-five governs until January first, nineteen hundred and twenty.
- Section 21 authorizes the Bureau of Commerce and Industry to collect, in addition to fees or taxes established in Section 5, the following charges:
- PHP 50 for the registration of each application and publication expenses;
- PHP 30 for reissue of a patent;
- PHP 20 for recording any assignment, sale, exchange or transfer;
- PHP 5 for recording an agreement, power of attorney, or other document not a conveyance of title if it contains more than one thousand words and less than one thousand, five pesos;
- PHP 2 for each one thousand additional words or fraction thereof;
- For certified copies of patents and other documents: 50 centavos per page certified or fraction thereof, plus 50 centavos for the certificate.
Priority rules and double inventors
- Section 6 provides that when two or more persons apply separately for patents covering the same invention or discovery, action on applications of a posterior date is suspended until the application first filed is disposed of.
- Section 6 determines priority by the date and hour of filing in the Patent Office.
Improvements, licensing, and premiums
- Section 11 provides that any person may apply for a license for an addition to or perfection of an invention already patented.
- Section 11 limits the duration of such a license to not greater than that granted for the patent of the original invention.
- Section 11 requires payment of fifty per cent of the fees established in Sections 4 and 21 for the license.
- Section 11 requires payment of the tax established in the second paragraph of Section 4 if the license falls under the second paragraph of Section 4.
- Section 11 provides that a person is not entitled to the exclusive privilege of the addition or perfection without first paying a premium to the inventor of the original invention.
- Section 11 requires the premium amount to be determined by the Court of First Instance of the domicile of the original inventor or his legal representative, upon motion of the inventor of the addition or perfection.
- Section 11 states that nothing in the section prohibits the original inventor from exploiting the addition or perfection in competition with the inventor of the addition or perfection.
Transfer, death, and ownership changes
- Section 12 allows a patent owner to transfer a patent by assignment, sale, exchange, or any other manner by which title may be conveyed.
- Section 12 provides that no assignment, sale, exchange, or conveyance is valid against a third party unless recorded in the proper register of the Bureau of Commerce and Industry.
- Section 13 provides that when a patent owner dies intestate, the rights transmit to legitimate heirs.
- Section 13 provides that if there are no legitimate heirs, the rights pass to the Government of the Philippine Islands, which may, at its option, either:
- put the invention to profit itself, or
- sell it to private individuals or corporations.
Annulment, lapse, and effects of invalidity
- Section 14 provides that a patent is null and void if:
- (a) it is not for a new discovery or invention; or
- (b) a patent has been issued previously for the same invention or discovery; or
- (c) the patent holder obtained possession of the invention or discovery of another fraudulently.
- Section 15 provides that a patent lapses if:
- (a) the period of seventeen years from and after the date of the application terminates;
- (b) five years after the patent issued, the invention or discovery has not yet been put to profit; or
- (c) the tax for two consecutive years has not been paid as referred to in the second paragraph of Section 4.
- Section 16 provides that an action for annulment or cancellation must be brought at the domicile of the plaintiff or defendant, at the option of the former.
- Section 16 grants Courts of First Instance original jurisdiction over annulment/cancellation actions, and provides that an appeal lies to the Supreme Court.
- Section 16 provides that the action for annulment prescribes five years from and after the date of the issue of the patent.
- Section 17 directs that if a patent is declared null and void under Section 14(c), the judge must order in the final decision that the cancelled patent be transferred to the plaintiff.
- Section 17 provides that when courts declare a patent has expired, the invention or discovery becomes public property, and no one is prevented from putting it to profit.
- Section 17 requires every patent declared null and void or expired to be published in the Official Gazette.
Falsification: criminal liability and damages
- Section 18 provides that any person who, with fraudulent intent of making use of the patentee’s rights, marks, stamps, or designates articles sold or offered for sale as protected by any patent is guilty of falsification of patents.
- Section 18 provides the penalty upon conviction for falsification of patents as either:
- a fine of not more than two thousand pesos; or
- imprisonment of not more than two years; or both, at the discretion of the court.
- Section 18 mandates confiscation of all articles so falsified.
- Section 18 makes a person guilty of falsification liable for damages to the injured party.
- Section 18 provides that if the defendant was an operative or employee of the patentee or obtained knowledge of the invention by unlawful means, those facts are considered an aggravating circumstance.
- Section 19 provides that any person who knowingly aids and assists in selling or offering for sale of falsified articles, or who authorizes the sale, offering for sale, or circulation of such articles, is subject to the penalties in Section 18.
- Section 20 provides that the criminal action for falsification of patents prescribes two years from and after the commission of the offense.
Reserved rights, effectiveness, and transitory rule
- Section 22 reserves rights acquired prior to the effectivity of the Act.
- Section 23 makes the Act effective upon approval (February 20, 1919).