MACAU SAR Law and Practice Contributed by: João Nuno Riquito, Bruno Almeida, Bernice Kwok and Kimberley Cheong, Riquito Advogados
• Interested parties may oppose the registra- tion, starting from the announcement in the official gazette and until the date of grant (refer to 1.7 Third-Party Rights to Participate in Grant Proceedings ). • Afterwards, the applicant shall request substantive examination within seven or four years respectively from the date of the application for an invention patent or a utility patent • The notice of grant will be published in the official gazette if there is no opposition or the opposition is found to be without merit. • If no appeal is filed against the grant of pat- ent within one month after the publication in the official gazette, the DSEDT will issue the registration certificate. Industrial Designs The grant procedure for industrial models and designs is similar to the one provided for inven- tion patents and utility patents, as detailed above. The primary distinction lies in the time constraints for submitting a request for substan- tive examination, which is set at 30 months from the date of the application. 1.3 Timeline for Grant Procedure Timeline Refer to 1.2 Grant Procedure regarding the timeline for the grant procedure. Representation For applicants who do not hold a Macau SAR Resident Identity Card, or who are not legal enti- ties registered in Macau SAR and incorporated according to the laws of Macau SAR, legal repre- sentation is necessary to initiate grant proceed- ings. Inventors may appoint an agent through the issuance of a power of attorney to:
• a lawyer registered with the Macau Lawyers Association; • an individual holding a Macau SAR Resident Identity Card; or • a legal entity registered in Macau SAR. This power of attorney must have the signato- ries’ identity, capacity and powers, duly certi- fied by a notary, and must be accompanied by a certified translation if it is not issued in one of the official languages of Macau SAR. For applicants who hold a Macau SAR Resident Identity Card, or are legal entities duly registered in Macau SAR, no attorney’s representation is mandatory to initiate grant proceedings. Costs The average cost for granting an invention pat- ent is MOP3,300, including registration fees as well as fees regarding the substantive examina- tion. The average cost for granting a utility patent is MOP400. For industrial models and designs, it is MOP1,000. 1.4 Term of Each Intellectual Property Right For invention patents, the duration of the patent shall be 20 years from the date of the applica- tion. For utility patents, the duration of the patent shall be six years, renewable for two additional peri- ods of two years each, and shall not exceed ten years from the date of application. For industrial models and designs, the duration of the registration shall be five years from the date of the application, renewable for periods of five years up to a maximum of 25 years.
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