The objects of this Bill are to:

(a). provide for the protection and administration of patents;

(b). provide for the patentability of inventions;

(c). provide for the process for obtaining letters patent for an invention;

(d). provide for the restriction, publication and communication of patents;

(e). promote the use of patented information and technological knowledge;

(f). provide for contractual and compulsory licenses;

(g). provide for the use and acquisition of inventions by the Government;

(h). promote and encourage innovative and inventive activities and local generation of technologies;

(i). provide for the protection of utility models and the grant of a utility model certficate;

(j). give effect to teh Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, 1883, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, 1970, the Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs adopted on December10, 1982, and the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Trade Related Aspects fo Intellectual Property Rights, 1994, and any other relevant international treaty or Conventioin to which Zambia is a State Party;

(k). repeal and replace the Patents Act, 1958; and

(l). provide for matters connected with, or incidental to, the foregoing.