2. When there is an appointed agent, notices shall be addressed directly to him.

3. If there are more than one appointed agent, and unless otherwise indicated by the applicant or holder of the

industrial property right, notices shall be addressed to the last to have been involved in the proceedings in

writing or, if this criterion should not be applicable, to any one of them indifferently.

4. In the case of irregularities or omission in the performance of a given act, the representative shall be

notified directly and required to comply with the legal conditions demanded within a non-extendible period of 1

month, without loss of the priorities to which he is entitled. Failure to comply shall result in the act being is

considered ineffective.

Article 21
(Applicant not domiciled, registered or established in the Territory)
1. When the application for the granting of industrial property rights is submitted or sent by a party not

domiciled or registered or established in the Territory, the DES shall notify that party, instructing it to retain

an agent within a period of 1 month, pursuant to the terms of the previous article, if it has not already done so.

2. Failure to retain an agent in the set period shall result in refusal of the application.

Article 22
(Access to the processes)
1. Once the process has reached the publication stage, any interested party may request the documents referring

thereto as well as photocopies or ordinary copies of drawings, photographs, plans and models filed with the patent

application or registration, provided that this does not prejudice third-party rights.

2. In any process, the publication stage shall be deemed reached when the application is published in the Official

Bulletin.

3. The applicants and their respective agents shall, pursuant to the terms of the previous article, have access to

the proceedings before publication of the application, save as determined in the following sub-paragraphs.

4. The DES can, even before the publication of the application, disclose to third parties and render public:

a) The application number;

b) The filing date of the application and, if so demanded, the priority right, the priority date, the country or

territory in question and the application number on which that right is based;

c) The name of the individual or body corporate that filed the application;

d) The title or short title that synthesizes the subject or subjects for which protection is being sought or the

purpose it is meant to serve.

5. Access to the proceedings is permitted, even before publication of the application and regardless of whether or

not the applicant agrees:

a) To anyone who proves to be entitled, subject to respecting the request not to disclose the inventor's or

creator's name, if this is apparent from the documents attached;

b) In the course of publication of a divisible application pursuant to the terms of Article 91(6).

Article 23
(Printed forms and formal documentary requirements)
1. Applications for the granting of industrial property rights shall be set out on the appropriate printed forms,

according to models to be approved in a ruling by the Governor, to be published in the Official Bulletin.

2. The ruling referred in the previous paragraph can:

a) Establish the compulsory use of printed forms for other acts or procedures in addition to those provided for in

the present Statute;

b) Determine the conditions in which the printed forms are substituted when computer procedures are used.

3. The printed forms referred to in the present article are available free of charge from the DES at the offices

open to the public.

4. The DES may, by notice published in the Official Bulletin, set formal requirements to be met with respect to the

documents and other items to be appended to the applications.

Article 24
(Rectification of application)
1. If, upon initial examination, it appears that the application for the granting of industrial

property rights was incorrectly formulated, the applicant shall be notified and required to file it in accordance

with the indicated conditions, notwithstanding the provisions of article 120(3).

2. Until the decision to grant or refuse the right is handed down, the applicant also may, of his own initiative,

reformulate the application requesting the granting of a right different from that initially requested.

3. Once a refusal has been handed down, the applicant, during the appeal period or, if this is interrupted, until a

final decision is reached, may assign the rights deriving from the application, limit the application itself or

file any additional documents or declarations.

4. In the case referred to in the previous paragraph, any other interested party may also contribute documents or

declarations to the file with a view to a possible court appeal.

5. In the cases foreseen in paragraphs 1 and 2, the application shall be re-published in the Official Bulletin, and

the applicant shall be accorded the priorities to which he was entitled.

6. Other formal rectifications may be authorized up to the moment of the decision, provided that they are requested

with sufficient grounds and are properly published.

Article 25
(Rectification)
Whenever, before the publication of the notice in the Official Bulletin, the existence of any irregularity or

inadequacy is found, the applicant shall be notified thereof so that, within 1 month, he may make the necessary

rectifications.

Article 26
(Recognition of signatures)
Signatures on documents not submitted by an appointed lawyer or a person entered in the register of qualified

agents shall be legally certified.

Article 27
(Notifications)
1. The DES shall immediately notify parties involved in the process of any complaints, oppositions,

interpretations, expiry requests and other procedural items contributed to the proceedings.

2. Notices of complaints, oppositions and expiry requests shall be published in the Official Bulletin for

information purposes.

Article 28
(Copies of the expositions)
Any complaints and other similar procedural items shall be accompanied by as many copies containing reproductions

of all the documents that accompanied the original, as there are parties involved in the proceedings, as well as an

additional copy to be kept on file and subsequently used as a basis for revising the proceedings, should that be

necessary.

Article 29
(Compilation and return of documents)
1. The documents shall be appended to the brief in which the facts referred to are alleged.

2. If it can be demonstrated that was is impossible to obtain them in good time, documents submitted after the

deadline may still be appended to the proceedings, on the basis of a founded ruling and notification thereof to the

opposite party.

3. Even if submitted in good time, the inclusion of the following will always be refused:

a) Impertinent or unnecessary documents, including the useless repetition of allegations already produced;

b) Any documents written in disrespectful or improper terms.

4. The parties or their respective agents shall be notified to remove items refused, that are untimely or for the

reasons given in the previous paragraph, within 5 working days, failing which they will be filed and excluded from

the proceedings.

Article 30
(Inspections)
1. An interested party may, with clearly stated reasons, request the DES to conduct an inspection of any

establishment or other place, in order to support or to explain allegations produced in the process.

2. This request shall not be granted without hearing the other interested party which shall be notified for this

purpose within 3 working days from when the DES received the request to conduct the inspection.

3. The cost of the inspection shall be financed by the requesting party.

4. The party that requested the measure may freely renounce it up to the day before it is scheduled.

5. The sums paid shall be returned to the requesting party should it suddenly foreswear or refuse the inspection

request.

6. Refusal by any of the parties to a proceeding to co-operate with a request from the DES that they clarify the

situation shall be freely appreciated in the decision, notwithstanding the fact that the onus of proof will fall on

the counter-party if the requesting party that bears the onus of proof by inspection is thus deprived of the

possibility of obtaining that proof..

7. An inspection may also be conducted on the initiative of the DES, whenever this appears indispensable for the

proper clarification of the subjects raised in the proceedings.

Article 31
(Unofficial amendment of the decision)
1. If, before the publication of a ruling, it is recognized that it should be amended, the proceedings shall be

referred to a superior ruling, with information on the facts that have come to light and which mitigate in favour

of an amendment to the decision handed down.

2. By a superior ruling is understood that issued by the hierarchical superior to the authority that effectively

handed down the decision to be amended.

Article 32
(Alteration of unessential elements)
1. Any alteration or correction that does not affect the essential and characteristic elements of the patent or the

registration may be authorized in the proceedings themselves provided they are well founded and duly published.

2. No request for an amendment or correction as foreseen in the present article can be received if any forfeiture

proceedings are pending in relation thereto.

3. The amendments or corrections referred to in paragraph 1 above shall be duly recorded in the respective

documents.

Article 33
(Documents appended to other proceedings)
1. With the exception of powers-of-attorney that are always appended to each proceeding even when the applicant is

represented by the same agent, the documents filed to provide information on the applications may be appended to

just one of the proceedings and just referred to in the others.

2. In the case of appeal, the appellant shall, at his own cost, by means of certified copies, complete the files

for all proceedings in which such documents have been mentioned [but not appended].

3. Failure to meet the conditions set in the previous paragraphs shall be mentioned in the official letter

referring the proceedings to judgment, the deadline for which cannot be exceeded for that reason.

Article 34
(Delivery of the title-deeds)
1. The industrial property right title-deeds shall be delivered to the interested parties only after the end of the

appeal period or, if this is interrupted, after the final court decision is known.

2. The title-deeds shall be delivered to the title-holder or his agent, against receipt.

Article 35
(Counting deadlines)
1. Unless otherwise stipulated, the deadlines set in the present Statute shall be continuous.

2. The maturity of annuity payment, renewal and revalidation deadlines shall be is communicated to the title-

holders in advance, merely for the sake of informative.

Article 36
(Full restitution)
1. An applicant or industrial property title-holder that, through no fault of his own and despite all the vigilance

demanded by circumstances, has been unable to respect a deadline which could incur the refusal or affect the

validity of that right, shall have his rights restored provided that, cumulatively:

a) He submits a written and duly founded application within 2 months of the date of cessation of the hindrance;

b) He performs the omitted act within the period referred to in the previous paragraph, and pays the fee due in

respect of the said act.

2. The application referred in the previous sub-paragraph is admitted only within a maximum of 1 year from the date

of the unobserved deadline.

CHAPTER IV
FEES
Article 37
(Fees due)
1. Fees shall be due for the various acts contemplated in the present Statute as determined by a ruling of the

Governor, to be published in the Official Bulletin.

2. Each separate act of issue of an element to complement a requests for the granting of a right shall incur the

payment of the fee foreseen for that purpose.

Article 38
(Forms of payment)
1. The payments shall be made in cash, by cheque or postal order together with the applications for the acts

provided for in notices to be published by the DES in the Official Bulletin.

2. Except as provided in the previous paragraph, payment of the application transmittal fee may be made within 8

working days of the transmission to the DES.

Article 39
(Calculation of periodic fees)
1. Annual fees relating to patents, the registration of semiconductor product topographies and the relative five-

yearly fees for the registration of drawings and models shall be calculated from the dates of the respective

applications.

2. Annual fees relating to complementary protection certificates shall be calculated from the day following the

expiry of the validity of the respective patent.

3. Periodic fees for all other registrations shall be calculated from the date of the respective granting.

4. Whenever, due to a court decision or the application of transitory provisions, the date of commencement of

validity of patents or registrations does not coincide with the date resulting from the application of the previous

paragraphs, the respective annual or periodic fees shall be calculated from the date of commencement of validity.

Article 40
(Payment period)
1. Fees in respect of the first two annuities due in respect of patents and registrations of semiconductor product

topographies and the first five-year payment due for the registration of designs or models shall be deemed included

in the application fees, except when article 39(4) applies.

2. Subsequent annual and five-yearly fees shall be paid within the 6 months preceding their respective expiry, even

if the rights have still not been granted.

3. The first annual fee relative to complementary protection certificates shall be paid within the last 6 months of

validity of the respective patent and the subsequent annual fee shall be paid within the last 6 months preceding

their respective expiry.

4. When the period of validity of the complementary protection certificate is less than 6 months, no annual fee

need be paid.

5. Fees relative to other registrations not covered by paragraph 1 above shall be paid:

a) Together with those for the respective title-right, after the date of grant up to a maximum period of six months

after the date of publication of the grant in the Official Bulletin;

b) In the final 6 months of respective validity, in the case of fees for the renewal of a registration.

Article 41
(Surcharge and revalidation)
1. The fees mentioned in the previous article may be paid, with a surcharge, up to a maximum of 6 months after

expiry of the validity of the right, failing which the industrial property rights shall lapse.

2. The revalidation of any patent or registration that has lapsed due to failure to pay the fees may be requested

within 1 year of the date of expiry of validity.

3. The revalidation referred to in the previous paragraph can be authorized only on payment of triple the fee owing

and notwithstanding third-party rights.

Article 42
(Reduction of fees)
1. When applicants can prove that they do no t have sufficient income to bear such expenses, the fees due in

respect of applications for patents and registrations of semiconductor product topographies and models and designs

and for the maintenance of such rights may be reduced in accordance with terms to be set by a ruling of the

Governor, to be published in the Official Bulletin.

2. The ruling referred in the previous paragraph shall also set the periods for which such fee exemptions or

reductions shall apply to patent applicants or holders who have called for public tenders for exploitation of the

invention.

Article 43
(Refunding of fees)
1. The fees referred to in the previous articles shall not be refunded to the parties except when it can be proven

that they were improperly paid.

2. The refund referred in the final part of the previous sub-paragraph shall be determined by a ruling of the

Director of the DES, on the request of the interested party.

Article 44
(Suspension of payment of fees)
1. If legal action concerning any industrial property right is pending or if seizure or attachment could be

declared in respect thereof, the said right shall not be declared forfeit for default in the payment of periodic

fees that may have fallen due.

2. Once any of the decisions referred in the previous paragraph have become res judicata, the DES shall have the

fact published in the Official Bulletin and all fees owing shall fall due for payment without any surcharge within

1 year of the date of publication.

3. If on expiry of the deadline set in the previous sub-paragraph, the outstanding fees have not been paid, the

respective industrial property right shall lapse.

