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ARTICLE · 12 DECEMBER 1996

Intellectual Property - Patents

A&L Goodbody
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IrelandCorporate/Commercial Law
1. CRITERIA

Criteria for granting a patent are not listed in current legislation. However, it is provided that the true and first inventor of an invention may apply for a patent for that invention. It defines an invention as a new and useful art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter; any improvement thereon; and any new method or process of testing in manufacture. The key criteria, therefore, are the novelty and usefulness of the invention, for which prior publication and commercial viability are the respective yardsticks.

The 1992 Act sets out three criteria for the patentability: In the case of a 20 year patent, an invention will be patentable thereunder if it is

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