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“Patents for Invention” are granted for any inventions, which are new, involve an inventive step and are industrially applicable. “Patents for Utility Solution” are granted for any inventions, which are new, not common and industrially applicable. Excluded from the scope of patentable subject matter are discoveries, scientific theories, math methods; computer programs; systems, rules and methods for performing purely mental acts, playing games, doing business; method for training animals; solutions serving solely to obtain an ornamental or aesthetic result, but not technical result; plant or animal varieties; essentially biological processes for the production of plant or animal varieties, other than microbiological processes; methods of treatment for humans or animals, or diagnostic methods practiced on humans or animals. We provide clients with a full range of patent services, including drafting, filing, prosecution of patent applications, appeals, licensing and assignments, and enforcing patents through negotiation and litigation. In addition, we offer professional advice on patentability, validity and infringement. Our patent team includes attorneys, registered industrial property agents and technical specialists who have degrees in law or/and physics, mechanical and electrical engineering, biotechnology, chemistry, chemical manufacturing processes, computer technologies. These patent members were former senior examiners of the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam (NOIP), or studied scientific disciplines or intellectual property law at internationally prestigious universities, or have worked as scientists at universities or academies before joining the firm. Many members of the patent team are licensed to practice in patent matters before the NOIP, and all have experience in prosecution. The team has handled numerous Vietnamese patent applications with priority from earlier applications filed first, for example, in US, Japan. The firm has also counseled on various issues from patentability of software programmes per se, software-related inventions, business methods in the Internet environment, to use claims and doctrine of equivalents. Recently, under the project on "Affordable Anti-Retroviral Drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS in Vietnam" financed by the Ford Foundation and the World Health Organization (WHO), Lê & Lê was selected to conduct patent infringement search for 22 WHO–recommended ARV drugs against granted patents and pending patent applications in Vietnam. Basing on the national and international laws/treaties on intellectual property and pharmaceuticals and the patent infringement search report of Lê & Lê, the group of experts (including 02 international and 01 from Lê & Lê) has provided the Vietnamese Government with 05 legal options Vietnam could use to obtain affordable ARV drugs for the people who need them. Articles:
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