4. As soon as the legal action has ended or the seizure or attachment has been lifted, the court registrar shall ex

officio or at the request of the party, officially inform the DES for the purpose provided in paragraph 2 above.

Article 45
(Rights belonging to the Territory)
Industrial property rights belonging to the Territory shall be subject to the formalities and duties stipulated in

respect of an application, the grant and the respective renewals and revalidations thereof, when exploited or used

by companies of any kind.

Article 46
(Use of the fees)
Of the fees collected under the terms of the present Statute, 40% shall constitute revenue of the Territory, and

60% shall go to the Industrial Development and Marketing Fund.

CHAPTER V
EXTINCTION OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Article 47
(General causes of nullity)
Industrial property rights shall be total or partially null and void when:

a) The subject matter cannot be protected;

b) The subject matter violates the rules of public order or of good mores;

c) The procedures or formalities essential for the granting of the industrial property right were not performed.

Article 48
(General causes of annulment)
1. The industrial property rights shall be total or partially annulled if they violate the provisions that define

to whom the industrial property right belongs and, in general, if their granting infringes the rights of third

parties based on priority or other legal title.

2. If the legal conditions are met, the interested party may, instead of annulment, request the total or partial

reversion of the title to him.

3. Unless otherwise provided, annulment suits should be filed before the General Court (Tribunal de Competência Gen

érica) within 1 year of the appellant learning of the fact on which the suit is based.

4. The right to request the annulment of a title obtained in bad faith shall not be subject to the statute of

limitations.

Article 49
(Procedure for a declaration of nullity or annulment)
1. A declaration of nullity or annulment can result only from a court decision.

2. Action shall be taken by the Public Prosecution Service or by any interested party against the registered title

-holder and notice shall also be served on anyone who, on the date of the publication of the notice of action, has

applied to the DES to register rights derived there from.

3. The Court Registrar shall inform the DES that a suit has been filed and when the case will be heard, sending it

a typewritten copy or a copy on a medium deemed appropriate for the purpose of the present Statute.

Article 50
(Effects of the declaration of nullity or annulment)
The declaration of nullity shall not prejudice effects arising from the fulfilment of commitments, court decisions

in res judicata or transactions, even if they have not been ratified, or as a result of other similar acts.

Article 51
(General causes of forfeiture)
1. Industrial property rights shall be forfeited:

a) on expiry of the period of validity;

b) in default of payment of fees;

c) if waived by the title-holder.

2. The causes of forfeiture envisaged in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) above shall apply automatically regardless of

publication.

3. The general cause of forfeiture envisaged in sub-paragraph (c) above and the other specific causes of forfeiture

envisaged in the present Statute shall not take effect automatically but may be invoked by any interested party in

court or out.

4. Any interested party may also require the registration of forfeiture for reasons that apply automatically, if

that has not been done.

Article 52
(Applications for a declaration of forfeiture)
1. Applications for declarations of forfeiture shall be submitted to the DES.

2. Save in cases where the title-holder waives the right, the title- holder shall be notified of the application

for a declaration of forfeiture in order to have the opportunity, if so desired, to respond within 2 months.

3. On the request of the interested party, presented in good time, the period referred to in the previous paragraph

may be extended by 1 additional month.

4. Further extensions for like periods can be granted only if no express opposition is raised by the other party

and if justified by cogent reasons.

5. Once the response period has elapsed, the DES shall, within 1 month, decide on the declaration of forfeiture of

the patent or registration.

Article 53
(Renunciation)
1. The title-holder may renounce his applications for the granting of industrial property rights as well as any

industrial property rights he may own, by so requesting the DES in writing.

2. The renunciation may be partial when the nature of the industrial property right so permits.

3. If the renunciation application is not signed by the interested party, the respective le gal representative

shall file a power-of-attorney with special powers.

4. Renunciation shall not prejudice duly registered third-party rights provided that the respective title-holders,

after due notification, substitute the holder of the main right for the purpose of preserving the rights to the

extent necessary for safeguarding those rights.

5. Once the renunciation of the application has been confirmed, the rights inherent therein shall also be

forfeited.

PART II
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION
Article 54
(Jurisdiction and purpose)
1. The Industrial Property Register shall be kept on computer by the DES in order at any time to be able to provide

information on industrial property rights granted, as well as on any act amending or nullifying them.

2. No details of the application for the granting of an industrial property right shall be entered in the Register

prior to publication, except on the express authorization or request of the applicant, and without prejudice to the

provisions of article 22.

Article 55
(Register of approved agents)
The Industrial Property Register shall be supplemented by a Register of Agents for the purpose of ensuring that the

public know of the persons referred to in the final part of article 20 (1(b)) and of any limitations on their

respective powers, as well as of the Macao industrial property agents authorized by the DES, and of the official

property agents of other countries that are accredited to function in the Territory under the terms of the

applicable law.

Article 56
(Elements relevant to the registration of rights granted)
1. The registration of industrial property rights granted shall include:

a) The type of right at issue;

b) The name or style of the title-holder or holders;

c) The number allocated to the title;

d) The date of commencement of validity;

e) The title or short title that synthesizes the subject matter of the invention or the topography and a

description of the respective subject matter;

f) The reproduction of the subject of the design, model, trademark or emblem registered.

2. The Director of the DES may determine the inclusion of other elements in the registration beyond those referred

to in the previous paragraph, provided that the limitations or prohibitions applicable to disclosure to the general

public be safeguarded.

Article 57
(Facts subject to registration)
1. The following items are subject to registration by being written on the title and mentioned in the respective

granting register:

a) The transmission of industrial property rights;

b) The granting of exploitation licences;

c) Declaration of public calls for tender to exploit inventions, as well as their respective withdrawal or

forfeiture;

d) The constitution of rights of warranty or usufruct, as well as seizure and attachment;

e) Lawsuits for nullity or annulment of rights;

f) Amendments of acts performed under article 32;

g) Any other facts or decisions that modify or extinguish industrial property rights.

2. The facts referred to in paragraph 1 above may be raised by the parties or their successors at any time but

shall produce effects in relation to third parties only after having been registered.

Article 58
(Initial steps and formalities)
1. The registration shall be effected on application by any of the interested parties accompanied the documents

bearing out the facts to be registered.

2. If the registration of the assignment be requested by the assignor, the assignee shall also sign the document

giving proof thereof or shall expressly declare acceptance of the assignment.

3. After the registration has been effected, the certificate shall be returned to the requesting party and the

request and supporting documents shall be appended to the respective file.

4. The DES may, ex officio, have the obligatory granting of exploitation licences registered, as well as the legal

actions referred to article 57(1(e)).

Article 59
(Access to the registers)
The registers referred to in articles 54 and 55 shall be public and anybody may by name request a certificate of

registrations effected, documents filed and of decisions published, as well as indication of the date on which any

of the publications mentioned in the present Statute were issued.

PART III
TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
CHAPTER I
INVENTIONS
SECTION I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
SUB-SECTION I
OBJECT OF PROTECTION
Article 60
(Subject matter of protection)
Only inventions meeting the patentability requirements set forth in the present sub-section can be protected under

the present Statute, by the granting of a patent certificate.

Article 61
(Patentability requirements)
Any inventions, in any area of technology, pertaining to products or processes for obtaining products, substances

or compositions, even if they involve a product composed of biological matter or that contains biological matter or

a process that permits the production, processing or use of biological matter, shall be patentable provided that

such inventions:

a) Be novel;

b) Involve an inventive step; and

c) Be industrially applicable.

Article 62
(Exceptions and limitations to patentability)
1. The following shall not be patentable:

a) Discoveries, as well as scientific theories and mathematical methods;

b) Materials or substances already existing naturally and nuclear matter;

c) Aesthetic creations;

d) Schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business as well as computer

programs, as such;

e) Presentation of information.

2. Likewise, the following cannot be patented:

a) Inventions whose commercial exploitation would be illegal, contrary to public order, public health or morality;

b) Methods for the surgical or therapeutic treatment of the human or animal body and methods of diagnosis applied

to the human or animal body, excluding products, substances or compositions used in any of those methods;

c) Plant varieties or breeds of animal, as well as essentially biological processes for the production of plants or

animals.

3. Pursuant to sub-paragraph 2(a) above, the following are specifically not patentable:

a) The human body, in the various stages of its formation and development, as well as the simple discovery of one

of its elements, including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene;

b) Human cloning processes;

c) Human germinal genetic identity modification processes;

d) The use of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes;

e) Processes for the modification of the genetic identity of animals that can cause them suffering without any

substantial medical benefit to mankind or animal kind, as well as the animals obtained by those processes.

4. The provision in paragraph 1 excludes patentability only when the object for which the patent is requested is

limited to the elements mentioned therein as such.

5. For the purposes of sub-paragraph 2(a), patentability of the invention cannot be excluded by the simple fact

that the commercial exploitation thereof is prohibited by Law or regulation.

Article 63
(Special cases of patentability)
1. The provisions of the previous article shall not exclude the patentability of:

a) A substance or composition included in the prior art which is used in the working of one of the methods

mentioned in paragraph 2(b) of the same article, provided that its use for any of the methods mentioned therein is

not included in the prior art;

b) Any isolated element of the human body or produced in some other way by a technical

process, including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene, even if the structure of that element is identical

to that of a natural element;

c) An invention whose object is plant or animal matter if its technical feasibility is not limited to a certain

plant variety or animal species;

d) A biological substance isolated from its natural environment or produced on the basis of a technical process,

even if it pre-exists in the natural state;

e) An invention, the object of which is a microbiological or other technical process or products obtained by such

processes.

2. For the purposes sub-paragraph 1(b) above, the industrial application of a sequence or of a partial sequence of

a gene must be concretely stipulated in the patent application.

Article 64
(Biological processes and biological matter-definitions)
For the purposes of articles 62 and 63:

a) An essentially biological process for obtaining plant or animal matter shall be understood as any process that

consists entirely of natural phenomena such as crossing or selection;

b) A microbiological process shall be understood as any process that uses microbiological matter, that involves the

manipulation of microbiological matter or that produces microbiological matter;

c) Biological matter shall be understood as any matter that contains genetic information and can reproduce itself

or be reproduced in a biological system.

Article 65
(Prior art)
1. An invention shall be considered novel when it is not known in the prior art.

2. Prior art comprises everything that, inside the Territory or outside it, has been made accessible to the public

before the date of the patent application, by description, use or any other means.

3. Prior art shall also be considered to include the content of patent applications filed at a date prior to that

on which the patent in question is applied for and which produce effects in the Territory and is not yet published.

Article 66
(Inventive step)
An invention is considered to involve an inventive step if, for a person skilled in the art, the result is not

obvious from the prior art.

Article 67
(Industrial application)
An invention is considered industrially applicable if its subject matter can be manufactured or used in any type of

industrial or commercial activity.

Article 68
(Non-opposable disclosures)
1. The following shall not prejudice the novelty of the invention:

a) Disclosures to scientific societies, professional technical associations, or for the purpose of competitions,

exhibitions and trade fairs in Macao or abroad which are official or officially recognized, if the application for

the granting of the respective patent be filed in the Territory within 12 months;

b) Disclosures resulting from obvious abuse of the inventor or his successor in any capacity, or if improperly

published by the DES.

2. The provision of sub-paragraph 1(a) above shall apply only if the applicant proves, within 3 months from the

filing date of the patent application, that the invention was effectively disclosed in the conditions envisaged in

the paragraph in question.

SUB-SECTION II
PATENT ENTITLEMENT
Article 69
(Patent right)
1. The patent entitlement shall lie with the inventor or his/her successor in any capacity, except where otherwise

provided for inventions discovered while fulfilling a contract of employment.

2. If the invention was discovered by two or more persons, any one of them shall be entitled to apply for the

patent in the name of all of them.

Article 70
(Invention discovered in the context of an employment contract)

1. Anyone discovering an invention during the fulfilment of an employment contract shall inform the company of the

fact within the following deadlines:

a) 2 months from the completion of the invention;

b) 1 month from the filing of, t, he patent application with the DES, if this was done within the period referred to

in the previous sub-paragraph;

c) 1 month from the filing of the patent application with the DES, in the cases foreseen in the following

paragraph.

2. Inventions for which the patent is filed within 1 year of the date on which the inventor leaves the company

shall be presumed to have been discovered during the fulfilment of the employment contract.

3. The non-performance of the obligation referred in paragraph 1 above shall incur third-party liability, in

general, and, if the employment contract has not terminated, a liability under labour law.

4. The company and the inventor shall refrain from any act of disclosure likely to prejudice the acquisition of the

patent entitlement.

