Chapter IV

PATENT APPLICATION

Sec. 32. The Application

       32.1. The patent application shall be in Filipino or English and shall contain the following:
            (a) A request for the grant of a patent; 
            (b) A description of the invention; 
            (c) Drawings necessary for the understanding of the invention; 
            (d) One or more claims; and 
            (e) An abstract. 

       32.2. No patent may be granted unless the application identifies the inventor. If the applicant is not the inventor, the Office may require him to submit said authority. (Sec. 13, R.A. No. 165a) 

Sec. 33. Appointment of Agent or Representative

       An applicant who is not a resident of the Philippines must appoint and maintain a resident agent or representative in the Philippines upon whom notice or process for judicial or administrative procedure relating to the application for patent or the patent may be served. (Sec. 11, R.A. No. 165a) 

Sec. 34. The Request

       The request shall contain a petition for the grant of the patent, the name and other data of the applicant, the inventor and the agent and the title of the invention. (n) 

Sec. 35. Disclosure and Description of the Invention

       35.1. Disclosure. - The application shall disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art. Where the application concerns a microbiological process or the product thereof and involves the use of a micro-organism which cannot be sufficiently disclosed in the application in such a way as to enable the invention to be carried out by a person skilled in the art, and such material is not available to the public, the application shall be supplemented by a deposit of such material with an international depository institution. 

       35.2. Description. - The Regulations shall prescribe the contents of the description and the order of presentation. (Sec. 14, R.A. No. 165a) 

SEC. 36. The Claims

       36.1. The application shall contain one (1) or more claims which shall define the matter for which protection is sought. Each claim shall be clear and concise, and shall be supported by the description. 

       36.2. The Regulations shall prescribe the manner of the presentation of claims. (n) 

Sec. 37. The Abstract

       The abstract shall consist of a concise summary of the disclosure of the invention as contained in the description, claims and drawings in preferably not more than one hundred fifty (150) words. It must be drafted in a way which allows the clear understanding of the technical problem, the gist of the solution of that problem through the invention, and the principal use or uses of the invention. The abstract shall merely serve for technical information. (n) 

Sec. 38. Unity of Invention

       38.1. The application shall relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions forming a single general inventive concept. 

       38.2. If several independent inventions which do not form a single general inventive concept are claimed in one application, the Director may require that the application be restricted to a single invention. A later application filed for an invention divided out shall be considered as having been filed on the same day as the first application: Provided, That the later application is filed within four (4) months after the requirement to divide becomes final, or within such additional time, not exceeding four (4) months, as may be granted: Provided further, That each divisional application shall not go beyond the disclosure in the initial application. 

       38.3. The fact that a patent has been granted on an application that did not comply with the requirement of unity of invention shall not be a ground to cancel the patent. (Sec. 17, R.A. No. 165a) 

Sec. 39. Information Concerning Corresponding Foreign Application for Patents

       The applicant shall, at the request of the Director, furnish him with the date and number of any application for a patent filed by him abroad, hereafter referred to as the "foreign application," relating to the same or essentially the same invention as that claimed in the application filed with the Office and other documents relating to the foreign application. (n)