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An invention in any field of technology can be patented provided that it meets the following basic requirements for patentability:

• the invention must be “susceptible of industrial application”;
• the invention must be “new”;
• the invention must involve an “inventive step”.

Novelty. An invention shall be considered to be new if it does form part of the prior art, including knowledge that became available to the public anywhere in the world before the priority date of the invention in question.

Inventive step. An invention shall be considered as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the prior art, it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art.

In the case of short-term patents for invention an invention shall be considered as involving an inventive step if itpresents a technical or practical advantage.

Industrial application. An invention shall be considered as susceptible of industrial application if it can be used in industry, agriculture or any other field of human activity.

The following shall be deemed patentable types of objects:

• A product - cars, appliances, tools, devices, mechanisms, machine parts and units, installations, circuits, building elements, furniture, household items, toys, tools, computers, computer programs, electronic databases, etc., chemical and biological substances, except those which exist in nature and which has not acted on by creative effort; physical or physico-chemical mixtures.
• A process - activities having as a result manufacture or modification of a product (including biological or genetic products) or computer programs as a way of transformation and transmission of an electronic signal.
• A method - activities that have results of qualitative nature (measurement, analysis, regulation, control, diagnosis or human or veterinary medical treatment).
• Microorganisms - microorganisms created or isolated by selection with mutant effects, strains of plant and animal cell culture.
• The use of a product or process - use of a product, process or method according to another destination and under other conditions. The use for the first time of a substance or composition and their subsequent uses.

The patent application shall only relate to one invention or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept. It shall contain:

• a completed request for the grant of a patent
• a description of the invention
• one or more claims
• any drawings and other explicative documents, where they are necessary to understand the essence of the invention.

These documents shall constitute the regular national application and shall be prepared and submitted to the Agency in the state language, compiled in accordance with the requirements of the Regulations on the Procedure of Filing and Examination of a Patent Application and of Issuance of a Patent, approved by Government Decision Moldova no. 528 of 1 September 2009.

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The data contained in the patent application shall be confidential until the publication by the Agency in BOPI. Disclosure of data contained in the application until its publication shall be punishable in accordance with the legislation in force.

After filing, the patent application passes the following procedures:

• examination of application
• publication
• publication of the decision to grant a patent
• public opposition
• issuance of patent

In the examination of patent application, AGEPI shall carry out within one month the formal examination, after which the application is subjected to preliminary examination within two months. The request for further procedure is carried out by filing the request for substantive examination in one copy on a standard form approved by AGEPI, by the applicant along with the patent application or within 30 months from the filing date of the application, on payment of the prescribed fee.

Regarding the short-term patent application AGEPI shall only carry out the formal and preliminary examination of the application within 6 months from the filing date of the application, without requesting the examination procedure, on payment of a single filing fee.

The application will be examined and as a result will be adopted the decision to grant a patent or to reject the application. The patent for invention shall be issued after the expiry of six months from the date of publication of the decision to grant a patent, if no oppositions were filed or oppositions filed have been rejected.

On expiry of a period of 18 months as from the filing date of the application, if taxes have been paid and a decision to grant a patent or to refuse the application has not been taken, the application shall be published in BOPI.
The description of the invention under the application shall be filed in the AGEPI library.

Within three months following the date on which the applicant has been informed of the decision to grant a patent, the Agency shall publish the information on the granted patent in BOPI and the description of the invention shall be deposited in the AGEPI library.

Any person concerned may file with the AGEPI Board of Appeals a reasoned appeal to any decision to grant a patent within 6 months following the date of its publication in BOPI.

The appeal to the decision to grant a patent shall be formulated in writing and shall contain the grounds on which it relies.

The grounds for appeal shall only relate to the failure of at least one of the requirements for patentability of the invention: novelty, inventive step, industrial application. The appeal shall be deemed to be formulated only on payment of the prescribed fee, thereafter it shall be examined with the Board of Appeals.

The decision of the Board of Appeals may be appealed in the court.

On expiry of the opposition term, the Agency shall issue a patent on the basis of the decision of grant, if it has not been revoked by the Board of Appeals. If the patent has been amended following the opposition procedure, it shall be issued in the amended form.

Issuance of patent is conditioned by payment of issuance and maintenance fees. These fees are compulsory paid by the owner within 6 months from the date of publication of the decision of grant.

Simultaneously with the filing of the proof of payment of the issuance fee, the applicant shall submit the proof of payment of the maintenance fee for the term following the filing date of the national regular application up to the issuance of patent, including the year of issuance.

Failure to pay the issuance fee within six months from the date of publication of the decision to grant a patent and to re-establish within 6 months the unobserved time limit, the Agency shall adopt the decision of forfeiture of right to the issuance of patent and shall publish such information in BOPI.

Failure to pay the maintenance fee within the prescribed time limit and, within 6 months from the unobserved date, the fee in the amount raised, the Agency shall publish the information on patent validity termination in BOPI.

To maintain a patent in force it is necessary to pay the annual maintenance fees in accordance with the Fees for legal services in the field of protection of intellectual property objects approved by Government Decision no.774 of 13 August 1997.

The time limits covered by the procedures related to the application or patent may be extended or restored, subject to payment of the prescribed fee, if a request in this regard is submitted to the Agency before the expiry of the time limit or no later than 6 months from the date of expiry of the prescribed time limit.