Article 71
(Attribution of entitlement to the invention)
1. The entitlement to the invention referred to in the previous article shall lie with the company if the invention

forms part of its area of activity and if it was discovered in the process of:

a) an employment contract containing a clause that explicitly provides for the performance of an inventive activity

and that effectively corresponds to the functions attributed to the employee;

b) Studies or research that the worker was explicitly requested to conduct.

2. Entitlement to the invention shall also lie with the company, even though the invention does not fall within its

area of activity, if the employee has used knowledge, technical means or data supplied by the company.

3. In situations not provided for in the previous paragraphs, entitlement to the invention shall lie with the

employee.

Article 72
(Inventor's remuneration)
1. In the cases provided for in article 71(1) and (2), the inventor shall be entitled to remuneration in keeping

with the relevance of the invention, if the inventive activity is not especially remunerated under the terms of the

employment contract or in a written document.

2. The company shall loses the right to the patent, in favour of the inventor, if the remuneration due the inventor

is not fully paid to him within the deadline established by the parties.

3. In the absence of agreement on the amount of remuneration, the subject shall be settled by arbitration.

4. All relevant circumstances shall be considered in determining the amount of remuneration, and more especially:

a) the financial value of the invention and its contribution to the growth or recovery of the company;

b) the personal effort made by the inventor and the assistance that he received from other employees in discovering

the invention;

c) the financial capacity and size of the company;

d) The wage and other benefits that the company pays the inventor.

Article 73
(Inadmissibility of prior renouncement)
The rights accorded the inventor under the preceding articles may not be renounced in advance.

Article 74
(Most favoured regime)
The regime established in the employment contract shall take precedence over the provisions of articles 70 to 72 if

the contract contains a regime globally more favourable to the inventor.

Article 75
(Right of the inventor to be named)
1. If the patent application is not filed in the name of the inventor, he shall be entitled to be mentioned as such

in the application and on the patent certificate.

2. The name of the inventor need not be mentioned as such in the publications arising from the application if he so

requests in writing.

Article 76
(Application to public entities)
Unless otherwise stipulated, the provisions of the present sub-section shall within the Territory, apply in

relation to its employees, agents and other servants in any capacity.

SUB-SECTION III
THE PATENT PROCEDURE
Article 77
(The form of request)
1. The patent request shall be written in the official language of the Territory indicating the name or style of

the applicant, his/its nationality and domicile or place of residence, and shall be accompanied by the following

items in triplicate:

a) The title or short title briefly synthesizing the subject matter of the invention;

b) A description of the subject matter of the invention;

c) Claims of what is considered novel and what characterizes the invention;

d) Mention of the priority right, if appropriate, pursuant to article 17(3).

2. The description shall indicate, briefly and clearly, without reservations or omissions, everything that

constitutes the subject matter of the invention, containing a detailed explanation of, at least, one way of

realizing the invention, in such a way that a person skilled in the art could realize it.

3. The claims shall define the subject matter of the requested protection and shall be clear, concise, written

correctly, based on the description and, when appropriate, contain:

a) A preamble mentioning the subject matter of the invention and such technical features of the invention as are

necessary for the definition of the claimed subject matter but which, in combination, are part of prior art;

b) A characterizing portion, preceded by the expression «characterized by» and stating the technical features

which, in combination with the features stated in the previous sub-paragraph, define the extent of the requested

protection.

4. Any fantasy expressions used to designate the invention shall form no part of the claim.

Article 78
(Description of biotechnical inventions)
Should an invention claim to refer to biological matter that is not accessible to the public and that cannot be

described on the patent form in such a manner as to permit its realization by a person skilled in the art, or to

involve the use of matter of that type, the description alone shall be considered enough for the purpose of

obtaining the patent, if:

a) The biological matter has, by the date of submission of the patent request, been deposited in a recognized

depositary institution, on the conditions to be defined in a ruling by the Governor, and published in the Official

Bulletin;

b) The patent request includes the relevant information of which the applicant disposes concerning the

characteristics of the deposited biological matter;

c) The patent request mentions the depositary institution and the deposit number.

Article 79
(Additional elements of the request)
1. The elements referred in article 77 and, if appropriate, in the preceding article, should be supplemented by the

following documents:

a) A summary of the invention;

b) Drawings necessary for the perfect understanding of the description;

c) The name and country or territory of the inventor's place of residence;

d) Proof of payment of the request submission fee.

2. If appropriate, the following shall also be submitted:

a) Documents proving the claimed priority right;

b) The declaration by which the inventor opposes the disclosure of his identity;

c) A summary declaration on the facts that justify title to the patent, when the applicant was not the inventor or

the only inventor;

d) Any translations that may be necessary, specifically in the light of the regulations referred to in article 85

(3).

3. The drawings should comprise strictly illustrations in such numbers as are necessary to the understanding of the

invention.

4. The abstract of the invention, to be published in the Official Bulletin, shall merely serve the purpose of

providing technical information and cannot be taken into account for any other purpose, particularly not for the

purpose of interpreting the scope of the protection sought and it shall consist in a brief exposé of what is

referred to in the description, claims and drawings and should preferably not contain more than 150 words or 400

characters.

Article 80
(Unity of request and invention)
1. No more than one patent may be requested in the same application and only one patent may be requested for an

invention.

2. A plurality of inventions inter-related amongst themselves in such a way as to constitute a single general

inventive concept shall be considered a single invention.

3. Under the terms of the previous paragraph, it is permitted to include in the same request, specifically:

a) An independent claim for a product, an independent claim for a process especially evolved for the manufacture of

that product and, moreover, an independent claim for a process especially evolved for a use of that product;

b) An independent claim for a process and an independent claim for a device or mechanism evolved especially to

perform that process;

c) An independent claim for a product, an independent claim for a process and an independent claim for a device or

mechanism especially devised to execute that process.

Article 81
(Multiple priorities)
1. Multiple priorities can be claimed for a patent request, provided that the priorities come from different

countries or territories, the deadlines relating to the priority being calculated from the date of the oldest

priority.

2. Where appropriate, multiple priorities may be cited for a same claim.

3. When one or more priorities are claimed for the patent request, the priority right shall include only those

elements of the patent request contained in the request or requests whose priority is claimed.

4. If some of the elements of the invention for which priority is claimed are not included

among the claims formulated in the previous request, it shall suffice, in order that the priority may be

considered, that all the documents of the previous request accurately reveal the elements referred to.

Article 82
(Examination as to form)
1. Once the request has been received, the DES shall proceed to its formal examination, within a period of 2

months, to verify that it contains all of the elements required in accordance with articles 77 to 79.

2. If the request does not contain some of the elements required, or if they are in any way irregular, the

applicant shall have 2 months from his being notified to that effect by the DES in which to make the necessary

rectification or, should he not be so notified, a maximum of 4 months from the filing of the request, either

deadline being extended by a further 2 months, if so requested with good reason.

3. The date that establishes the priority of the presentation, for the purposes of article 15, shall be that on

which the elements referred to in articles 77 and 78 are submitted complete and the DES shall then, if the

applicant so requests, issue the relevant submission certificate.

4. During the formal examination phase foreseen in the present article, the fact that the request does not respect

the requirements set forth in article 80 shall not prevent its being received.

5. Failure to send the notification referred to in paragraph 2 above, as well as its non-reception, shall not, for

the purpose of granting the patent, relieve the applicant from making good the indicated irregularities within the

legal deadline.

6. If, within the deadline applicable under paragraph 2, it is found that the inadequacies or irregularities in the

request were not rectified, the request will be refused and a notice to that effect will be published in the

Official Bulletin, in which case there shall be no need to publish the notice foreseen in the following article.

Article 83
(Notice of disclosure to the public)
1. Once 18 months have elapsed from the date of submission of the request or, if a priority right was claimed, from

the claimed date, the DES shall have the disclosure notice published in the Official Bulletin and the request

proceedings shall be available to the public from that date.

2. The proceedings may be published before the end of the deadline referred to in the previous sub-paragraph,

should the applicant so request, and once:

a) at least 2 months have elapsed from the submission of the patent request;

b) the request is not pending regularization, as envisaged in article 82.;

c) the early request fee has been paid.

Article 84
(Objections)
1. From the publication of the disclosure notice until the date when the patent is awarded, any third-party may

approach the DES in writing with objections to the patentability of the invention in respect of which the request

was filed.

2. The objections shall be transmitted to the applicant, which may respond within 4 months of the notification of

such objections.

Article 85
(Examination report and designated entities)
1. The invention examination report, to be prepared by one of the designated entities, shall look into the claims

in their latest formulation and, when appropriate, the drawings included with them for the purpose of specifying

the elements of prior art that should be taken into consideration in determining the novelty of the invention, as

well as appreciating inventive step.

2. The designated entities are the European Patent Institute and any others specified by a ruling of the Governor

and published in the Official Bulletin.

3. The ruling referred in the previous paragraph may include or determine the publication of procedural standards

with a view to the proper performance of co-operation agreements concluded with the designated entities, and more

specifically with respect to the languages to be used in the documents and/or to the translations that should be

submitted by the applicants.

Article 86
(Examination of the invention)
1. On pain of having the patent request refused, the applicant shall, within 7 years of the date of filing of the

main request or of the several requests provide the DES with:

a) A request that an examination report be conducted by one of the designated entities;

b) An examination report conducted by one of the designated entities, if the object of such report is the invention

for which the granting of a patent in Macao is being requested;

c) One or more examination reports conducted by one of the designated entities, if such report or reports concern

one or more similar patents or industrial property certificate requests whose priority is being claimed for the

Macao patent application, or that claim the same priorities as does the Macao patent application, or else that

claim the priority of the Macao patent application.

2. In the case envisaged in the sub-paragraph 1(c) above, the applicant should include an authenticated copy of the

patent requests or similar industrial property certificates referred to and the DES shall be entitled to demand a

translation into one of the official languages of the Territory.

3. The designated entity shall prepare the examination report on that part of the patent application relating to

the main object of the claims and to those parts of the patent application for which additional examination fees

have been paid in the set deadlines.

4. The parts of the application for which the additional examination fees have not been paid within the set

deadlines shall be considered to have been withdrawn, if they do not form part of a divisible application.

5. The request for the preparation of an examination report shall specify the parts of the patent request to which

the documents mentioned in sub-paragraph 1(b) or (c) above refer.

6. The applicant shall be relieved of submitting the elements referred in the previous paragraphs if the patent

request has been filed by a third party pursuant to the following article.

Article 87
(Examination report request filed by a third party)
1. Starting from the date of disclosure to the public of the patent application proceeding, anyone may request the

preparation of the examination report referred to in the previous article, if the applicant has not done so within

7 years from the date of submission of the patent application.

2. The applicant shall be notified of a request by a third party under the terms of the previous paragraph, and

shall receive a copy of the examination report whereupon he may avail himself of the facility provided for in

article 89.

Article 88
(Rejection of an examination report request)
The request for the conduct of an examination report shall be rejected when:

a) It is not accompanied by proof of payment of the examination fee;

b) It does not meet other requirements stipulated in the present Statute;

c) The patent application is in the process of rectification, as provided in article 82.

Article 89
(Amendments to claims, description or drawings)
1. The applicant shall be entitled to make amendments to the claims, description and drawings:

a) Once only up to the filing of the request for the conduct of the examination report or up to the reception by

the DES of the documents referred to in article 86(1(b) and (c);

b) Once only after the filing with the DES of the documents referred to in article 86(1(b) and (c) or following

reception of the examination report;

c) Once only where a divisible application is filed.

2. A patent application cannot be amended in such a way that its subject matter exceeds the content of the

application as originally submitted.

3. The right to amend provided for in the present article shall include the right to adapt the title of the

invention and the abstract, as well as to submit a short comment.

4. The amendment right accorded under sub-paragraph 1(b) shall be exercised within 4 months following the

occurrence of the facts referred to.

5. The amendment right accorded under sub-paragraph 1(c) may be exercised within 4 months following the

presentation of a divisible application provided that it does not exceed the deadline referred to in the previous

paragraph.

6. Each amendment shall be subject to the payment of the fee set for the purpose.

Article 90
(Rectification subsequent to the examination report)
1. If the designated entity does not follow up on the examination report because certain sectors of the art have

been temporarily excluded from their search activities, or should it decide not to proceed with the search in the

concrete case, the DES shall notify the applicant of such decision, that notification substituting the examination

report for the purpose of granting the patent.

2. The DES shall also notify the applicant of the impossibility of producing the examination report when the

designated entity considers that:

a) the description, the claims or the drawings do not meet the established requirements, so that no substantial

search can be conducted;

b) The subject matter of the patent application does not fall within the concept of an invention or of a patentable

matter, or that it is not obliged, for other reasons, to proceed with the search.

