12. (1) Where a complete specification is left after a provisional specification the Commissioner shall examine both the provisional and complete specifications for the purpose of ascertaining whether the complete specification has been prepared in the prescribed manner, and whether the invention particularly described in the complete specification is substantially the same as that which is described in the provisional specification.

(2) If the Commissioner finds that the conditions hereinbefore contained have not been complied with, he may refuse to accept the complete specification, unless and until the same shall have been amended to his satisfaction; but any such refusal shall be subject to appeal to the Attorney-General.

(3) The Attorney-General shall, if required, hear the applicant and the Commissioner, and may make an order determining whether and subject to what conditions, if any, the complete specification shall be accepted.

(4) Unless a complete specification is accepted within twelve months from the date of application, then (save in the case of appeal having been lodged against the refusal to accept) the application shall, at the expiration of those twelve months, become void; provided always that the Commissioner may extend the said period of twelve months by a period not exceeding three months on payment of the prescribed fee.

13. On the acceptance of the complete specification the Commissioner shall issue a notice to the applicant to that effect, which the applicant shall forthwith advertise in three issues of the Gazette, and in such other newspaper or newspapers as the Commissioner may require, and thereupon the application and specification or specifications with the drawings, if any, shall be open to public inspection. The applicant shall, within the period mentioned in the next succeeding section, file with the Commissioner a copy of the Gazette in which the notice of the acceptance of the specification. aforesaid has been published.

14. (1) Any person may, at any time within two months from the date of the latest advertisement of the acceptance of a complete specification, give notice in writing at the Patent Office of objection. to the grant of a patent on any one or more of the following grounds :

(a) that the invention has been fraudulently obtained to the prejudice of another's rights;

(b) that the person represented as being the true and first inventor is not such;

(c) that the invention is not new;

(d) that the invention is not capable of being patented in
terms of §5 of this Proclamation;

(e) that the complete specification, or the provisional speci-
fication accepted as such, as hereinbefore provided,
has reference to the theoretical principles, hypotheses,
methods, systems, discoveries or conceptions, the
manner of applying or using which is not set out;
(f) that the complete specification, or the provisional speci-
fication accepted as such, as hereinbefore provided, is
not sufficient, i.e., that mention of a part of the inven-
tion has been omitted, or that it has been insufficiently
explained;

(g) that the invention, or the application of the same, is
contrary to law, public order, or good morals;

(h) that the title of the invention fraudulently sets forth. another than the true subject matter of the invention; (i) that the complete specification describes or claims an invention other than that described in the provisional specification, and that such other invention forms the subject of an application made by the objector in the interval between the leaving of the provisional and the leaving of the complete specification.

(2) A notice of opposition to the grant of a patent shall be in the form given in Schedule "D," and shall state the ground or grounds on which the person giving such notice (hereinafter referred to as the objector) intends to oppose the grant, and must be signed Such notice shall state his address for service in this

by him. Colony.

(3) The Commissioner shall give notice to the applicant of the objection to his application and the grounds on which it is based, and shall give notice to both the applicant and the objector of the place where, and the day and the hour when, he will consider the application and the objections thereto.

15. (1) At the time and place stated in the last-mentioned notice the Commissioner shall hear the applicant and the objector either personally, or by their attorneys or counsel, and their respective witnesses, if any.

(2) The Commissioner shall have power to determine whether any evidence in support of, or in opposition to, the application shall be by means of affidavit, or viva voce on oath, or partly affidavit and partly viva voce, and may, at the request of either party, direct cross-examination of any witness upon his affidavit.

(3) In any proceeding under this section the Commissioner shall have power to issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses, to administer oaths, to issue commissions de bene esse for the taking of evidence in this Colony or any foreign country, to commit for contempt of court, or to grant discovery of documents or inspection.

(4) The Commissioner may call in the assistance of experts and other persons, and may decide whether any, and what, remuneration shall be paid to them for such assistance, either by the applicant or by the objector.

(5) The Commissioner shall have power to order that the costs of any proceeding under this section shall be paid by either party thereto, in all respects as if the Commissioner were a Judge of the Court, and such costs shall be taxed by the taxing officer and paid, and the payment thereof may be enforced in the same manner as if the same were costs allowed by a Judge of the Court.

