FINAL PART Final and Transitional Provisions
A. Implementing Measures
Art. 141
(1) The Federal Council shall take all the necessary steps for the implementation of the Law.
(2) It may, in particular, enact regulations on the institution of examiners, the opposition divisions and the Boards of Appeal, and also on the distribution of their business, the procedure to be followed before them and time limits and fees.
B. Transition From the Former Law to the New Law
I. Patents
Art. 142
(1) Patents that have not yet expired on the date of entry into force of this Law shall be governed as from that date by the said Law.
(2) The following shall continue to be regulated by the former Law, however:
(a) patents of addition;
(b) partial renunciation;
(c) grounds for nullity;
(d) payment of fees payable prior to the entry into force of this Law.
(3) The main patent resulting from the transformation of a patent of addition shall continue in force not longer than until the expiration of 20 years from the filing date of the first main patent.
II. Patent Applications
a. Principle and Exceptions
Art. 143
(1) Patent applications that are pending on the date of entry into force of this Law shall be governed as from that date by the said Law.
(2) The following shall continue to be regulated by the former Law, however:
(a) applications for patents of addition to main patents that were granted prior to the entry into force of the new Law and patents of addition resulting from such applications;
(b) the priority derived from an exhibition;
(c) patentability, if the conditions on which it depends are more favorable under the former Law;
(d) claims for processes for the manufacture of chemical substances and for the manufacture of substances by nuclear fission.
(3) Patent applications that are pending on the date of entry into force of this Law shall not give rise to payment of the search fee or of the examination fee.
(4) The priority right under Article 17(1ter) may also be claimed if, at the time of entry into force of the amendment of February 3, 1995, to this Law, the initial patent application is no longer pending.
b. Invention Previously Excluded
From Patenting
Art. 144
(1) Patent applications that are pending on the date of entry into force of this Law having as their subject matter inventions that are excluded from patenting under the former Law but not under the new Law, may be maintained on condition that their filing date is postponed to the date of such entry into force.
(2) The original filing or priority date shall nevertheless remain applicable determining rank under Article 7a.
III. Civil Liability
Art. 145
Civil liability shall be regulated by the provisions in force at the time of accomplishment of the act concerned.
C. Supplementary Protection Certificates
I. Authorization Prior to Entry
Into Force
Art. 146
(1) A supplementary protection certificate may be granted for any product which, at the time of entry into force of the amendment of February 3, l995, to this Law, is protected by a patent and for which a first authorization to place on the market was granted after January 1, 1982, in accordance with Article 140b.
(2) The application for a certificate shall be filed within the six months following the entry into force of the amendment of February 3, 1995, to this Law. If that time limit is not complied with, the Federal Institute of Intellectual Property shall declare the application inadmissible.
II. Expired Patents
Art. 147
(1) Certificates may also be granted on the basis of patents that have expired, at the end of their maximum term, between January 2, 1993, and the entry into force of the amendment of February 3, 1995, to this Law.
(2) The term of protection of the certificate shall be computed in accordance with Article 140e; its effects shall not begin until the publication of the application for a certificate.
(3) The application shall be filed within two months following the entry into force of the amendment of February 3, 1995, to this Law. If that time limit is not complied with, the Federal Institute of Intellectual Property shall declare the application inadmissible.
(4) Article 48(1), (2) and (4) shall apply mutatis mutandis for the period which elapses between the expiry of the patent and the publication of the application.
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