3. In the case referred in the previous paragraph, the applicant shall have 4 months from notification to correct

the deficiencies of the patent application, pursuant to article 89, and to repeat the request for an examination

report.

4. If, following upon the renewal of the examination report request, the designated entity considers

that it is unable to modify its conclusions regarding the patent application as corrected,

the applicant may justifiably contest that decision.

5. The contestation referred in the previous paragraph shall not be admitted if the nonpatentability of the

invention has been demonstrated or if the contestation was not presented within the deadline set for that effect by

the DES or, where no such deadline was set, by the end of the period referred to in article 86(1).

6. If, from the documents referred to in article 86(1(b) and (c)) it can be concluded as indicated in sub-paragraph

2 above, or should those conclusions not meet the requirements established in the present Statute or in the

respective regulations, the DES shall notifies the applicant of this fact, and the applicant shall have 4 months in

which to rectify the documents or to request that the examination report be established.

7. Examination report requests submitted under the terms of paragraphs 3 and 6 shall be refused if they are

submitted after the expiry of the deadline referred to in article 86(1).

Article 91
(Divisible applications)
1. The applicant shall have the option of irreversibly dividing his application and submitting it as one or more

divisible applications, to which shall be correspondingly limited the protection conferred by the initial

application, if he himself or the designated entity considers that the patent application does not meet the

requirement of unity of invention referred to in article 80.

2. The option referred to in the previous paragraph cannot be exercised during the period between the examination

report request and the reception of that report by the applicant.

3. The limitation of the protection conferred on the initial application is effected by the deletion of one or more

claims, sentences in the description or drawings or, exceptionally, in the form of an amendment to the claims, to

the description or to the drawings, pursuant to article 89.

4. The divisible applications can be submitted only if they fall within the scope of the initial application

submitted and shall, in that case, benefit from the priority date allocated to the initial application and the

corresponding priority right.

5. The presentation of a divisible application shall require payment of the fees due for the presentation of a

patent application, as well as of the annuities that fall due after the date of presentation of the initial

application, according to the rates applicable at the time of the presentation of the divisible application.

6. Once a divisible application has been published, anyone may consult the initial application proceedings even

before they are published and even without the consent of the applicant.

Article 92
(Divisible application following upon legal action)
When a patent has been granted disregarding the requirement of unity of invention and this omission has been

legally confirmed in response to a suit brought by a third party, the patentholder shall, on pain of finally losing

the rights not directly relating to the main subject matter of the patent, submit one or more divisible

applications.

Article 93
(Deadline and content of the divisible application)
1. The divisible application may be submitted only within a deadline of 4 months from:

a) The performance of the acts envisaged in article 89(1(b));

b) A court decision, in the case envisaged in the previous article.

2. An examination report request shall be submitted for each divisible application within 7 years of the date of

the submission of the initial application.

3. If the divisible application be submitted after the deadline set in the previous paragraph, it should

thenceforth be accompanied by the examination report request, on pain of being refused.

Article 94
(Access to deposited biological material and substitution thereof)
1. Access to deposited biological material shall be ensured by provision of a sample:

a) Until the first publication of the patent application, only to people who have access to the proceedings;

b) Between the first publication of the application and the granting of the patent, to anybody who so requests or,

at the request of the depositor, only to an independent expert;

c) After the granting of the patent, and even if the patent lapses because it becomes invalid or is forfeited, to

anybody who so requests.

2. The sample shall be delivered only if the person requesting it undertakes, for the duration of the patent:

a) Not to provide third parties with any sample of the deposited biological material or of any material derived

therefrom;

b) Not to use any sample of the deposited material or any matter derived therefrom, except for experimental

purposes, save in the case of an express waiver by the applicant or the patentholder of that commitment.

3. Should the patent application be refused or withdrawn, access to the deposited material may, at the request of

the depositor, be limited to an independent expert for 20 years from the date of filing the patent application and,

in this case, the provision of the previous paragraph shall apply.

4. The applications of the depositor referred to in sub-paragraph 1(b) and in the previous paragraph may be

presented only until the date on which the technical preparations for publication of the patent applications are

considered completed.

Article 95
(New deposit)
1. When the biological material deposited pursuant to the provisions in the preceding article ceases to be

available at the recognized depositary institution, a new deposit of the material shall be permitted on the

conditions envisaged in the Budapest Treaty of 28 April 1977 on the International Recognition of the Deposit of

Microorganisms for Purposes of Patent Procedure.

2. Any new deposit shall be accompanied by a declaration, signed by the depositor, certifying that the biological

material forming the new deposit is identical to that initially deposited.

Article 96
(Withdrawal of application)
The applicant may withdraw the patent application at any time by submitting such a request in writing together with

a declaration confirming that he has informed the inventor of the fact, in cases where the inventor is not the

applicant, as well as any person or persons to whom a licence has in the meantime been granted, which licence has

not yet been registered with the DES, or, if appropriate, indicating that such confirmation is not applicable.

Article 97
(Partial granting)
1. If it is just a case of removing drawings, sentences from the abstract or from the description or altering the

title or short title of the invention then, in keeping with the notification, the DES may proceed with such

amendments and have a notice published to that effect provided that the applicant raises no express opposition

within 1 month of the said notification.

2. The publication in the Official Bulletin of the notice referred to in the previous paragraph, with a

transcription of the abstract, shall mention the alterations made.

Article 98
(Reasons for refusing the patent)
The patent shall be refused when any of the general grounds for refusal to grant industrial

property rights is found to obtain, but the applicant may be refused a patent on the basis of article 9(1) only if

the non-patentability is obvious from the terms of the examination report or if it was not possible to reach any

conclusion on the patentability because the elements accompanying the application did not permit the patent to be

granted because of their inadequacy, irregularity, contradiction or confusion.

Article 99
(Notification of grant or refusal of patent)
The granting or refusal of the patent shall be notified pursuant to article 20(2) and (3) and shall be published in

the Official Bulletin.

Article 100
(Publication of the pamphlet)
Once the deadline set in article 34(1) has elapsed, the patent pamphlet can be published.

Article 101
(Scope of protection)
1. The scope of protection conferred by the patent shall be determined by the content of the claims, the

description and the drawings serving for interpretation purposes.

2. If the subject matter of the patent concerns a process, the rights conferred by that patent shall include the

products directly obtained by the patented process.

3. The protection conferred by a patent relating to a biological material endowed by the invention with certain

properties shall extend to any biological material obtained from the said biological material by reproduction or

multiplication, in identical or different form, and endowed with those same properties.

4. The protection conferred by a patent relating to a process for producing a biological material endowed by the

invention with certain properties, shall extend to biological material directly obtained by that process and any

other biological material obtained from the directly obtained biological material, by reproduction or

multiplication, in ident ical or differentiated form, and endowed with those same properties.

5. The protection conferred by a patent relating to a product that contains genetic information or that consists in

genetic information, shall extend to any material, subject to the provisions of article 62(3(a)), in which the

product is incorporate and in which its function is contained and exercised.

6. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 3 to 5, the sale or any other form of commercialization by the

patent-holder, or with his consent, to a farmer, of plant reproduction material, or breeding animals or other

animal reproduction material, shall imply that the farmer has permission to use the protected animals, the animal

reproduction material or the product of his harvest in order himself to proceed to reproduce or multiply animal or

plant species exclusively for the purpose of his own agricultural exploitation.

7. Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the permission referred to in the previous paragraph shall not entitle

the farmer to exercise any reproductive activity for commercial purposes or as part of a commercial activity.

Article 102
(Inversion of the onus of proof)
1. If the subject matter of a patent is a process for the manufacture of a new product, the same product

manufactured by a third party shall, unless proven to the contrary, be deemed to be manufactured by the patented

process.

2. When taking evidence, the court shall take account of the legitimate interest of the party bearing the burden of

proof in preserving his trade secret.

Article 103
(Duration)
1. The duration of the patent shall be 20 years from the date of the respective application.

2. Notwithstanding the provision for temporary protection, the exclusivity deriving from the patent pursuant to

article 5 shall be effective only from the date of the granting of the respective certificate.

Article 104
(Rights conferred by the patent)
1. Upon becoming valid, the patent shall confer on its holder:

a) The exclusive right to exploit the invention in the Territory;

b) The right to oppose any acts that constitute a breach of his patent, and specifically to prevent third parties,

without his consent, from manufacturing, offering, storing, marketing or using a product covered by the patent, or

importing or owning the same for any of the mentioned purposes.

2. The rights conferred by the patent may not exceed the scope defined for the claims.

3. The patent shall be granted with no guarantee as to the accuracy of the descriptions and its validity may not be

presumed by virtue of the fact that the respective certificate was granted.

Article 105
(Limitation on the rights conferred by the patent)
The rights conferred by the patent shall not include:

a) The preparation of medicines made up on the spot and for individual cases by dispensing chemists on a medical

prescription, nor acts relative to medicines so prepared;

b) Acts performed exclusively for test or experimental purposes, including experiments in preparation for the

administrative processes necessary for the approval of products by the relevant official bodies, because the

industrial or commercial exploitation of those products cannot begin before checking whether the patent protecting

them has lapsed;

c) The use on board ships of other countries or territories members of the WTO or the Union of the subject matter

of the patented invention in the body of the ship, in the machinery, in the masting, equipment and other

accessories, when they temporarily or accidentally enter the waters of the Territory, inasmuch as the said

invention is used exclusively for the needs of the ship;

d) The use of the subject matter of the patented invention either in the construction or operation of air or land

transport vehicles of other countries or territories members of the WTO or the Union or of accessories on those

vehicles, when they temporarily or accidentally enter in the Territory;

e) The acts envisaged in article 27 of the Convention of 7 December 1944 relative to International Civil Aviation,

if these acts concern aircrafts of another State but to which the provisions of the said article apply;

f) The acts performed in the context of private use, having no commercial purpose.

Article 106
(Non-contravention of the patent)
1. The rights conferred by the patent shall not be deemed to have been convened by anyone who, in good faith, in

the Territory and before the date of application or of priority, when claimed:

a) Came to know of the invention by his own means; and

b) Used it or made effective and serious preparations with a view to such use.

2. Anyone benefiting from the assumption of non-contravention shall bare the onus of proof of the situations

foreseen in the previous paragraph.

3. Prior use or the preparations for such use, based on the disclosures referred to in article

68(1(a)) shall not detract from good faith.

4. In the cases envisaged in paragraph 1, the beneficiary shall be entitled to continue or to begin use of the

invention, to the extent of his prior knowledge, for the purposes of his own enterprise, but may transmit it only

together with the commercial establishment in which the invention is used.

SUB-SECTION V
USE OF THE PATENT
Article 107
(Indication of the patent)
During the validity of the patent, the patent-holder may, on the products, use the word "patented", "patent Nº." or

"Pat. Nº.", in Portuguese or also in Chinese.

Article 108
(Loss and expropriation of the patent)
1. Anyone can be legally deprived of a patent who has to meet commitments contracted with another or who has had it

expropriated for a public purpose.

2. Any patent can, on payment of compensation, be expropriated to be used for the public good if the need to

disclose the invention or to make it available for use by public entities so demands.

3. The terms of the Statute of Expropriation for the Public Good, pursuant to Decree-Law no. 43/97/M, of October 20

1997 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 109
(Mandatory licences - admissibility)
By ruling of the Governor, mandatory non-exclusive licences can be granted for a certain patent in any of the

following cases:

a) No or inadequate exploitation of the patented invention;

b) Interdependence of patents;

c) For reasons of public interest.

Article 110
(Mandatory licences - general rules)
1. Mandatory licences can be granted only when the potential licensee has made efforts to obtain a contractual

licence from the patent-holder on acceptable commercial terms and such efforts have not been successful within a

reasonable period.

2. While a mandatory licence is in force, the patent-holder cannot be compelled to grant another licence before the

mandatory , lice, nce has been cancelled.

3. The holder of the patent for which a mandatory licence is issued shall be entitled to:

a) An appropriate remuneration in each concrete case, bearing in mind the economic value of the licence;

b) Request the judicial revision of the decision to grant or refuse such remuneration.

4. Mandatory licences may be assigned only with the part of the company or of the establishment that exploits them.

5. The title-holder of a patent in respect of which a mandatory licence has been issued shall, when granting the

licence, provide the licensee with all the elements of a technical nature of which he is aware at that moment and

that are necessary for the exploitation of the invention.