(6) Either party shall have the right to appeal to the High Court of the Transvaal, from the decision of the Commissioner, and such appeal shall be dealt with by the said Court in all respects as if it were an appeal from a Court of inferior jurisdiction.

(7) In case the objector or the applicant is residing abroad, or has no fixed property within this Colony, then the applicant or the objector, prior to the hearing of the application or objection or any appeal, as the case may be, shall have the right to require that security to the satisfaction of the Commissioner or the said Court, as the case may be, be lodged by the applicant or objector for the costs, and if such security is not lodged or given, the application or objection or appeal, as the case may be, shall not be taken into consideration by the Commissioner or the said Court.

16. If there is no opposition, or, in case of opposition, if the determination is in favour of the grant of a patent, the Commissioner shall cause a patent to be sealed with the seal of the Patent Office, and a patent so sealed shall have the same effect as if it were sealed with the seal of the Governor.

17. The issue of a patent for an invention, the use of which is contrary to law, public order, or good morals, may be refused.

18. The sealing of a patent shall take place as soon as possible, but not later than fifteen months after the date of the application, except in the following instances:

(a) In case the sealing is delayed on account of an appeal or on account of objections being lodged against the granting of the patent, the sealing may take place at such time as the Commissioner shall determine.

(b) In case the applicant dies before the expiration of the period of fifteen months aforesaid, the letters patent may be granted to his legal representative, and may be sealed at any time within twelve months after the decease of the applicant.

Provided always that where an extension of time is allowed by the Commissioner for the acceptance of a complete specification under sub-section (4) of § 12 of this Proclamation, the Commissioner shall allow an extension of a period not exceeding four months after the said fifteen months for the sealing of the letters patent.

19. Every patent granted under this Proclamation shall be drawn up as nearly as possible in the form given in Schedule "E," and shall be dated and sealed as of the day of the application. Provided that no proceedings shall be taken in respect of an infringement committed before the publication of the complete specification. Provided also that in case of more than one application for a patent for the same invention, the sealing of a patent on one of those applications shall not prevent the sealing of a patent on an earlier application.

20. Where an application for a patent has been abandoned or become void before the publication of the complete specification, the specification or specifications and drawings (if any) accompanying, or left in connection with, such application shall not at any time be open to public inspection, or be published by the Commissioner.

21. (1) The term limited in every patent for the duration thereof shall be fourteen years from its date.

(2) But every patent shall, notwithstanding anything therein. or in this Proclamation, cease if the patentee fails to make the payments prescribed in Schedule "H" within the prescribed times.

(3) If, nevertheless, in any case by accident, mistake, or inadvertence, a patentee fails to make any prescribed payment within the prescribed time, he may apply to the Commissioner for an enlargement of time for making the payment.

(4) Thereupon the Commissioner shall, if satisfied that the failure has arisen from any of the above-mentioned causes, on receipt of the prescribed fee for enlargement, enlarge the time accordingly for such period as he shall think just, subject only that if any proceeding shall be taken in respect of an infringement of the patent, committed after a failure to make any payment within the prescribed time and before the enlargement thereof, the Court, before which the proceeding is proposed to be taken, may, if it shall think fit, refuse to award or give any damages in respect of such infringement.

22. If a patent has been lost or destroyed, or if it has been proved to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that the document cannot be produced, a duplicate may be issued on a sworn declaration to that effect being made, after four publications during three months in the Gazette and such other newspaper or newspapers as the Commissioner may direct, and on payment of the fee prescribed by Schedule "H."

23. (1) The grant of a patent or similar exclusive privilege for an invention in a foreign country to any person, shall not be a bar to the grant of a patent for the same invention, or any part thereof, in this Colony to the same person, provided that the application for the grant of a patent in this Colony shall be made within twelve months of the date of the grant of such foreign patent or similar exclusive privilege.

(2) The publication in this Colony, or any foreign country, during the aforesaid period of any description of the invention, or the use therein during such period of the invention, shall not invalidate the patent which may be granted for the invention in this Colony.

24. All specifications, with the drawings, if any, appertaining thereto, deposited at the office of the Commissioner in manner aforesaid shall remain in his custody at the Patent Office.

25. (1) An applicant or a patentee may from time to time, by request in writing left at the Patent Office, seek leave to amend his specification, including drawings forming part thereof, by way of disclaimer, correction, or explanation, stating the nature of such amendment and his reasons for the same.