LESOTHO

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Patent

Forms part of

  • ARIPO
  • OAPI
  • PARIS CONVENTION
  • PCT
  • LESOTHO
  • ARIPO
  • OAPI

Paris Convention
Convention establishing World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
Lusaka Agreement
Agreement concerning the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS)
The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents

Patents of Invention
ARIPO Designations

Relative novelty applies. Not disclosed to the public anywhere in the world, by publication in tangible form, or in Lesotho, by description or by use or in any other way, before the priority date.

6-month grace period for disclosures by the applicant or for unauthorised disclosures by a third party.

Formal and substantive examination.

15 years from the date of filing the application, extendable for 5 years to a maximum term of 20 years.

The sufficient working of an invention in Lesotho or, alternatively, the existence of legitimate reasons justifying non-working is a condition for the extension of the duration of a patent at the end of the initial fifteen-year term.