Article 111
(Mandatory licences issued in the case of no or inadequate exploitation of the patent)
1. If a patent is not or is inadequately exploited, there shall lie grounds to apply for a mandatory licence if the

patent-holder, without good or legal reason, by 4 years from the date of the patent application or 3 years from the

date of the granting, whichever the longer:

a) Has not begun exploitation or made effective preparations to that end, nor granted licences for the patented

invention in the Territory or in any other country or territory member of WTO;

b) Has not exploited the invention in such a way that the results satisfy the market requirements in the Territory.

2. Another ground for requesting a mandatory licence shall be the patent-holder's failing, without good legal

reason, to exploit the invention, either in Macao or in any other country or territory member of WTO, during 3

consecutive years.

3. Good reasons shall be deemed to be objective difficulties of a technical or legal nature, independent of the

will and situation of the patent-holder, that make it impossible to exploit or sufficiently exploit the invention,

but not economic or financial difficulties.

Article 112
(Interdependent licences)
1. When the exploitation of an invention protected by a patent is not possible without damaging the rights

conferred by a prior patent, the mandatory licence may be granted only if the subsequent invention represents a

notable technical progress over the prior invention.

2. Once the mandatory licence has been granted, either of the licence-holders shall be entitled to request a

mandatory licence on the patent of the other.

Article 113
(Public interest)
1. A mandatory licence for the exploitation of an invention can be granted in the public interest.

2. Public interest is deemed to obtain when the beginning, the increase or the generalization of the exploitation

of the invention or the improvement of the conditions in which the invention is exploited are of primordial

importance for public health or safety.

Article 114
(Application for mandatory licences)
1. Application for the granting of a mandatory licence shall be filed with the DES, accompanied by the necessary

elements proving the respective grounds.

2. Applications for mandatory licences shall be examined in the order in which they are filed with the DES.

3. Once the DES has received the application for a mandatory licence, it shall notify the patentholder in order

that, within 2 months, he/it may state what he/it wishes to do, submitting the respective proof.

4. The DES shall then have 2 months to analyze the arguments advanced by the parties and the guarantees offered by

the applicant for the mandatory licence that it will exploit the invention, to prepare the corresponding opinion

and to submit the proceedings for the Governor's decision, which shall be handed down within 1 month.

5. When the mandatory licence application is based on the public interests referred to in the previous article, the

process shall be submitted to the Governor's appreciation only after having obtained the opinion of the Science,

Technology and Innovation Committee and, if applicable, of the Health Services of Macao or of the Directorate of

the Macao Security Services, and after the title-holder has had a chance to take a stand on the tenor of those

opinions.

6. The deadlines for the issue of the opinions and the patent-holder's answer, under the terms of the previous

paragraph, shall be set by the DES at 1 to 3 months.

7. If the application is deferred, the DES shall appoint an expert and notify both parties in order that, within 1

month, they name their experts, it then being up to the three experts, within 2 months, to agree on the conditions

of the mandatory licence and the remuneration to be paid to the patent-holder.

Article 115
(Cancellation and reappreciation of the mandatory licence)
1. The mandatory licence can be cancelled if:

a) The licensee does not abide by the conditions imposed on granting or the purposes for which it was granted;

b) The circumstances on which the granting was based no longer obtain and are unlikely to be repeated.

2. The initiative to introduce proceedings to cancel the licence shall lie with the DES, with the patent-holder

and, where applicable, with the other licensees.

3. T, he patent-holder shall be entitled, with good reason, to request the reappreciation of the conditions and

circumstances under which the mandatory licence was granted.

Article 116
(Notification and appeal with respect to the granting, refusal or cancellation of licence)
1. The DES shall notify the parties of the granting and respective exploitation conditions, as well as of the

refusal or cancellation of the licence.

2. Appeal to the competent civil court shall, within 3 months of the date of the notification, lie against the

decision by the Governor to grant, refuse or revoke the mandatory licence, or just against the conditions on which

it was granted.

3. The granting shall take effect only after the decision has become final and has been registered by the DES and

after proof of payment of the fees due have been produced, as if it were an ordinary licence.

4. An extract of the registration referred to in the previous paragraph shall be published in the Official

Bulletin.

Article 117
(Public tender for the exploitation of an invention)
1. A patent-holder, as indeed a patent applicant that has already complied with the obligation referred to in

article 86(1) but has still not granted an exclusive licence to exploit the invention, may submit to the DES a

written declaration by which he makes the exploitation of the invention available to third parties as non-exclusive

licensees, gratuitously or for appropriate consideration.

2. If no agreement can be reached on the initial amount of the consideration, or on the terms according to which it

should be altered if it has proven manifestly inadequate, it shall, if the parties so desire, be set by arbitration

or by the court.

3. The party making the declaration may withdraw it at any time by submitting an application to the DES, but this

cannot be used against persons whose agreement to exploit the invention has already been communicated to the

applicant or patent-holder.

4. The declaration shall lapse on the right to the patent being recognized by a court decision as belonging to

someone other than the party making the declaration.

5. Until such time as the declaration has been withdrawn or declared lapsed, the DES shall refuse entry in the

register of any exclusive licences relating to the invention in question.

6. The DES shall not charge any fee for the publication of the public declaration of tender, nor for notices of the

withdrawal or lapse thereof.

7. Until such time as the declaration has been withdrawn or declared lapsed, any fees that may be due for the

patents or patent applications subject to public tender for exploitation shall be reduced or subject to exemption

pursuant to the terms set in the ruling referred to article 42(2).

SUB-SECTION VI
EXPIRY OF THE PATENT
Article 118
(Nullity of patents)
Besides the general causes of nullity of industrial property rights foreseen in article 47, the following shall

also constitute grounds for nullity of patents:

a) The fact that the title or short title given to the invention includes different subject matter;

b) The fact that the subject matter is not described in such a way as to allow the execution of the invention by a

person skilled in the art;

c) The extension of the subject matter of the patent beyond the content of the initial application.

Article 119
(Partial nullity or cancellation)
1. One or more claims may be declared null or cancelled, but a claim cannot be decreed partially nullified or

cancelled.

2. If a patent is declared nullified or partially nullified, it shall remain in force in its remaining parts

whenever they can constitute subject matter of an independent patent.

SECTION II
UTILITY MODELS
Article 120
(Subject of protection)
1. Under the present Statute, only inventions that so alter a subject matter as to give it a configuration,

structure, mechanism or disposition that increases its utility or improves the advantage that can be derived

therefrom can be protected as utility models,.

2. Inventions whose protection is applied for as a utility model shall meet the patentability requirements foreseen

in the previous section, with the exception of those which are not compatible with their nature as referred to in

the previous paragraph.

3. The applicant shall have the option, simultaneously or successively, of applying for an invention patent or a

utility model for an invention that can be protected as a utility model.

4. The utility model shall cease to be effective once an invention patent has been granted for the same invention.

Article 121
(Duration and renewal)
1. The duration of the utility model shall be 6 years from the date of submission of the application and shall be

renewable for two additional periods of 2 years each.

2. The renewal request shall be submitted in the last 6 months of the current validity period.

3. The duration of the utility model cannot exceed 10 years from the date of presentation of the respective

request.

Article 122
(Indication of the utility model)
During the term of the patent, its holder may, on the products use the expressions referred to in article 107 or

else the expressions, "Utility model No." or "Utility Mod. No.", in Portuguese or the equivalent in Chinese.

Article 123
(Fees due for the utility model)
1. The fees due in respect of a utility model granting and revalidation procedure shall be those due for the

corresponding acts in respect of an invention patent reduced by 40%.

2. The fees due for the renewal of a utility model shall be set in the ruling referred to in article 37(1).

Article 124
(Redemption)
In all matters not contrary to the provisions of the present section, the provisions of the previous section shall

apply to utility models, mutatis mutandis, and the examination report request or the documents in the stead thereof

shall be submitted within 4 years of the date of the request.

SECTION III
THE COMPLEMENTARY CERTIFICATE FOR THE PROTECTION OF MEDICINES AND PHYTO-PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS
Article 125
(Certificate request)
1. The application for a complementary protection certificate for medicines and for phytopharmaceutical products,

hereinafter briefly called the complementary certificate, shall be made in writing in the official language of the

Territory indicating the name or corporate style of the applicant, his/its nationality and domicile or location and

shall be accompanied by the following items:

a) The patent number and the title of the invention protected by that patent;

b) The number and date of the first authorization to place the product on the market in Macao.

2. The application shall be accompanied by a copy of the first authorization to place the product on the market in

Macao in order to identify the product, and which shall include the number and the date of the authorization as

well as a summary of the characteristics of the product.

Article 126
(Examination and publication of the request)
1. Once the application has been submitted to the DES, the respective formal examination is conducted in order to

ensure that it was submitted within the deadline and that it meets the conditions set forth in the previous

article.

2. If the application for a complementary certificate and the product in respect of which the application is being

filed meet the conditions foreseen in the applicable law and those set in the present Statute, the DES will grant

the complementary certificate and have the application published in the Official Bulletin.

3. If the application for a complementary certificate does not meet the conditions referred to in the previous

paragraph, the DES will notify the applicant, requiring it within 2 months to rectify the irregularities or

inadequacies found.

4. When, from the answer given by the applicant, the DES sees that the application for a complementary certificate

meets the required conditions, it will have the application for the complementary certificate and the respective

granting published in the Official Bulletin.

5. If the applicant does not comply with the notification mentioned in paragraph 3, the application will be refused

and the application will be published in the Official Bulletin together with the refusal notice.

6. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 3, the complementary certificate will be refused if the application

or the product to which it refers does not meet the conditions foreseen in the present Statute and in any other

applicable legislation and the application will be published in the Official Bulletin together with the refusal

notice.

7. The publication shall comprise, at least, the following indications:

a) The name and domicile or location of the applicant;

b) The patent number;

c) The title of the invention;

d) The number and date of the authorization to place the product on the market in Macao, as well as identification

of the product in respect of which the authorization was issued;

e) The period of validity of the complementary certificate or the refusal notice, as appropriate.

Article 127
(Duration of the complementary certificate)
The duration of the complementary certificate may not exceed by more than 7 years the term of the patent in respect

of which is granted.

Article 128
(Extinction of the complementary certificate)
The complementary certificate shall be declared null or expired, partially null or cancelled to the extent that the

patent in respect of which it was issued be so declared.

SECTION IV
EXTENSION OF PATENTS GRANTED ABROAD
SUB-SECTION I
EUROPEAN PATENTS
Article 129
(Extension of European applications and patents)
1. The applicant for a European patent and the holder of a European patent, processed according to the rules of the

European Patent Convention, signed in Munich on 5 October 1963, may request the extension of the application or of

the patent to Macao.

2. The DES shall publish extension applications in the Official Bulletin as soon as received from the European

Patent Office, but never until 18 months have elapsed from the date the patent request was filed or, if a priority

right be invoked, from the date of the first relevant application.

3. The extension applications may be freely withdrawn.

Article 130
(Effects of the European patent application)
1. A regularly formulated European patent application shall in the Territory have the same legal effects as a Macao

patent application, including with respect to priority rights.

2. The European patent shall be guaranteed the temporary protection foreseen in article 7 from the date the DES

makes accessible to the public a translation of the respective claims in one of the official languages of the

Territory, accompanied by a copy of the drawings.

3. The DES shall, after the party concerned has submitted the items referred to in the previous paragraph, proceed

to publish the extension notice in the Official Bulletin.

4. From the date of publication of the notice referred to in the previous paragraph, anyone may take cognizance of

the text of the translation and obtain reproductions thereof.

Article 131
(Effects of the European patent)
1. A European patent extended to Macao shall have the same legal effects as a patent granted in Macao starting from

the date of granting by the European Patent Office, provided that the formalities foreseen in the present article

are observed.

2. Within 3 months following the publication of the notice of the granting of the patent in the European Patent

Bulletin, the patent- holder shall provide the DES with a translation, in one of the official languages of the

Territory, of the title or short title briefly describing the subject matter of the invention, the description of

the subject matter of the invention and the claims and shall pay the relative fee for publication in the Official

Bulletin.

3. If, during the course of the opposition phase, any modification is found in the elements referred to in the

previous paragraph, the patent-holder shall, within 3 months from the date of the corresponding publication in the

European Patent Bulletin:

a) Provide the DES with the translation of such modifications in one of the official languages of the Territory;

b) Pay the relevant fee for publication in the Official Bulletin.

4. The DES shall then, as soon as possible, publish the extension notice in the Official Bulletin together with the

translations submitted in compliance with paragraphs 2 and 3.

5. The patent extension application shall be declared null and void if the necessary translations are not provided

or the fees due not paid within the set deadline.

