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Intellectual Property & Anti Counterfeiting
Intellectual Property
Registration of Trademarks
European Patent Validations
Registration of Patents
What is Patentable
Assignment of Patents
Registration of Designs
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REGISTRATION OF PATENTS

What is Patentable?

The Patents and Designs Act (Act XVII of 2000 – Chapter 417 of The Laws of Malta) has been brought into force on 1st June 2002. Its entry into force has, to a large extent, repealed and substituted the provisions of the Industrial Property Protection Ordinance of 1899 (Ordinance XI of 1899) dealing with patents. Most notably, the Act has removed the distinction between a provisional and a complete specification application rendering the law regulating the registration of patents more streamlined in nature.

Under the Act, not any invention may be registered as a patent. To be registrable a patent must be novel, it must involve an inventive step and it must have industrial application.

An invention is considered to be novel if it does not form part of the prior art. The prior art is defined as everything, which, before the filing of the application or the date when the priority application was filed was available to the public in a written or other graphic form, by an oral description, by use or in any way anywhere in the world. Prior art also includes the content of any patent application published in Malta.

An invention involves an inventive step if it is not part of the prior art and is not obvious to a person skilled in the art.

An invention is considered to be industrially applicable if it can be made or used in any kind of industry. For the purposes of the Act the term ‘industry’ is to be given a broad meaning so as to include handicraft, agriculture and fishery.

The Act expressly excludes from registration the following:

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 human body, at the various stages of its formation and development from the moment of conception, and the simple discovery of one of its elements;
methods for the treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and a diagnostic method practiced on the human or animal body;
processes for cloning the human body, processes for modifying the germ line genetic identity of the human body and uses of the human embryo for industrial or commercial purposes;
processes and products for modifying the genetic identity of animals which are likely to cause them suffering without any substantial medical benefits to man or animal;
inventions against public order or morality; and
an animal variety or an essentially biological process for the production of plants or animals other than a microbiological process or the products thereof.

Documents Required

The requirements for the registration of a patent in the Maltese Register of Industrial Property are the following:

1. a copy of the complete specifications and abstract in the English language, together a copy of the drawings, if any;

2. where priority is claimed, a copy of the priority documents (with English translations) which need to be filed with the Malta Industrial Property Registrations Directorate within 16 months of the first priority filing date;

3. where the applicant is not present in Malta, a Power of Attorney issued in our favour which should be duly notarized and Apostilled according to the Hague Convention or attested by a Diplomatic or Consular Representative of Malta.

Duration of Registration and Annuity Payments

A patent is registered for a term of twenty years which start to run from the filing date of the application that is filed in Malta. The first renewal of the patent is the third annuity, i.e. before the expiration of the second year of registration of the patent.