BRITAIN鈥檚 Patent Office has announced that it will turn away any patent
applications which relate to antipersonnel landmines鈥攅ven those filed
under international patent cooperation treaty schemes.
The move comes in response to the Landmines Act, which makes it an offence to
鈥渁ssist, encourage or induce鈥� anyone to produce landmines. Allowing people to
file patents could be interpreted as assisting, the Patent Office says.
The Landmines Act was drafted to ensure that Britain complies with the Ottawa
Treaty banning antipersonnel landmines, which will take effect next March. But
it remains unclear whether others will follow Britain鈥檚 tough line. Brian Derby,
director of international affairs at the European Patent Office in Munich, says
the Ottawa Treaty only prohibits patents that are solely for antipersonnel
mines. 鈥淏ut most of this technology is capable of more than one use,鈥� he says.
For instance, many landmines include mechanisms to make them difficult to
defuse. An inventor could argue that even these mines are patentable under the
treaty.
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Britain鈥檚 Chartered Institute of Patent Agents is now warning patent lawyers
that they risk prosecution under the Landmines Act if they try to get round the
British ban by dressing up a landmine invention as an innocent application.