The 1946 Patents and Designs (Emergencies Provisions) Act remains on Myanmar’s statute books, although it is obsolete as its purpose was to apply the Indian Patents and Designs Act ("IPDA") of 1911. Since the IPDA was never listed in the Myanmar Codes, there is no enforceable patent and design law in Myanmar. The Upper House of the Myanmar parliament voted in favour of the Patent Bill on 15 February 2018; however, the bill will not pass into law until it is approved by the Lower House which is likely to happen in 2019. According to the Patent Bill, patents and designs will be enforceable either through a civil action or a criminal action (misleading use of the term “granted patent” for unpatented inventions).
