Cap. 417 Art. 2Interpretation.

In Parts II to XVII of this Act unless the context otherwise requires:

"biological material" means any material containing genetic information and capable of reproducing itself or being reproduced in a biological system; "Budapest Treaty" means the Treaty for the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for the Purpose of Patent Procedure done at Budapest on the 28th April 1977; "the Comptroller" means the Comptroller of Industrial Property and includes any other person delegated by the Comptroller or appointed by the Minister to exercise all or any of the powers and to perform all or any of the duties of the Comptroller; "essential biological process for the production of plants and animals" means any process consisting entirely of natural phenomena such as crossing or selection; "European Patent Convention" means the Convention on the Grant of European Patents, done at Munich on the 5th October 1973, as revised and amended from time to time; "European Patent Office" or "EPO" means the office of the European Patent Organisation established by the Convention on the Grant of European Patent of the 5th October 1973, as revised and amended from time to time; "European Union means the European Union referred on the Treaty; "microbiological process" means any process involving, or performed upon, or resulting in, microbiological material; "Member State" means a state which is a member of the European Union; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for the protection of industrial property and "Ministry" shall be construed accordingly; "the Office" means the Office headed by the Comptroller of Industrial Property; "Paris Convention" means the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, done at Paris on the 20th March 1883, as revised and amended from time to time; "patent" means the exclusive right granted by the Comptroller in terms of the provisions of this Act; "Patent Co-operation Treaty" means the Treaty done at Washington on the 19th June 1970, as revised and amended from time to time;

"plant varieties" refers to all botanical genera and species, including, hybrids between genera or species; inter alia, "prescribed" means prescribed by Parts of this Act; "the register" means the register of patents kept under this Act and includes the register of patents kept under the Industrial Property (Protection) Ordinance, parts of which have been repealed by this Act; "scheduled invention" means an invention of a type listed in regulations as the Minister may from time to time prescribe; "the Treaty" has the same meaning assigned to it by the European

Union Act; "variety" means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank, which grouping, irrespective of whether the conditions for the grant of a plant variety right or patent are fully met, can be:

- defined by the expression of the characteristics that results from a given genotype or combination of genotypes, - distinguished from any other plants grouping by the expression of at least one of the said characteristics, and - considered as a unit with regard to its suitability for being propagated unchanged, where a plant grouping consists of entire plants or parts of plants as far as such parts are capable of producing entire plants.