Osiris Fraternal Order

Foreign Patent Act

A resolution to reduce barriers to free trade and commerce.

Category: Free Trade

Strength: Mild

Proposed by: Wallenburg

Observing the importance of intellectual property rights in many member states,

Cognizant of the risks associated with unnecessary interference in national policy on intellectual property,

Honoring this Assembly's pledged commitment to national sovereignty with regard to economic philosophy and ideology,

The World Assembly hereby:

1. Defines, for the purpose of this resolution:

"patent" as an official government statement granting an entity the legal right to exclude others from producing or generating profit with a particular invention,

"invention" as a process, good, device, or technology created by an entity,

2. Recognizes member nations' right to develop or not develop patent systems in general,

3. Forbids member nations from granting or recognizing patents for illegal inventions, as well as patents for any form of sapient life,

4. Directs a World Assembly Patent Service (WAPS) to grant any entity originating from a member state a patent, only if:

The entity holds a valid patent granted by the member nation it originates from for the same invention the entity seeks to patent via the WAPS,

The WAPS has not already granted a patent on the invention the entity seeks to claim as its intellectual property,

The entity demonstrates full responsibility for the development of the invention, an inventive step in developing it beyond merely observing or analyzing an already existing invention, and reasonable novelty and uniqueness of the invention in the member nation from which the entity originates,

The request meets any other basic formatting standards set by the WAPS in order to guarantee the legitimacy of the entity's patent request,

5. Tasks the WAPS with archiving all patents granted by member states or itself, and making its archives public to all member states and their citizens,

6. Further tasks the WAPS with evaluating the conditions of member states' economies and conducting any other relevant research in order to determine and set unbiased and appropriate expiration dates in each member nation on a case-by-case basis for its granted patents,

7. Mandates that all member states with patent systems observe all patents granted by the WAPS given that:

The patented invention is neither illegal, nor obsolete, nor in the public domain in that member nation at the time the inventive entity receives the patent,

The patented invention is of practical, commercial, or industrial use in that nation,

The patent holder has demonstrated intent to exercise its patent in that nation,

Previously passed World Assembly resolutions do not permit that member nation not to recognize the patent.

8. Requires all member states without patent systems to refrain from asserting intellectual property beyond their own borders.

Foreign Patent Act was passed 10,008 votes to 9,026.