Title. Explanation of sect. 5, subsect. 4 of IV.-PATENTS, ETC., ACT, 1886. 49 & 50 VICT. c. 37. An Act to remove certain doubts respecting the construction of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883, so far as respects the drawings by which specifications are required to be accompanied, and as respects Exhibitions. WHEREAS by section 5 of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883, specifications, whether provisional or complete, must be accompanied by drawings if required, and doubts have arisen as to whether it is sufficient that a complete specification refers to the drawings by which the provisional specification was accompanied, and it is expedient to remove such doubts : Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. This Act may be cited as the Patents Act, 1886, and shall be construed as one with the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Acts, 1883 and 1885, and, together with those Acts, may be cited as the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Acts, 1883 to 1886. 2. The requirement of sub-section 4 of section 5 of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883, as to drawings principal Act. shall not be deemed to be insufficiently complied with by reason only that instead of being accompanied by drawings the complete specification refers to the drawings which accompanied the provisional specification. And no patent heretofore sealed shall be invalid by reason only that the complete specification was not accompanied by drawings, but referred to those which accompanied the provisional specification. Extension of sect. 39 of principal Act. 3. Whereas by section 39 of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883, as respects patents, and by section 57 of the same Act as respects designs, provision is made that the exhibition of an invention or design at an industrial or international exhibition, certified as such by the Board of Trade, shall not prejudice the rights of the inventor or proprietor thereof, subject to the conditions therein mentioned, one of which is that the exhibitor must, before exhibiting the invention, design, or article, or publishing a description of the design, give the comptroller the prescribed notice of his intention to do so: And whereas it is expedient to provide for the extension of the said sections to industrial and international exhibitions held out of the United Kingdom, be it therefore enacted as follows: It shall be lawful for her Majesty, by order in Council, from time to time to declare that sections 39 and 57 of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883, or either of those sections, shall apply to any exhibition mentioned in the order in like manner as if it were an industrial or international exhibition certified by the Board of Trade, and to provide that the exhibitor shall be relieved from the conditions, specified in the said sections, of giving notice to the comptroller of his intention to exhibit, and shall be so relieved either absolutely or upon such terms and conditions as to her Majesty in Council may seem fit. T DD 46 & 47 Vict. c. 57. Register of patent agents. Amendments of 46 & 47 Vict. c. 57. S. 7, as to applications. V.-PATENTS, DESIGNS, ETC., ACT, 1888. An Act to amend the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883, hereinafter referred to as the principal Act: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1.-(1) After the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine, a person shall not be entitled to describe himself as a patent agent, whether by advertisement, by description on his place of business, by any document issued by him, or otherwise, unless he is registered as a patent agent in pursuance of this Act [see Register of Patent Agents Rules, p. 459]. (2) The Board of Trade shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, and may from time to time, make such general rules as are in the opinion of the Board required for giving effect to this section, and the provisions of section 101 of the principal Act shall apply to all rules so made as if they were made in pursuance of that section. (3) Provided that every person who proves to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade that prior to the passing of this Act he had been bonâ fide practising as a patent agent, shall be entitled to be registered as a patent agent in pursuance of this Act. (4) If any person knowingly describes himself as a patent agent in contravention of this section, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds. (5) In this section "patent agent" means exclusively an agent for obtaining patents in the United Kingdom. 2. For section seven of the principal Act the following section shall be substituted, namely: 66 7.—(1) If the examiner reports that the nature of the invention is not fairly described, or that the application, specification, or drawings has not, or have not, been prepared in the prescribed manner, or that the title does not sufficiently indicate the subject matter of the invention, the comptroller may refuse to accept the application, or require that the application, specification or drawings be amended before he proceeds with the application; and in the latter case the application shall, if the comptroller so directs, bear date as from the time when the requirement is complied with. 66 (2) Where the comptroller refuses to accept an application or requires an amendment, the applicant may appeal from his decision to the law officer. "(3) The law officer shall, if required, hear the applicant and the comptroller, and may make an order determining whether, and subject to what conditions (if any) the application shall be accepted. "(4) The comptroller shall, when an application has been accepted, give notice thereof to the applicant. "(5) If, after an application for a patent has been made, but before the patent thereon has been sealed, another application for a patent is made accompanied by a specification bearing the same or a similar title, the comptroller, if he thinks fit, on the request of the second applicant, or of his legal representative, may, within two months of the grant of a patent on the first application, either decline to proceed with the second application or allow the surrender of the patent, if any, granted thereon." reports of examiners. grant of 3. In sub-section 5 of section 9 of the principal Act the S. 9, as to words "other than an appeal to the law officer under this disclosure of Act" shall be omitted. 4. In sub-section 1 of section 11 of the principal Act the S. 11, as to words from "or on the ground of an examiner to "a previous opposition to application," both inclusive, shall be omitted, and there shall patent. be added in lieu thereof the following words, namely, "or on the ground 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 opponent in the interval between the leaving of the provisional specification and the leaving of the complete specification." 5. For sub-section 10 of section 18 of the principal Act the S. 18, as to following sub-section shall be substituted, namely amended specifications. S. 52, as to inspection of designs. S. 58, as to piracy of registered designs. S. 62, as to application for registration. tion. "(10) The foregoing provisions of this section do not apply when, and so long as any action for infringement or proceeding for revocation of a patent is pending." 6. After sub-section 1 of section 52 of the principal Act the following words shall be added; namely, "Provided that where registration of a design is refused on the ground of identity with a design already registered, the applicant for registration shall be entitled to inspect the design so registered." 7.-(1) In section 58 of the principal Act the words "or cause to be applied" shall be added after the word "apply.” (2) To the same section the following words shall be added : "Provided that the total sum forfeited in respect of any one design shall not exceed one hundred pounds." 8.-(1) In sub-section 2 of section 62 of the principal Act for the words "the patent office in the prescribed manner" shall be substituted the words "such place and in such manner as may be prescribed." (2) To the same section of the principal Act the following sub-section shall be added : "(6) Where an applicant for the registration of a trade mark otherwise than under an international convention is out of the United Kingdom at the time of making the application he shall give the comptroller an address for service in the United Kingdom, and if he fails to do so the application shall not be proceeded with until the address has been given." S. 63, as to 9. In section 63 of the principal Act for the words "the limit of time for proceeding application shall be deemed to be abandoned" shall be substiwith applica- tuted the words "the comptroller shall give notice of the non-completion to the agent employed on behalf of the applicant, and, if at the expiration of fourteen days from that notice the registration is not completed, shall give the like notice to the applicant, and if at the expiration of the latter fourteen days, or such further time as the comptroller may in special cases permit, the registration is not completed, the application shall be deemed to be abandoned." S. 64, as to fancy words. 10.—(1) For section 64 of the principal Act the following section shall be substituted, namely— "64.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, a trade mark must consist of or contain at least one of the following essential particulars: |