Policy information
Patents
From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Published on
Last updated on
A patent confers upon its holder, for a limited period, the right to exclude others from exploiting (making, using, selling, importing) the patented invention, except with the consent of the owner of the patent. A patent is a form of “industrial property”, which can be assigned, transferred, licensed or used by the owner.
In order to be patentable an invention must be novel, involve an inventive step and be susceptible of industrial application.
Patents are territorial in effect, for example, patents granted by the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland are valid only in Ireland. The Irish Patents system provides for two patent types, namely, full-term, 20-year patents and short-term, 10-year patents. To maintain an Irish patent in force, annual renewal fees must be paid each year.
Other types of patents available to Irish applicants are European Patents administered by the European Patent Office with the potential for protection in 38 member states and international patents under the Patent Cooperation Treaty with potential for protection in over 148 countries party to the Treaty, for which the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland acts as a receiving office.
Although no EU system of patent protection currently exists, plans are at an advanced stage for the introduction of a Unitary European Union system of patent protection and for an international Court in which patent litigation will be heard. The system commonly referred to as “The Patents Package”.
The patents package consists of three elements:
Both the unitary patent and the Court will come into force at the same time once all the preparatory work is complete and the required number of ratifications of the UPCA by Member States is completed.
In December 2012 agreement was reached on two Regulations for the implementation of unitary patent protection.
[external-link https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:361:0001:0008:EN:PDF | Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of the unitary patent and Regulation (EU) No 1260/2012 with regard to the applicable translations arrangements. Both Regulations will come into effect in tandem with the international Agreement on a Unified Patent Court.
]
Council Regulation (EU) No 1260/2012 of 17 December 2012 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection with regard to the applicable translation arrangements
The Unified Patent Court will be a centralised patent court where inventors can enforce their patent rights in 25 Member States through instigating one legal case. The Unified Patent Court will have jurisdiction over EU Unitary Patents and, after a transitional period of 7 years, over European Patents granted by the EPO.
Unofficial consolidated patents legislation
An unofficial consolidated copy of the principal patent legislation Patents Act 1992 and supporting Patents Rules 1992 which identifies each amendment by separate colour. For reference purposes only.
Primary legislation:
Secondary legislation on patents in Ireland consists of statutory instruments (SI) that fall into one of the following categories:
SIs, Rules, Fees and Commencement Orders made under the primary legislation are available to view under the Principal Act on the Irish Statute Book: Patents Act 1992
The Patent Law Treaty (PLT) aims to harmonise and streamline formal procedures in respect of national and regional patent applications and patents, making those procedures more user-friendly. The PLT was agreed on 1 June 2000 and entered into force on 28 April 2005. Ireland deposited its instrument of ratification for the Patent Law Treaty at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva on 27 February 2012 and it came into effect in Ireland on 27 May 2012.
The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was signed in 1970 and came into force in 1978. Ireland ratified the Treaty in 1992. The PCT now has 145 contracting states. The Treaty makes it possible to seek patent protection for an invention simultaneously in each of a large number of countries by filing an “international" patent application.
The European Patent Convention (EPC) lays down the legal basis for granting European Patents. Ireland has been a party to the EPC and a member of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) (a non-EU body with 38 member states), since 1 August 1992. The EPC was revised by a Diplomatic Conference on 29 November 2000. The revised version of the European Patent Convention (EPC 2000) came into force on 13 December 2007.
TRIPS relates to the inclusion of certain intellectual property rights, including patent protection, under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It ensures a minimum threshold of IP rights applies in all member states that are members of the WTO. It was incorporated into patent legislation in Ireland by means of the Patents (Amendment) Act 2006.