6. If the European patent be declared null, partially null or cancelled by the European Patent Office, in

accordance with the applicable procedures, the respective extension to Macao shall also be invalidated.

Article 132
(Original text and translations)
1. If the applicant or the holder of a European patent has neither domicile nor registered office in Macao, the

translations of the texts shall be done under the responsibility of an authorized or accredited official agent or

an agent registered with the DES.

2. When a translation has been submitted in one of the official languages of the Territory in accordance with the

terms of the preceding articles, that translation shall be considered authentic if the European application or

patent, in the translated text, provides a lesser degree of protection than that conferred by the same application

or patent in the language used in the proceedings.

3. If the translation published in the Official Bulletin is republished because of some error therein, anyone who,

in good faith, may have exploited the invention or made serious preparations to that end without violating the

claims in the patent application or patent being corrected, may benefit from the provisions of article 106..

4. The revision of the translation shall become effective only from the moment in which it is made accessible to

the public by the DES and the respective fee has been paid.

Article 133
(Prohibition of dual protection)
1. A Macao patent the subject matter of which is an invention for which a European patent has already been granted

to the same inventor, or with his consent, with the same date of filing or priority, shall cease to have effect as

from:

a) The date on which the time limit for filing oppositions against the European patent expires, provide no

opposition has been filed;

b) The termination of opposition proceedings, if the European patent is upheld.

2. If the Macao patent is granted after either of the dates indicated in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of the previous

paragraph, it shall not take effect and the relevant notice shall be published in the Official Bulletin.

3. The subsequent termination of the European patent shall not affect the provisions of the previous paragraphs.

Article 134
(Extension and renewal fees)
1. The extension of a patent application or of a patent under the terms of the present section shall be subject to

the payment of an extension fee to be paid to the European Patent Office in the deadlines and on the terms set in

the European Patent Convention.

2. For all the European patents extended to Macao, the renewal fees applicable to Macao patents shall be due within

the deadlines set in the present Statute.

SUB-SECTION II
OTHER PATENTS
Article 135
(Redemption)
The provisions of the previous sub-section shall apply accordingly to patent applications filed with other

designated entities in respect of article 85, as well as to the patents granted by those entities.

CHAPTER II
SEMICONDUCTOR TOPOGRAPHY PRODUCTS
SECTION I
SUBJECT MATTER OF PROTECTION
Article 136
(Subject matter of protection)
1. Under the present Statute only the topographies of semiconductor products resulting from the intellectual effort

of the creator and not known in the semiconductors industry can be protected by the granting of a topography

registration certificate.

2. Likewise, topographies that comprise elements known in the semiconductor industry and the combination of whose

elements taken together meet the conditions envisaged in the previous sub-paragraph shall also enjoy legal

protection.

3. The protection shall cover only the configuration of electronic circuits, to the exclusion of any idea, process,

system, technique or codified information incorporate into the topography.

Article 137
(Definition of semiconductor product)
For the purposes of the protection conferred by the present Statute, a semiconductor product shall be understood as

being the final or intermediate form of any product that, cumulatively:

a) Consists of a material body that includes a layer of semiconductor material;

b) Possesses one or more layers composed of conductive, insulating or semiconducting material, the layers being

disposed in accordance with a predetermined three-dimensional model;

c) Is designed to carry out an electronic function either alone or together with other functions.

Article 138
(Definition of semiconductor product topography)
The topography of a semiconductor product is the group of related images, either fixed or codified, represented by

the three-dimensional layout of the layers of which the product is composed, and in which each image has the layout

or part of the layout of a surface of the same product, in any phase of its manufacture.

SECTION II
OTHER PROVISIONS
Article 139
(Temporary limitations on the exercise of the right)

The right to register a semiconductor product topography cannot be exercised if:

a) 2 years have already elapsed since the first commercial exploitation of the topography anywhere;

b) 15 years have already elapsed since the topography was fixed or codified for the first time, if it was never

exploited.

Article 140
(Additional elements of the application)
In addition to the other elements required, the applicant to register a topography shall also indicate in the

application:

a) The date on which the topography was fixed or codified for the first time;

b) Whether the topography has already been commercially exploited and, if so, the date on which that exploitation

began.

Article 141
(Grounds for refusing to register a topography)
1. A topography registration application shall be refused when:

a) Any of the general grounds for refusing the granting of industrial property rights is found as referred to in

article 9(1);

b) The application is not filed in good time, in breach of the deadlines set in article 139.

2. The grounds for refusal referred to in article 9(1) may be used against the applicant only if it is apparent

from the examination report that the topography cannot be registered, or if it was not possible to reach any

conclusion on whether it could be registered because the items filed with the application did not permit any

conclusion to be reached because they were inadequate, irregular, contradictory or confused.

Article 142
(Duration)
The registration shall last 10 years from the date of the respective application or from the date on which the

topography was exploited for the first time anywhere, whichever the sooner.

Article 143
(Rights conferred by registration)
1. The registration of the topography shall confer on the holder the right to make exclusive use of the topography

throughout the Territory by producing, manufacturing, selling or exploiting it or the items in which it is applied,

together with the obligation to do so effectively and in keeping with the needs of the market.

2. The registration of the topography shall furthermore confer on the holder the right to authorize or to prohibit

any of the following acts:

a) The reproduction of the protected topography;

b) The import, sale or distribution in any other form for commercial purposes of a protected topography, of a

semiconductor product into which is incorporated a protected topography, or an article into which is incorporated a

semiconductor product of that type, to the extent and only to the extent that it continues to include a topography

reproduced illegally.

Article 144
(Limitation on the rights conferred by the registration)
1. The rights conferred by the registration of the topography shall not include:

a) The private reproduction of a topography for non-commercial purposes;

b) Reproduction for the purpose of analysis, evaluation or teaching;

c) The creation of a different topography, starting from the analysis or evaluation referred to in the previous

sub-paragraph, that could in turn benefit from the protection foreseen in the present Statute;

d) The performance of any of the acts referred to in article 143(2), in relation to a semiconductor product in

which is incorporate an illegally reproduced topography or any article in which is incorporate a semiconductor

product of that type, if the person that performed or ordered the performance of those acts neither knew nor should

have known on acquiring the semiconductor product or the article into which that semiconductor product was

incorporated, that the said article incorporated an illegally reproduced topography.

2. Once the person referred to in sub-paragraph 1(d) has received enough information to indicate that the

topography was reproduced illegally, that person can perform any of the acts in question in relation to the

products in his possession or ordered up to that moment, but must pay the holder of the registration an amount

equivalent to an appropriate royalty such as could be demanded under the protection of a licence freely negotiated

in relation to a topography of that type.

Article 145
(Indication of the registration)
During the validity of the registration, the holder may mark semiconductor products manufactured by the use of

protected topographies with a capital letter "T", in one of the following forms:

Article 146
(Mandatory exploitation licence)
The provisions of articles 109 to 116 shall apply to the topographies of semiconductor products only when the

mandatory licences have a public, non-commercial purpose.

Article 147
(Nullity of the topography registration)
In addition to the general causes of nullity of industrial property rights foreseen in article 47, semiconductor

product topographies registrations may also be declared null and void because:

a) The title or short title given to the invention includes different subject matter;

b) The subject matter is not described in such a way as to permit the execution of the topography by a person

skilled in the art;

c) The subject matter of the registration extends beyond the content of the initial application.

Article 148
(Partial nullity or cancellation)
1. One or more claims may be declared null or cancelled, but a claim cannot be decreed partially nullified or

cancelled.

2. If a topography registration is declared nullified or partially nullified, it shall remain in force in its

remaining parts whenever they can constitute subject matter of an independent topography registration.

Article 149
(Referral)
Provided that they are not incompatible with the nature of semiconductor product topographies, the provisions of

section I of the previous chapter shall apply thereto, with the special considerations set forth in the present

chapter.

CHAPTER III
INDUSTRIAL MODELS AND DESIGNS
SECTION I
SUBJECT MATTER OF PROTECTION
Article 150
(Subject matter of protection)
Subject matter that may be protected under the present Statute, by the registration of an industrial model or

design shall be limited to creations whose appearance represents a product in whole or in part by virtue of such

characteristics as lines, contours, colours, forms, textures and/or the materials used in the product itself and/or

its ornamentation and which meet the requirements set forth in the present section.

Article 151
(Product definition)
1. For the purposes of the previous article, a product shall be considered any industrial or crafted article,

including, inter alia, the components for assembling a complex product, the packing, the presentation elements, the

graphic symbols and the typographic characters, but excluding computer programs.

2. By complex product shall be understood any article composed of multiple components which can be removed

therefrom for the purpose of stripping it and inserted into it for the purpose of reassembling it.

Article 152
(Requirements for registration)
1. Industrial models and designs may be registered which:

a) Are novel;

b) Are unique.

2. The innovative nature of the industrial model or design shall not be diminished if, although not entirely novel,

it involves novel combinations of known elements or a different layout of already used elements, that endow the

respective subject matter with a unique character.

Article 153
(Novelty)
1. The industrial model or design shall be considered novel if, prior to the respective registration or priority

application, no identical industrial model or design was published within or outside the Territory.

2. Industrial models or designs that differ only in insignificant details shall be considered identical.

Article 154
(Unique character)
1. An industrial model or design shall be considered to be unique in character if the global impression that it

gives to the informed user differs from the global impression caused that user by any industrial model or design

published prior to the date of the registration application or claimed priority.

2. In appreciating the uniqueness of the character, account shall be taken of the degree of freedom that the

creator had to create the industrial model or design.

Article 155
(Industrial models or designs incorporated into components)
1. An industrial model or design applied to or incorporated into a product that constitutes a component of a

complex product shall be considered novel and unique in character:

a) If it can reasonably be considered that even after being incorporated into the complex product, it will continue

to be visible during the normal use of the complex product; and

b) To the extent that the visible characteristics of that component itself meets the requirements of novelty and

uniqueness of character.

2. For the purposes of the provision in sub-paragraph (a) above, normal use shall be understood as any use

different from conservation, maintenance or repair.

Article 156
(Exceptions to and limitations on registration)
1. Registration shall not protect:

a) The visible characteristics of a product resulting exclusively from its technical function; and

b) The visible characteristics of a product that must necessarily be reproduced in its exact form and dimensions so

that the product into which the industrial model or design is to be incorporated, or in which it is applied, be it

mechanically connected to the other product, or be it inserted within, around or against that other product, can

both perform their function.

2. Notwithstanding the provision of sub-paragraph (b) above and provided that the requirements of innovation and

uniqueness have been met, the registration of an industrial model or design is possible if its purpose is to permit

a multiple assembly of interchangeable products or their interconnection to form a modular system.

Article 157
(Disclosure)
1. For the purposes of articles 153 and 155, an industrial model or design shall be considered to have been

disclosed if it has been published, presented in an exhibition, used in trade or made known in any other way,

except if these facts could not reasonably have come to the knowledge of persons operating in Macao and skilled in

the art in question in the course of their normal activity, before the date of filing of the registration

application or priority claim.

2. The industrial model or design shall, however, not be considered disclosed by the simple fact of being made know

to a third party in explicit or implicit confidence.

Article 158
(Non-opposable disclosures)
1. For the purposes of articles 153 and 155, no account shall be taken of any disclosure if the industrial model or

design for which registration is sought was disclosed:

a) By the creator, by his successor or by a third party, as the result of information they provided or measures

they took;

b) At an official or officially recognized international exhibition under the terms of the Convention relating to

International Exhibitions, signed in Paris on 22 November 1928, at Portuguese or official international courses,

exhibitions and fairs, or those officially recognized in any of the countries or territories members of WTO or of

the Union during the 12 months preceding the date of filing of the registration application or, where a priority is

being claimed, on the priority date;

c) As the result of an abuse of the creator or his successor.

2. Proof of the non-opposability of the disclosure, pursuant to sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) above, shall be brought

by the applicant within 3 months from the date of filing of the registration application.

SECTION II
RIGHT TO REGISTER INDUSTRIAL MODELS AND DESIGNS
Article 159
(Right to register)
1. The right to register shall lie with the creator or his successors in any capacity.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions governing copyright, the provisions of articles 70 to 76 shall apply to the

registration of industrial models or designs.

SECTION III
THE REGISTRATION PROCEDURE FOR INDUSTRIAL MODELS AND DESIGNS
Article 160
(Form of application)
1. The application to register an industrial model or design shall be filed in writing in an official language of

the Territory, indicating the name or commercial style of the applicant, his/its nationality and domicile or

location and shall be accompanied by the following items, in triplicate:

a) The title or short title designating the industria, l mode, l or design that it is wished to register or the purpose

for which it is intended, as appropriate;

b) The name and country or territory in which the creator resides;

c) A photolithograph or any other medium that may be demanded by the DES, bearing a reproduction of the object

whose industrial model or design it is wished to register;

d) The priority right claim, if applicable, pursuant to article 17(3).

