RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/125/Add.18
27 July 1999
(99-3146)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(b)
Information from Members
Addendum
SLOVAK REPUBLIC
The present document represents the information requested by the Council for Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights which the Secretariat has received from the Slovak Republic,by means of a communication from its Permanent Mission, dated 8 July 1999.
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A. INTRODUCTION
The protection of plant and animal inventions is regulated in the Slovak Republic with the
provisions of two laws:  the provisions of Law No. 527/1990 Coll. on Inventions, Industrial Designs
and Rationalization Proposals and Law No. 132/1 989 Coll. on the Protection of Rights of New
Varieties and Animal Breeds.
In Section 4, paragraph (c) of the Slovak Patent Law there is an exclusion of plant and animal
varieties from patentability.  The sui generis  system of their protection is provided by Law
No. 132/1989 Coll. on the Protection of Righ ts of New Varieties and Animal Breeds.
B. PATENT SYSTEM QUESTIONS
1. In your territory, is there any basis for denying a patent on an invention consisting of an
entire plant or animal that is novel and involves an inventive step?
Yes, pursuant to Section 4, paragraph (c) of the Slovak Patent Law No. 527/1990 Coll.,
"patents shall not be granted in respect of plant or animal varieties and biological processes for the
production and improvement of plants or animals,  with exception of industrial micro-organisms
serving for production and biotechnological processes and the products thereof, which are patentable."
The patent practice in the Slovak Republic does not dispose of any precedent of patent claim, which
would explicitly cover a plant or an animal.
                                                     
1 The questions to which answers are provided are those which can be found in document IP/C/W/126.IP/C/W/125/Add.18
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2. If the answer to question 1 is yes, please respond to the following questions:
(a) Does your patent system exclude entire plants or animals as inventions? If it does, 
please cite the legal basis for this.
See the answer to question 1 above.
(b) If your patent system does recognize entire plants and animals as inventions, does it
exclude all such inventions from being patentable subject-matter, or does it only
exclude certain types of plants or animals?  If it excludes all, please cite the legal
basis for their exclusion (e.g. lack of industrial applicability).  If it excludes only
certain types, please identify the categories or characteristics of inventions that areexcluded and cite the legal basis for their exclusion.
See the answer to question 1 above.
(c) Is there any other basis in your law that precludes the grant of a patent on any
categories of plant or animal inventions that otherwise are novel, involve an inventive
step and are capable of industrial application?  If so, please cite the legal basis for
that exclusion from patent eligibility.
According to Section 4, paragraph (a) of the Slovak Patent Law No. 527/1990 Coll.,
"patents shall not be granted in respect of  inventions contrary to public interest,
particularly the principles of humanity and morality."
3. Other than with respect to subject-matter you defined as being ineligible to be patented under
question 2, is it possible in your territory to obtain a patent claim defined in any of the followingways?
(a) A patent claim that is not limited to a specific plant or animal variety.
We have not had such a case in our practise yet.
(b) A patent claim that is expressly limited to a plant or animal variety.
See the reply above.
(c) A patent claim that is expressly limited to a group of plants or animals, where the
group is defined through reference to a shared characteristic such as incorporationof a particular gene.
See the reply above.
(d) If the answers you provide to question 3(a) to (c) vary, please provide the definitions
of a "plant variety" and an "animal variety" that are used by your examining
authority.
Extract from Law No. 132/1989 Coll., on Protect ion of Rights to New Varieties and
Animal Breeds, Section 2, paragraphs (a) and (c):
"Terms Definitions
"For the purposes of this Law, under the following terms it is understood:IP/C/W/125/Add.18
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(a) 'variety'  shall mean a set of plants within a common lowest botanical taxon, which
regardless of whether the terms for granting a Breeder's Certificate are fulfilled, may
be:
(1) defined by the expression of characteristics arising from the given genotype 
or combination of genotypes;
(2) distinguished from any other set of plants by expression of at least one of the 
said characters;
(3) deemed to be unified owing to its ability to remain unchanged in propagation.
