Decree No. 6/2004 of June 30
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY REGULATION
(Decree No. 6/2004 of June 30)
Courtesy translation provided by WIPO, © 2012
Taking into account Article 35 of the Law Relating to Industrial Property, approved by Law No.
4/2001 of December 31;
In these terms, and in the use of the faculties granted by Article 111(c) of the Constitution, the
Government decrees and I enact the following:
CHAPTER I
Patents for Inventions
Article 1
Under the terms of Article 5 of Law No. 4/2001 of December 31, relating to Industrial Property, the
documents to be submitted along with applications for the grant of a patent for an invention must meet
the following formal requirements:
(a) The claims must: be based on the description; be clear and concise, written in Portuguese and
correctly drawn up; define the subject matter of the protection requested; indicate the
technical characteristics of the invention and; if there is more than one claim, be numbered in
Arabic numerals. Claims must also contain:
i. a preamble referring to the subject matter of the invention and the technical
characteristics necessary for the definition of the elements claimed but ,which
combined, form part of the state of the art;
ii. a characterizing,part, preceded by the expression “characterized by”, which sets out
the technical characteristics which, in connection with the characteristics indicated in
the preceding indent, determine the extent of the protection requested.
(b) The claims must meet the following requirements:
i.
they must be typed or printed singlesided, in dark, indelible ink, with symbols or
graphic characters and chemical and mathematical formulae being written by hand or
drawn if necessary;
ii.
they must be produced on pliable, strong, white, smooth, matte, durable sheets of A4
size (29.7 cm x 21 cm) paper, used in such a way that the shorter edges are at the top
and bottom (vertical), and the margins shall be as follows:
(i) top: 2 cm to 4 cm
(ii) left side: 2.5 cm to 4 cm;
(iii) right side: 2 cm to 3 cm;
(iv) bottom: 2 cm to 3 cm.
iii.
iv.
v.
they must not contain references to weights or measures which are not part of the
International System of Units;
they shall, if the number of pages requires it, form a booklet, bound in such a way as
not to impede reading;
they must not refer to the description or drawings, except where absolutely
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