In Bangladesh, a patent lawyer assists inventors and businesses in navigating the intricacies of patent law, particularly under the Bangladesh Patent Act 2022. They provide legal advice and representation throughout the patent application process, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and maximizing the protection of intellectual property rights.
Key responsibilities include conducting patent searches, drafting patent applications, representing clients before the patent office, and defending patents against infringement. With expertise in both legal principles and technical aspects of inventions, patent lawyers play a crucial role in safeguarding innovation and facilitating the commercialization of new technologies in Bangladesh.
A patent is a legal document that gives a creator the exclusive right to hamper others from producing, using, selling, or importing an invention for a fixed period of twenty years which has been fixed in the provision of the current Patent Act-2022.
Patents can be categorized into three types:-
- Utility
- Design and
- Plant
A utility patent covers the creation of a new or improved and useful product, process or machine. A utility patent, also known as a “patent for the invention”, prohibits other individuals or companies from making, using, or selling the invention without authorization.
A design patent simply protects the ornamental features and the presence of a product, but not the structural and working feature. And the concept of the utility and design patent is different as an intellectual property but you can apply for both utility and design patents for the same product. At the end, it comes the plant patent which defends new kinds of plants that have been regenerated asexually.
This means that the plant has been reproduced by plant or by cuttings, and it cannot be a tuber-circulated plant or a plant that is still in an uncultivated state. Section 21 of the Act lays down the rules for compulsory licensing of patents.
It allows the government to grant compulsory licenses to any government authority or other selected entities on the following grounds:
(i) when it is necessary for public interest, national security, nutrition, health, national economy or development of any other significant sector;
(ii) when a court or executive authority decides that the patentee is using the invention in an anti-competitive manner and granting compulsory license may prevent such anti-competitive conduct
(iii) when the patentee misuses the exclusive rights or fails to prevent the misuse by the licensee of the same
(iv) the patented invention is not available at the predetermined price or in proper quality in Bangladesh through manufacture or import; and
(v) when a subsequent economically significant invention is related to a prior invention and the subsequent patent cannot be worked without violating the prior patent. Section 21(5) provides that no compulsory license shall be issued on grounds of insufficient production or non-working of patent within 4 years from the date of application or 3 years from the date of granting of patent. This requirement is in line with the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Section 21 also provides the patentee an opportunity to be heard.
The act establishes a clear court structure, with district courts handling patent cases and the provision for appeals to the High Court Division, providing a systematic approach to handling legal matters related to patents.
The new Patent Act 2023 addresses various aspects of patent law, from administrative processes to legal frameworks. The balance between protecting intellectual property and addressing public interest concerns seems well-crafted. The effectiveness of these changes will, of course, be seen in their implementation and how they are interpreted and applied in practice.
All Right Reserves@ Md.Shariful Islam Asif
Jr. Associate, Advocacy Legal