SEC. 2. Any person making a new discovery or invention in any branch of human activity not intended for unlawful purposes, shall be entitled to the exclusive privilege of making, using or vending, and of authorizing others to make, use or vend the same, subject to the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 3. A discovery or invention shall not be deemed new: (a) If it was known or used in another country before said discovery or invention; (b) If it was published or described in printed publications in this or in any foreign country prior to such discovery or invention.
SEC. 4. Patents for inventions or discoveries made or manufactured in the Philippine Islands shall not pay any tax. The patentee in such cases shall pay only the sum of twenty pesos upon receiving the patent, in addition to the fees established in section thirty-three for the registration and the expenses of publishing the application. Patents for inventions or discoveries manufactured or made entirely or largely in foreign countries shall pay a tax of twenty pesos per annum during the life of the patent and on the date of their issue. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to public officers and employees desiring to register a patent for an invention for the use of the Government, in which case the inventor shall state in his application that the Government of the Philippine Islands or any of its officers or employees may use said patent in the execution of work of the Government without any payment to the inventor, which condition shall be set forth on the letters patent.
SEC. 5. Any discovery or invention patented in any country outside of the Philippine Islands may also be patented under the provisions of this Act if the inventor or discoverer has a legal representative in the Philippine Islands: Provided, hoivever, That as to patents registered in the United States Patent Office, the provisions of Act Numbered Twenty-two hundred and thirty-five, entitled "An Act providing for the registration of patents and patent rights in the Philippine Islands, and for the protection of the same," shall govern until January first, nineteen hundred and twenty.
SEC. 6. In case two or more persons apply separately for patents covering the same invention or discovery, action on applications of a posterior date shall be suspended until the application first filed has been disposed of Priority as between applications shall be determined by the date and hour on which the same were filed in the Patent Office.
SEC. 7. All patents shall be issued in the name of the Government of the Philippine Islands, under the seal of the Bureau of Commerce and Industry, and be signed by the Director of said Bureau or by a person legally authorized by him, and shall contain a concise and clear description of the invention or discovery and the grant to the inventor, and the term established in this Act for the exclusive right to make, use, vend, encumber, and turn to profit his invention or discovery in the Philippine Islands. Any patent for an invention may, upon indemnification of the inventor, be declared the property of the Government of the Philippine Islands, when so ordered by Act of the Legislature.
Provisions on this page are reproduced verbatim from official open data. See the attribution line.
Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines — Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).