Wednesday, 10 June 2015 01:23

New Law for Biomedical Research

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Last April Costa Rican Congress passed a new law for biomedical research. Law No. 9234 is titled Ley Reguladora de la Investigación Biomédica, or "Law for the Regulation of Biomedical Research" and comes as the expected solution to the chaos in which biomedical research was left after all clinical investigation on humans was suspended by the Constitutional Court in 2010.  

At that time the Constitutional Court, in decision 2010-001668, declared that all clinical investigation on humans should be suspended until laws were enacted to properly regulate the activity. The Court considered the human life and health were at risk with the activity, and such risk could not be regulated through executive decrees, as was the case at that time, but required a law passed by Congress. More than four years later Congress has finally pass the required law.  

Law 9234 includes provisions that aim to respect the rights of participants, including, among others, their health, security, informed consent, use of biologic samples, withdrawal as participant, privacy, data use and information.  

The law creates the Consejo Nacional de Investigación en Salud (CONIS) or "National Council for Health Investigation". This council will have technical, scientific and ethical duties, and will be independent but linked to the Ministry of Health. 

 

New Changes in Regulations to the Patent Law   

The recent amendments to the Regulations to the Costa Rican Patent Law, bring important changes to the patent prosecution as it modifies 18 of the 49 articles that make up the Regulations. The most important changes are summarized as follows:  

Filing a Patent Application  

-Dimensions of drawings may not exceed 15cm by 15cm (5.90 inches by 5.90 inches) and shall not contain any text; only reference numbers to the corresponding text in the specifications. - Drawings may consist of photographs of the subject matter of the invention, as long as they have a neutral background and no shadows.  -One single extension of time to submit the Power of Attorney may be requested, as long as sufficient justification is provided.  -At the request of the applicant, publication of the application may be delayed for up to 12 months after the filing date.  

Examination of the application  

-Possibility of an extension of time to the examiner to render the examination report, not to exceed the period of time defined by the Law.  

-Examiners must refer to the Manual of Organization and Patent Examination of the Intellectual Property Offices of Central America and Dominican Republic. This Manual, which was not binding for examiners until now, is a common patent processing manual for the Central American region created to help harmonize practices and procedures for patent examination among the offices. 

In Our Firm  

Castro & Pal Abogados receives top rankings for 2015  

Our firm is pleased to announce that Chambers Latin America Awards 2015 has once again ranked our partners Luis Diego Castro, Luis Pal-Hegedüs and Simon Valverde as Leading Individuals in Intellectual Property Practice, recognizing their knowledge and expertise in the field, as well as their professionalism and diligent work.  

The prestigious international legal directory Chambers & Partners conferred these awards based on international interviews and research, with more than 10,000 participants carried out each year among the leading companies and legal firms in the world. 

 

More in this category: « Divisional Patent Applications in Costa Rica Changes in Patent Annuities in Costa Rica »
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