18 Government Gazette 23 March 2012 Act No. 1, 2012 No. 4907 INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ACT, 2012 “Patent Co-operation Treaty” means the Patent Co-operation Treaty concluded at Washington on June 19, 1970 and the Regulations issued thereunder, as amended from time to time; and “prior art” means the art at a date immediately prior to the filing date or, where appropriate, the priority date of an application claiming the invention. (2) An invention - (a) may be, or may relate to, a product or a process applicable in any field of technology; and (b) may comprise a micro-organism or a microbiological process and the product of such process. Patentable inventions 13. Patents are available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology, provided the invention is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable. Novelty, inventive step and industrial application 14. (1) An invention is new if it is not anticipated by prior art. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1) disclosure to the public of the invention may not be taken into consideration if it occurred within six months preceeding the filing date or, where applicable, the priority date of the application, and if it was by reason or in consequence of – (a) acts committed by the applicant or his or her predecessor in title, or of an unauthorised disclosure; or (b) an abuse committed by a third party with regard to the applicant or his or her predecessor in title. (3) For the purposes of subsection (1), prior art also includes matter contained in an application, open to public inspection, for a patent, despite that the application was lodged at the Office and became open to public inspection on or after the priority date of the relevant invention, if – (a) that matter was contained in that application both as lodged and as open to public inspection; and (b) the priority date of that matter is earlier than that of the invention. Inventive step 15. (1) An invention must be considered as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the prior art relevant to the invention claimed in the application and