Patentability of Inventions

Patents shall be granted for any inventions which are new, which involve an inventive step and which are susceptible of industrial application.

The following in particular shall not be regarded as inventions:

• – discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;
• – aesthetic creations;
• – schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business and programs for computers;
• – presentations of information.

The patentability of the subject-matter or activities is excluded only to the extent to which an application or a patent relates to such subject-matter or activities as such.

Methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body shall not be regarded as inventions which are susceptible of industrial application. This provision shall not apply to products, in particular substances or compositions, for use in these methods for treatment and these diagnostic methods.

Exclusions from patentability

Patents shall not be granted in respect of:

– inventions the exploitation of which would be contrary to public order or morality; this fact may not be concluded merely because the exploitation of invention is prohibited by law;
– plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals; this provision shall not apply to microbiological processes and the products thereof.

Novelty

– An invention shall be considered to be new if it does not form part of the state of the art.

– The state of the art shall be held to comprise everything made available to the public by means of a written or oral description, by use, or in any other way, prior to the date from which the right of priority belongs to the applicant.

– The state of the art shall also comprise the content of applications for inventions filed in the Czech Republic which enjoy earlier priority and have been published on or after the date from which the priority right belongs to the applicant. This provision shall also apply to the international applications of inventions with the earlier right of priority, where the Office acts as a designated Office, and to the European patent applications with the earlier right of priority where the Czech Republic is a validly designated state. Invention applications kept secret under special provisions shall be considered to have been published on expiry of an 18-month period as from the date on which the priority right began.

– The disclosure of an invention which took place no earlier than six months prior to the filing of the application shall not been considered as being part of the state of the art if it was due to or in consequence of:

• a) an evident abuse in relation to the applicant or his legal predecessor,
• b) the fact that the applicant or his legal predecessor has displayed the invention at an official, or officially recognised, exhibition within the terms of the relevant international treaty.In such case, it shall be for the applicant to declare, when filing the application, that the invention has been displayed and to produce in support of his declaration, within a period of four months as from filing, a certificate attesting that the invention has been displayed in compliance with the provisions of the international treaty.

Inventive step

– An invention shall be considered as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the state of the art, it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art.

– However, the content of applications that have only been published as of the date on which the applicant’s priority right began shall not be taken into consideration in assessing the inventive step.

Industrial application

An invention shall be considered as susceptible of industrial application if its subject-matter can be made or used in any kind of industry, agriculture or other fields of the economy.