2. Fantasy expressions used to designate the industrial model or design shall not constitute subject matter for

protection.

Article 161
(Complementary elements of the application)
1. The application for the registration of industrial models or designs should be accompanied by the following

items:

a) A description of the innovative characteristic attributed to the subject matter whose industrial model or design

it is wished to register;

b) Drawings or photographs of the said subject matter;

2. If appropriate, the registration application shall further be accompanied by:

a) The request for stay of publication of the application;

b) The document proving authorization of the holder's copyright when the industrial model or design was reproduced

from a work of art not in the public domain or, in general, of the copyright of the actual author, if he is not the

applicant;

c) The documents proving the priority right claimed.

3. The description of the novel characteristics attributed to the subject matter whose industrial model or design

it is wished to register shall be written on the applicant's own printed paper, containing a detailed explanation

of the geometric or ornamental aspect of the subject matter and should preferably not contain more than 150 words

or 400 characters.

4. The DES can request or the applicant may of his own initiative submit the actual subject matter or other

perspective photographs that help to form a more exact idea of the industrial model or design.

5. In applications for the registration of a design, when a combination of colours is claimed, the drawings or

pictures shall show the colours claimed.

6. The stay of the publication referred to in sub-paragraph 2(a) shall not exceed 30 months from the filing date of

the application or claimed priority.

Article 162
(Unity of application and of registration of industrial model or design)
1. The same application cannot request more than one registration and each industrial model or design shall form

the subject matter of a separate registration.

2. Industrial models or designs that constitute the various indispensable parts to form a whole shall be included

in a single registration.

Article 163
(Multiple applications)
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of the previous article, industrial models or designs that possess the same

preponderant distinctive characteristics may be included in a single registration, up to a maximum of 10, in such a

way as to constitute a group of interrelated objects for the purpose of their use or application.

2. In the case referred to in the previous paragraph, the group shall constitute an indissociable whole, resulting

in a single registration that cannot be separately or partially assigned.

3. The drawings or photographs of the industrial models or designs referred to in paragraph 1 above shall be

numbered sequentially, in accordance with the total number of objects that it is wished to include in the same

application.

Article 164
(Examination as to form)
1. Once the application has been received, the DES will proceed to its formal examination within 1 month, to verify

that it complies with the requirements of articles 160 to 163.

2. If the application lacks any of the required items, or should any of them not be in order, the applicant shall

rectify that situation within 2 months from the notification that the DES will send it to that effect or, where no

such notification is given, within a maximum of 3 months from the filing of the application, both of which

deadlines may be extended by 1 additional month, on a founded request.

3. Article 82(3) to (6) shall apply accordingly.

4. If the applicant fails to rectify the irregularities referred to within the set deadline, the application shall

be refused and the respective notice published in the Official Bulletin.

Article 165
(Notice of public disclosure)
1. Once 12 months have elapsed from the date of filing the application or, if a priority right was claimed, from

the claimed date, the DES will have the disclosure notice published in the Official Bulletin and the application

proceedings shall be available to the public from that date.

2. The proceedings may be published before the end of the period referred to in the previous paragraph, if the

applicant so requests, and provided that:

a) At least 2 months have elapsed since the filing of the registration application;

b) The application is not pending rectification, as indicated in the previous article;

c) The early publication fee has been paid.

Article 166
(Opposition)
1. Starting from the publication of the disclosure notice, and up to the date the registration is granted, any

third party may approach the DES, in writing, opposing the registration of the industrial model or design in

respect of which the application was filed.

2. The oppositions shall be transmitted to the applicant, who may respond within 2 months from the notification of

such opposition.

Article 167
(Examination report and designated entities)
1. The examination report on the industrial model or design, to be compiled by one of the designated entities,

shall be based on a reproduction of the subject matter whose industrial model or design it is wished to register,

or pictures or drawings thereof or the subject matter itself, if appropriate, and its purpose shall be to

appreciate whether it meets the requirements for registration.

2. Article 85(2) and (3) shall apply accordingly.

Article 168
(Examination of the industrial model or design)
The provisions of article 86 shall apply accordingly to industrial models and designs, except for the deadline by

which some of the elements should be submitted as referred to in paragraph 1 thereof, which shall be 30 months.

Article 169
(Request for examination report by third parties)
1. Starting from the date of public disclosure of the registration application proceedings, anyone may request the

conduct of the examination report referred to in the previous article, if the applicant has not yet done so, up to

30 months from the date of filing of the registration application. 2. Article 87(2) shall apply accordingly.

Article 170
(Rejection of the examination request and amendments - renunciation)
The provisions of articles 88 and 89 shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to industrial models and designs.

Article 171
(Rectification following the exam, ination report)
1. If the designated entity does not follow up on the examination report, the DES shall transmit this decision to

the applicant and this notification shall substitute the examination report for purpose of granting the

registration.

2. The DES shall also inform the applicant of the impossibility of producing the examination report when the

designated entity considers that:

a) The description, drawings, photographs and other similar elements do not meet the established requirements, so

that it cannot conduct a substantial search;

b) The subject matter of the registration application is such as not to fall within the category of an industrial

model or design capable of being registered, or that it is not obliged, for other reasons, to proceed with the

search.

3. In the case referred to in the previous paragraph, the applicant shall have a 2 month deadline in which to

rectify the deficiencies in the registration application, and to reapply for the examination report.

4. If, after reapplying for the examination report, the designated entity reiterates that it is not able to change

its conclusion with respect to the registration application that has been rectified, the applicant may submit a

founded objection.

5. The objection referred to in the previous paragraph shall not be admitted if it has been shown that the

industrial model or design could not be registered or if it is not submitted in the deadline set for the purpose by

the DES or, where no such deadline was set, by the end of the period referred to article 169(1).

Article 172
(Divisible applications, multiple priorities and withdrawal of application - renunciation)
The provisions of articles 91 to 93 and 96 shall apply, mutatis mutandis to industrial models and designs.

Article 173
(Grounds for refusing to register a de sign or model)
The registration of a design or model shall be refused when:

a) Any of the general grounds for refusal to grant industrial property rights obtains pursuant to article 9(1);

b) A distinctive sign is used where there exist legal provisions conferring the right to prohibit the use thereof

in the industrial model or design;

c) The industrial model or design constitutes an unauthorized use of a work protected by copyright;

d) The industrial model or design constitutes an improper use of any of the elements enumerated in article 6ter of

the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, or of any other badges, emblems and hallmarks not

included in that Convention but that are of particular public interest to the Territory.

Article 174
(Partial granting)
1. If it is just a question of deleting sentences from the description, altering the title or short title, or

removing some of the subject matter from the application itself to comply with the notification, the DES may effect

such amendments and have the application granting notice published in the Official Bulletin if the applicant does

not expressly raise any opposition within 1 month of the said notification.

2. The publication of the notice mentioned in the previous paragraph, with the transcription of the abstract shall

indicate the amendments made.

Article 175
(Notification of granting or refusal of registration)
The granting or refusal of the registration shall be notified pursuant to article 20(2) and (3) and published in

the Official Bulletin.

SECTION IV
THE EFFECTS OF REGISTRATION OF INDUSTRIAL MODELS AND DESIGNS
Article 176
(Duration)
1. The duration of the registration shall be 5 years from the date of the application, renewable for like periods

up to the 25 year limit.

2. Renewals as referred to in the previous paragraph shall be requested during the last 6 months of validity of the

registration.

Article 177
(Rights conferred by registration)
1. Once valid, the registration of an industrial model or design shall confer on its holder the exclusive right to

use the model or design and to prohibit its use by third parties without his consent.

2. The use referred to in the previous paragraph shall include, especially, the offering, placing on the market,

import, export or use of a product into which that industrial model or design is incorporated, or to which it is

applied, as well as the storage of that product for the same ends.

3. The validity of the registration shall not be presumed from the act the granting the respective certificate.

Article 178
(Limitation on the rights conferred by the registration)
The rights conferred by the registration shall not include:

a) Acts for experimental purposes;

b) Acts of reproduction for reference or for educational purposes, provided that they are compatible with fair

trading practices, do not unduly prejudice the normal exploitation of the industrial model or design and mention

the source;

c) Equipment on board ships and aircraft registered in another country or territory, when they transit temporarily

through the Territory;

d) The import of spare parts and accessories for repairing the ships and aircraft referred to in the previous sub-

paragraph, as well as the performance of such repairs;

e) Acts performed in the private sphere, with no commercial purpose.

Article 179
(Relationship with copyrights)
The effects of the registration of the industrial model or design shall not prejudice the protection conferred by

copyright law from the date on which the industrial model or design was created or defined in any form.

SECTION V
THE USE OF DRAWINGS AND MODELS
Article 180
(Indication of the industrial model or design)
During the validity of the registration its holder may, on the products, use the expression "design or model No.",

or the abbreviations " D M No.", in Portuguese or else the equivalent Chinese expression (...).

Article 181
(Inalterability of the designs or models)
1. For as long as the registration remains in effect, the designs or models shall be considered inalterable.

2. The enlargement or reduction of the scale shall not affect the inalterability of the designs or models.

Article 182
(Alterations of details of drawings or models)
1. One or more new registrations may be made of amendments made by the holder of the registration to the drawings

or models that merely alter details of little importance.

2. The registration or registrations referred to in the previous paragraph shall be annotated on the initial

certificate and on all the registration certificates acquired under the same provision.

3. Drawings and models modified under the terms of the present article shall fall into the public domain on

termination of the validity of the respective registration.

SECTION VI
EXPIRY OF REGISTRATION OF INDUSTRIAL MODELS AND DESIGNS
Article 183
(Nullity of the registration of industrial models or designs)
Besides the general causes of nullity of industrial property rights foreseen in article 47, a further cause of

nullity of the registration of an industrial model or design shall be the fact that it is identical to a previous

design or model, disclosed after the date of the registration or priority application, and which is protected from

a prior date.

Article 184
(Nullity of the registration of designs or models)
Registrations of designs or models may be cancelled in the cases foreseen in article 48 and, moreover, when:

a) A distinctive sign is used in a subsequent design or model and the provisions regulating that sign confer the

right to prohibit such use;

b) The industrial model or design constitutes an unauthorized use of a work protected by copyrights;

c) The industrial model or design constitutes an improper use of any of the elements enumerated in article 6ter of

the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, or of other badges, emblems and hallmarks not

included in article 6ter of the said Convention that are of particular public interest in Macao.

Article 185
(Design or model registration refused, declared null or cancelled)
1. If the registration of an industrial model or design has been refused under article 9(1(a)) or article 173(b),

or declared null or cancelled, it can nevertheless still be registered, or the respective right maintained in an

altered form, provided that:

a) Its identity be maintained; and

b) The necessary alterations be made in such a way as to meet the requirements of the present chapter.

2. The registration or maintenance in an altered form referred to in the previous paragraph may include the

registration application accompanied by a declaration whereby the holder partially renounces the right to the

industrial model or design, or the annotation in the respective proceedings of a court decision whereby the partial

nullity of the right to the industrial model or design is declared.

SECTION VII
PRIOR PROTECTION OF INDUSTRIAL MODELS AND DESIGNS
Article 186
(Subject matter of the application for prior protection)
An application for prior protection may be filed in respect of industrial models or designs of textile or clothing,

as well as those of any other industries specified by an administrative ruling.

Article 187
(Deposit of samples or reproductions)
1. The application for prior protection referred to in the previous article shall be preceded by the lodging of the

respective samples or reproductions.

2. The DES may conclude protocols with suitable entities for the purposes envisaged in the previous paragraph.

3. The prior protection application shall be filed with the DES within 15 days of such lodging, it being possible

to extended this deadline, for an equal period, for a justified reason worthy of consideration.

Article 188
(Secrecy and archiving)
1. The samples or reproductions referred to in the previous article shall be kept secret during the period of

validity of prior protection and archived beyond that period of validity.

2. In case of conflict as regards priorities in requests of previous protection, account shall be taken of the date

on which the sample was deposited.

Article 189
(Form of application for prior protection)
1. The application for prior protection for an industrial model or design shall be filed in writing in an official

language of the Territory, indicating the name or commercial style of the applicant, his/its nationality and

domicile or location, and shall be accompanied by the following elements:

a) The number of samples or reproductions to be registered, up to a maximum of 50;

b) The title or short title that synthesizes the subject matter or matters for which protection is being claimed or

the purpose of such subject matter;

c) The name and country or territory of residence of the creator's.

