New inventions involving inventive activity can be patented if they have an industrial use, even if they apply to a product consisting of or containing biological material or to a process that produces, treats or uses biological material.
Patents may be obtained for any inventions, be they products or processes, in all fields of technology, provided that these inventions comply with the set forth above.
New processes for obtaining known products, substances or compositions may also be patented
If the patent is granted, the holder will hold an exclusive right that shall entitle it to prevent, for a certain period of time, third parties, not having its consent, from manufacturing artefacts or products that are object of the patent, applying the methods or processes patented, importing or exploiting economically the protected products or processes.
I.e., a patent is a contract between the State and the holder of that patent.
The same invention may be the object, simultaneously or subsequently, of an application for a patent and for a utility model.
Types of Protection
National Patent
The protection afforded by this registration has the Portuguese territory as limit.
European Patent
It allows, through a single process, to protect the patent in 38 member–states (+ 2 of extension + 1 of validation) that are currently part of the European Patent Convention.
International Patent [PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty)]
It allows, through a single process, to protect the patent in 148 countries or jurisdictions.
Foreign Patent (country by country)
Submitted directly in the countries or foreign jurisdictions.
Supplementary Protection Certificate
The Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) is an Industrial Property right that extends, up to a maximum period of 5 years, the protection conferred by a patent-base, for a given medicinal or phytopharmaceutical (plant protection) product, provided that such product or plant protection product is protected by the mentioned patent-base and confers the same protection as a patent although only to the product identified in the Introduction of the Marketing Authorization (IMA).