What are the requirements for patent specification to be filed in Laos?

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1. Patent specification

A patent specification must include 10 pieces of information as follows:

1. Subject matter of invention or utility innovation
2. Areas related to the invention or utility innovation;
3. Background of the invention or utility innovation;
4. Objective of the application of the invention or utility innovation;
5. Brief summary of the invention or utility innovation;
6. Detailed description of the invention or utility innovation as set forth in Article 17 herein;
7. Rights claimed as set forth in Article 18 of this Decision;
8. Abstract as set forth in Article 19 of Decision No. 1714/MOST;
9. Drawings as set forth in Article 20 of Decision No. 1714/MOST;
10. Other related documents, if any.

Subject matter of an invention or a utility innovation shall specify the type of invention or utility innovation, such as chemical components, machines, chemical products or process or combination of various types. Subject matter of invention or utility innovation shall be short, concise and descriptive.

Background of the invention or utility innovation shall describe technical problems to be solved or improved, and what currently exists, along with explanation about related technology and research that cannot be solved. Such a description shall be in conformity with the existing technology. In case the description refers to an invention or utility innovation or a patent or petty patent that has already been disclosed to the public, the information shall be specified.

Brief summary of an invention or a utility innovation shall briefly describe the type of invention or utility innovation, areas of technology and technical problems to be solved or improved.

2. Claims

Claims aim at identifying the legal scope of rights of the applicant towards the patent or petty patent. Therefore, claims must be carefully drafted to specifically identify only components of invention or utility innovation.

Claims shall be in conformity with the invention or utility innovation as specified in the description, terms and wordings used in the claim application shall be included in the description in order to be able to refer to the definitions of the terms and wordings in the claim and description.

Claims can be made for more than one subject matter, in which each subject matter must be different as much as possible, and adding incorrect subject matter is not allowed. The related fees, if any, have to be paid, and if the claim has more than one subject matter, the serial number is required. In the event that the claim has many components or procedures, it shall separate each component or procedure into rows by indenting to make it easy for application examination.

A claim with one or more subject matter can be made in an independent way or by referring to other claims in the same application. The independent claim means the scope of all rights of the related claims in an independent way.

In case more than one claim is made, the claim with the least scope limit shall be the first claim and shall sort independent claims into the same class.

The claim shall be presented in a more polite or request manner, such as “I would like to make a claim” or “invention or utility innovation that are claimed are as follows:” The terms used shall not be deemed as part of the claim.

Basic form for independent claim is a claim that is not related to other claims as described below:

1. Preface presents the subject matter that is claimed. In case the invention or utility innovation is related to improvement, the preface may contain the overall explanation that make it easy to understand all the components or procedures in the claim;
2. Terms used to present the components of invention or utility innovation. For invention or utility innovation that is related to improvement, the claim may include the terms, such as “the improvement consist of”;
3. Description of components of machines or electric appliances, steps in the process or chemical ingredients or bio-mass materials, as well as the description of relation between components. In case that the invention or utility innovation is related to improvement the claim shall specify the component, steps and relation with the claim that the applicant considers as part of the invention or utility innovation that is new or shall be improved.

Generally, one application for a patent or petty patent can have three independent claims and fifteen dependent claims. In the event the improvement or modification of the application causes additional
claims which are more than the number of claims specified in the original application, the applicant shall pay the related fees for the additional claims.

The applicant for a patent or petty patent can modify the claim at any time during the application is under the consideration process.

The modification shall not be beyond the scope of information disclosure specified in the description. The claim in the original application is deemed to be a part of the information disclosure.

3. Abstract

The abstract shall contain technical information, but it shall not be deemed to be a part of the information disclosure or be a scope of rights to protect. Generally, the abstract relates to the claim and is for the Department of Intellectual Property and the public to understand the concept of the inventor by way of disclosure of technical information.

4. Drawings

The applicant for a patent or petty patent shall provide drawings when necessary to create an understanding about the invention or utility innovation. The drawings shall not have only a picture of the invention or utility innovation, or part of it, but it shall have other pictures to help the understanding of the invention or utility innovation, such as an electric design of the invention, a drawing of the chemical structure of the chemical components, graphics, or measurement of operation of the invention or utility innovation. The drawing shall draw after the principles of drawing to be used in each area.

The applicant for a patent or utility patent shall choose the drawing based on the detail of the invention or utility patent, but he/she shall provide different angles as necessary to show the detail of the invention or utility innovation. The general angles that are accepted are as follows:

1. Expanded view angle showing the relationship or order of the parts;
2. For some areas, zooming is required to show greater details with an angle evidencing the overall design, and other angles indicating position of each part;
3. Sectional views, together with an indication of the plane view, which illustrates the characteristic of the component seen in a cross section.

In the event that the application has many drawings, it shall briefly explain about the different angles of the drawings.

The detailed description of the invention or utility innovations shall be based on the different angles of the drawing by indicating the number at each point.

Generally, it shall follow the principles of drawing for each area of technology, such as symbols and components of drawing in line with common principles applied in various sectors such as chemical, electronic, mechanical and bio-technological principles.

In the event that the substance of the application relates to an improvement of the invention or utility innovation,  the drawing shall show the improvement and relationship between the improvement and the existing technology.