A patent is essentially a limited monopoly whereby the patent holder is granted the exclusive right to make, use, and sell the patented innovation for a limited period of time. The five primary requirements for patentability are: (1) patentable subject matter, (2) utility, (3) novelty, (4) nonobviousness, and (5) enablement. The Patent Law Treaty (PLT) aims at harmonizing national patent formalities throughout the world. It is designed to streamline and harmonize formal requirements set by national or regional Patent Offices with respect to the filing of national or regional patent applications and the maintenance of patents and certain additional requirements related to patents or patent applications, for example, communications, representation or recordation of changes concerning patents and patent applications. According to an impact assessment, the implementation of the PLT was considered to have positive impacts on users, particularly in terms of simplification of procedures.
Open Access raises practical and policy questions for scholars, publishers, funders, and policymakers alike, including what the return on investment is when paying an article processing fee to publish in an Open Access articles, or whether investments into institutional repositories should be made and whether self-archiving should be made mandatory, as contemplated by some funders.
Last date updated on September, 2024