On February 1, 2004 an amendment was included in the Patents Act. The key change was the implementation of the European directive on biotechnological invention, which was met with strong resistance in Norway. One of the measures taken to counter some of the presumed negative effects of the implementation was extending the opposition period to three years if the opposition is based on the invention being contrary to public moral and order. In order to secure the rights of the patentee, an additional opposition fee must be paid when filing the opposition after the usual nine-month period.

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