(c) a 'breed':   refers to an animal population derived from single origins, with
characteristic morphological and physiological features, capable of reproduction
besides breed, this includes its lower taxons - races, strains and lines as well as their
hybrids and eventually also utility breeds of farm animals."
4. Is it possible to obtain a patent in your territory on a microorganism that is novel, involves an
inventive step and is capable of industrial application?  If not, please identify the legal basis under
which these inventions are deemed ineligible to be patented.
Yes.
5. Is it possible to obtain a patent in your territory on an essentially biological process for the
production of a plant or animal (i.e. a process limited to those acts that are necessary for sexual or
asexual reproduction of a plant or animal)?  If not, please identify the legal basis under which a
patent on such a process would be denied.
No.  See Section 4(c) of the Slovak Patent Law.
6. Is it possible to obtain a patent in your territory covering subject-matter that is identical to
that found in nature (e.g. a plant or  animal in its natural state)?
No, according to Section 3, paragraph (1) of the Slovak Patent Law patents shall be granted
for any inventions which are new, which involve an inventive step and which are susceptible of
industrial application.  Because mere discoveries, including materials existing in nature, do not meet
all mentioned criteria, they are not patentable.
C. PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION SYSTEMS
7. Do the laws applicable to your territory provide for a sui generis form of protection for a new
plant variety?
Yes, Slovak laws provide for a sui generis  form of protection for a new plant variety.
8. If the answer to question 7 is "yes", does that protection conform to the standards defined in
one of the Acts of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV)?
Yes, it does.IP/C/W/125/Add.18
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9. If the answer to question 8 is "yes", plea se specify the Act of the UPOV Convention upon
which your legislation is based (i.e. the 1991 Act, the 1978 Act or the 1961/1972 Act).
Law No. 132/1989 Coll. on the Protection of Righ ts of New Varieties and Animal Breeds was
in conformity with standards defined in the 1978 Act, but the amendment introduced by Law
No. 22/1996 Coll. brought the protection system in co nformity with standards defined in the 1991 Act
of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
10. If sui generis protection for plant varieties is provided in your territory, would any of the
following acts require the prior authorization of the right holder:
(a) acts performed for research or experimental purposes, or to develop new varieties of
plants;
There is no need for the prior authorization.
(b) acts performed to commercially exploit a variety distinct from the protected variety
but sharing its essential characteristics;
Yes, the prior authorization is required.
(c) acts performed by a farmer of harvesting seed from his planting of a protected variety
legitimately obtained, storage of that seed, and replanting of that seed on the
farmer’s land.
There is no need for the prior authorization.
If prior authorization is not required for any of the above examples of activities, is
there any requirement that the party undertaking the specified actions provide the
right holder with remuneration in any form?
No, there is not such requirement.
11. Can protection be obtained for a plant variety that was known to the public, or was publicly
available, prior to the application for sui generis protection for that plant variety, and, if so, under
what conditions (i.e. what are the time-limits during which public disclosure or availability will not
preclude the grant of protection)?
Law No. 132/1989 Coll. on the Protection of Ri ghts of New Varieties and Animal Breeds as
amended by No. 22/1996 Coll. in Part II, Article 4, paragraph 5 determines the conditions for granting
breeder's certificates in respect of a variety.  The variety is "new" if its propagating or harvesting
material has not been sold or otherwise disposed to others:
(a) within the territory of the Slovak Republic previous to one year before the date of
filing the application;
(b) within the territory of any country:
(1) in the case of varieties of fruit trees, forest or garden woods, or wines, 
previous to six years before the date of filing the application;
(2) in the case of varieties of any other species, previous to four years before the 
date of filing of the application.IP/C/W/125/Add.18
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12. Can protection be predicated on identification of an unexpressed gene,  on an unexpressed set
of genes present in the genome of the plant variet y, or on the characteristics of germplasm, rather
than the expressed characteristics of plant varieties derived from such genes or germplasm?
No.
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