2. Fantasy expressions used to designate the industrial model or design shall not be subject matter subject to

protection.

Article 190
(Proof of deposit of samples)
The application for prior protection shall be accompanied by a certificate issued by the entities referred to in

article 187(2), which identifies the applicant, indicates the date of reception of the samples or reproductions and

the number allocated to the deposit.

Article 191
(Duration of prior protection)
Prior protection shall obtain for 3 months from the date the respective application reaches the DES.

Article 192
(Rights conferred)
Prior protection shall confer a priority right for the purposes of any registration application pursuant to the

terms of articles 160 et seq.

Article 193
(Lapse of prior protection)
Prior protection shall lapse in the period foreseen in article 191 or when application is filed to register any of

the models or designs covered by that prior protection, under the terms of articles 160 et seq.

Article 194
(Conversion of the prior protection application)
During the prior protection period, the applicant may at any time begin the registration process provided for in

article[s] 160 [et seq] for the same designs or models for which the prior protection application was made.

Article 195
(Registration application for administrative acts or court action)
If the applicant for prior protection intends to intervene in the administrative proceedings against the granting

of registration or if he intends to take legal action on the industrial model or design, he shall file with the DES

for a registration and examination application pursuant to articles 167 and 168.

Article 196
(Fees)
1. A fee, set for the purpose, shall be due in respect of each application for prior protection and according to

the number of samples or reproductions that it contains.

2. Failure to pay the fees referred to in the previous sub-paragraph shall render the prior protection application

irreceivable.

CHAPTER IV
TRADEMARKS
SECTION I
SUBJECT MATTER OF PROTECTION
Article 197
(Subject matter of the trademark)
The present Statute can afford protection as a trademark only to a sign or group of signs which are capable of

being represented graphically, namely words, including personal names, designs, letters, numerals, sounds, the

shape of the product or its packaging, and which are capable of distinguishing the products or services of one

company from those of other companies.

Article 198
(Linguistic requirements)
1. Wording contained in trademarks shall be written in Portuguese, Chinese or English, and may combine elements of

these different languages.

2. The trademarks of products destined solely for export can be written in any language, but their use in Macao

shall determine when they lapse.

3. The compulsory nature of the use of Portuguese, Chinese or English shall not apply to applications for the

registration of international marks, under the terms of the respective regulation, and to marks whose applicant is

not domiciled, headquartered or established in the Territory.

Article 199
(Exceptions and limitations to protection)
1. Protection may not be afforded:

a) Signs that consist exclusively in the shape resulting from the nature of the product itself, the shape of the

product necessary for obtaining a technical result or the shape that gives the product its own substantial value;

b) Signs or indications that may be used commercially to designate the kind, quality, quantity, purpose, value,

geographical origin or time of production of the product or of the rendering of the service, or other

characteristics thereof;

c) Signs or indications that have become customary in current language or in bona fide and established commercial

practices;

d) Colours, except where they are combined together or used with graphics, wording or other elements in a

particular and distinctive manner.

2. The generic elements mentioned in sub-paragraphs (b) and (c) of the preceding paragraph that constitute part of

a trademark shall not be for the exclusive use of the applicant, unless the signs have acquired distinctive

character in commercial practice.

3. On the request of the applicant or claimant, the DES shall, in handing down its ruling, indicate which of the

constituent elements of the trademark are not for the exclusive use of the applicant.

Article 200
(Collective trademark)
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of the previous article, trademarks may be protected as a collective trademark,

according to the conditions pertaining to association marks or certification marks.

2. The registration of a collective trademark shall give its holder the right to control the marketing of the

respective products or services, on the terms stipulated by law or in the statutes.

3. For the purpose of the present Statute, the following shall apply:

a) Association Mark: a specific sign belonging to an association of individuals and/or bodies corporate, whose

members use or have the intention of using the sign for products or services;

b) Certification Mark: a specific sign belonging to a corporate entity that controls the products or services or

establishes the regulations with which they must comply and that is to be used on the products or services

subjected to that control or for which the regulations were established.

4. The provisions of the present Statute relating to product and service marks shall apply mutatis mutandis to

collective marks.

Article 201
(Right to registration)
The right to register a trademark shall lie with anyone who has a legitimate interest in so doing, and

specifically:

a) Businesses, to identify the products which they produce;

b) Merchants, to identify the products in which they trade;

c) Farmers and producers, to identify their products of their activities;

d) Artists, to identify the products of their art, occupation or profession;

e) Service providers, to identify their respective activities.

Article 202
(Free or unregistered trademark)
1. Anyone using a free or unregistered trademark for a period not exceeding 6 months shall, for that period, enjoy

a priority right to have it registered and may lodge a complaint against an application filed by somebody else

during the said period.

2. The veracity of the documents submitted to prove that priority right shall be freely appreciated, except if they

are legally authenticated documents.

Article 203
(Right to register collective marks)
1. The right to register collective marks shall lie with:

a) Bodies corporate which have been legally allocated or recognized as possessing a certification mark and which

can apply it to products or services having certain specific qualities;

b) Bodies corporate which protect, control or certify economic activities, for identifying the products of those

activities or which originate from certain regions, in accordance with their purposes and the terms of their

respective articles of association or the statutes.

2. The bodies corporate referred to in sub-paragraph 1(b) above shall have provisions inserted in their respective

articles of association or in their statutes, designating them as being entitled to use the mark, indicating the

conditions in which it should be used and the rights and obligations of the interested parties in the case of

usurpation or infringement.

3. The management of the entity that owns the collective mark shall, within 1 month of any amendment to the

articles of association or statutes that govern the status of the trademark, inform the DES of the change.

SECTION III
THE TRADEMARK REGISTRATION PROCEDURE
Article 204
(Unity of application and registration of the trademark)
No more than one registration may be filed in the same application and each trademark to be used on the same

products or services can be registered only once.

Article 205
(Registration for products and services)
Trademarks may be registered for products or services, it being up to the DES to indicate the respective classes in

agreement with the classification provided by law.

Article 206
(Forms of application)
The trademark registration application shall be filed in writing in the official language of the Territory,

indicating the name or commercial style of the applicant, his/its nationality and domicile or location, and

identifying the trademark whose registration is required, accompanied by the following items, in triplicate:

a) The products or services covered by the trademark, grouped in accordance with the classes of the classification

of products and services and designated in precise terms, preferably the terms appearing in the aforementioned

alphabetical classification;

b) An indication as to whether the application concerns a product, service, association or certification mark;

c) An indication as to whether the application concerns a three-dimensional or sound trademark

and, in the latter case, a graphic representation in musical notation of the sounds that enter into the composition

of the trademark;

d) An example of the trademark, appended in the area reserved for that purpose on the applicant's own printed

paper;

e) Two photolithographs for the typographic reproduction of the trademark, of maximum dimensions 6 cm x 6 cm and

minimum dimensions of 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm;

f) Three copies of the trademark with the written indication of the colours, in case these are demanded as

constituent element;

g) Mention of the priority right, if applicable, according to article 17(3).

Article 207
(Additional elements of the application)
1. Where appropriate, the registration application shall be accompanied by the following elements:

a) Documents proving the priority right claim;

b) Documents proving the use of a free or unregistered trademark, where the applicant wants

to claim priority based on the use of a free or unregistered trademark;

c) Authorization of the proprietor of a foreign registered trademark for whom the applicant is acting as agent or

representative in the Territory;

d) Authorization of any person whose name, corporate style, name or emblem of establishment, picture, painting or

any other expressions or representations appear in the trademark, or, if such a person is already deceased, of

their heirs or relatives to the fourth degree;

e) Authorization to include in the trademark any flags, coats-of-arms, escutcheons, symbols, arms or other emblems

of the Territory, municipal districts or other public or private entities, within the Territory or outside, as well

as badges, stamps and official hallmarks, indicating any inspection and warranty, private emblems or denomination

of the Red Cross or of any other bodies of a similar nature;

f) Authorization to include in the trademark monuments in the Territory, or the respective designation,

representation or imitation thereof;

g) Authorization to include in the trademark signs of high symbolic value, namely religious symbols;

h) Decorations or other distinctions referred to or reproduced in the trademark;

i) Certificate from the competent registrar proving the right to include in the trademark the name or any reference

to a specific rural or urban property and the proprietor's authorization, to that effect, if the applicant is not

the proprietor;

j) Authorization from the owner of previously registered marks or other industrial property rights with which the

subject matter of the trademark being applied for could be confused, as well as from the holders of exclusive

licences, if such exist, and their contracts do not waive their respective consent;

k) [Translator's note: The Portuguese alphabet has no letter K.]

l) Legal, statutory or regulatory provisions governing the use of a collective mark.

2. When the trademark contains writing in little-known characters, the applicant shall submit a transliteration and

translation of that writing.

Article 208
(Priority right)
1. Should the list of products or services for which registration is being applied in Macao contain products or

services different from those comprising the registration application underlying the priority, the applicant shall

be notified in order that, within the inalterable deadline of 1 month, he may replace the list of products or

services.

2. Failure to replace the list referred to in the previous paragraph shall result in loss of priority and, for the

purpose of local registration, the date of the submission of the application in Macao and list contained therein

shall be considered for the purpose of the application.

Article 209
(Examination as to form)
1. Once the DES has received the application, it shall, within 1 month, proceed to its formal examination to ensure

that it contains all the elements required pursuant to articles 206 and 207 and shall classify the products and

services.

2. If the application lacks any of the required elements, or should they not be in order, this shall be rectified

by the applicant within 2 months of its being so notified by the DES or, if not so notified, within a maximum of 3

months from the filing of the application, either of which deadline may be extended by 1 more month, in response to

a founded request.

3. If products or services classified in different classes are included in the same class, the notification

referred to in paragraph 2 shall inform the applicant that he must limit the application to the class or classes

indicated or, failing that, pay an additional fee.

4. The date that establishes the priority of filing, for the purpose of article 15, is that on which all the

elements referred to in article 206 have been submitted and, should the applicant so request, the DES shall issue

the appropriate submission certificate.

5. Failure to send the notification referred to in paragraph 2, as well its non-reception, shall not, for the

effects of granting of the trademark, release the applicant from rectifying the defects in the application within

the legal deadline.

6. If, by the end of the deadline set pursuant to paragraph 2, it is found that the defects or irregularities in

the application have not been rectified, the applications shall be refused and a notice to that effect will be

published in the Official Bulletin.

Article 210
(Publication of the registration application)
Once the application has been show to be complete, or after it has been duly rectified pursuant to the previous

article, the DES shall have the appropriate notice published in the Official Bulletin, indicating the elements

necessary for the complete identification of the applicant and of the subject matter including, as appropriate:

a) The typographic reproduction of the trademark and indication of the classes and products or services that it is

to cover, with express reference to the colours if these are part of the claim;

b) The graphic representation in musical notation of any sounds entering into the composition of the trademark.

Article 211
(Complaint and response)
1. Complaints shall be filed within 2 months of the date of the publication of the application in the Official

Bulletin.

2. The applicant may answer complaints and other procedural submissions in the response that is to be filed within

1 month of the respective notification.

3. At the request of the interested party, submitted within the deadlines set in the preceding paragraphs, the

submission of additional arguments may be authorized whenever this is shown to be necessary for the better

clarification of the proceedings and when the complexity of the subject matter so justifies.

4. The additional arguments referred to in the previous paragraph shall, when authorized, be submitted within the

deadline set by the DES or, where no such deadline is set, within a maximum of 1 month from the end of the periods

referred to paragraphs 1 and 2.

5. At the request of the interested party and with the agreement of the opposing part, the consideration of the

case may be suspended for a period of no more than 6 months.

6. Unofficially the DES, on its own initiative or at the request of the interested party, may suspend consideration

of the case for as long as it takes to investigate any pre-judicial proceedings that could affect the decision on

the matter.

7. There shall lie no independent recourse against the ruling of non-receipt of complaint or response but the

claimant may appeal the ruling that grants the right to the trademark, pursuant to the terms of Section IV of the

present Statute.

Article 212
(Examination and study of the proceedings)
1. Once the period for the presentation of complaints has expired and, if applicable, the discussion is over, the

DES shall proceed to the examination and study the proceedings.

2. The examination shall consists in the appreciation of the allegations of the parties and, primarily and

obligatorily, in the examination of the requested trademark and its comparison with the trademark or marks

registered for the same product or service, or for identical or similar products or services, after which the

report is prepared and submitted for a ruling, which can be to grant or refuse.

3. The examination of the trademark should always, with respect to the elements of which it is composed, be