Patent term extension in Macau: an answer

In swift response to today's earlier post seeking information on patent term extension in Macau, a kind reader has submitted the following information which this weblog gratefully posts:

"Section III, Articles 125 to 128 of Decree-Law Nº 97/99/M of 13 December 1999 provides for Complementary Protection Certificates (CPCs) in Macao. The Macao CPC law is a vestige of Macao having been a Portuguese colony, since Portugal had provided for CPCs even before other European countries enacted their Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) laws.

Patents pertaining to medicines and “phyto-pharmaceutical products” (i.e., plant extracts) are eligible for a CPC. Veterinary drugs may be included within the scope of “medicines” -- but the statute does not expressly mention them.

The CPC application cannot be filed until six months from the original (unextended) expiration date. It is recommended that the application be filed on the first possible day, since the legal effect of a patent’s expiration during the pendency of a CPC application is not known. There is no specific provision in the law for interim extensions comparable to that under the U.S. law.

The statute does not describe any limitation on the scope of the CPC.

The maximum duration of a CPC is 7 years. However, the statute does not provide any formula for calculating the duration in individual cases".