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THE PATENTS ACT, 1902.

(2 ED. VII. c. 34.)

BE it enacted, &c.

A.D. 1902.

of previous

specifications Kingdom on applications for patents.

in United

1. (1) Where an application for a patent has been made and Examination a complete specification has been deposited by the applicant, the examiner shall forthwith, in addition to the inquiries which he is directed to make by the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883, [46 & 47 Vict. c. 57] (in this Act referred to as the principal Act), make a further investigation for the purpose of ascertaining whether the invention claimed has been wholly or in part claimed or described in any specification (other than a provisional specification not followed by a complete specification) published before the date of the application, and deposited pursuant to any application for a patent made in the United Kingdom within fifty years next before the date of the application.

(2) If on investigation it appears that the invention has been wholly or in part claimed or described in any such specification, the applicant shall be informed thereof, and the applicant may, within such time as may be prescribed, amend his specification, and the amended specification shall be investigated in like manner as the original specification.

(3) The examiner shall report to the Comptroller the result of his investigations in such manner as the Board of Trade may direct.

(4) The provisions of sub-section five of section nine of the principal Act, as amended by any subsequent enactment, shall apply to reports under this section.

(5) If the Comptroller is satisfied that no objection exists to the specification on the ground that the invention claimed thereby has been wholly or in part claimed or described in a previous

2 ED. VII. C. 34.

Limitation as to anticipation.

specification as before mentioned, he shall, in the absence of any other lawful ground of objection, accept the specification.

(6) If the Comptroller is not so satisfied, he shall, after hearing the applicant, and unless the objection be removed by amending the specification to the satisfaction of the Comptroller, determine whether a reference to any, and, if so, what, prior specifications ought to be made in the specification by way of notice to the public.

(7) An appeal shall lie from the decision of the Comptroller under this section to the Law Officer.

(8) Section eight of the principal Act [46 & 47 Vict. c. 57] and section three of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks (Amendment) Act, 1885 [48 & 49 Vict. c. 63] (which regulate the time for depositing a complete specification), shall have effect as if references therein to the period of nine months were references to the period of six months.

(9) The investigations and reports required by this section shall not be held in any way to guarantee the validity of any patent, and no liability shall be incurred by the Board of Trade or any officer thereof by reason of, or in connection with, any such investigation or report, or any proceeding consequent thereon.

(10) The Board of Trade, with the sanction of the Treasury, may prescribe an additional fee not exceeding one pound in respect of the investigation mentioned in this section, which shall be payable on the sealing of the patent.

(11) This section shall come into operation at such date as the Board of Trade may by order direct, and shall apply only to applications made after that date, and the order shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament.

2. An invention covered by any patent granted on an application to which section one of this Act applies shall not be deemed to have been anticipated by reason only of its publication in a specification deposited pursuant to an application made in the United Kingdom not less than fifty years before the date of the application for a patent therefor, or of its publication in a provisional specification of any date not followed by a complete specification.

3. [Amendment of law relating to compulsory licences. Omitted.]

2 ED. VII. C. 34.

4. In sub-section four of section eighty-two of the principal Performance of CompAct1 (which relates to the performance of the duties of the troller's duties. Comptroller by other officers under the direction of the Board of Trade) the words "in his absence" shall be repealed.

.

5. This Act may be cited as the Patents Act, 1902, and may be cited and shall be construed as one with the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Acts, 1883 to 1901.

1 Ante, p. 503.

Short title tion.

and construc

Short title.

Commencement.

PATENTS RULES, 1903.

By virtue of the provisions of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Acts, 1883 to 1902, the Board of Trade do hereby make the following Rules:-1

SHORT TITLE.

I. These Rules may be cited as the Patents Rules, 1903.

COMMENCEMENT.

2. These Rules shall come into operation from and immediately after the 12th day of January, 1903.

INTERPRETATION.

Interpretation.

First Schedule.

3. In the construction of these Rules

"United Kingdom" includes the Isle of Man ;

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Foreign Application" means an application by any person for protection of his invention in a Foreign State or British Possession to which by any Order in Council for the time being in force the provisions of section 103 of the Act of 1883 as amended by any subsequent Act have been declared applicable;

"Convention Application" means an application in the United Kingdom under the provisions of section 103 of the Act of 1883 as amended by any subsequent Act.

Save as aforesaid any words herein used defined by the said Acts shall have the meanings thereby assigned to them respectively.

FEES.

4. The fees to be paid under the said Acts shall be those specified in the list of fees in the First Schedule to these Rules.

1 Those dealing with matters outside the scope of this work (.e. rules 69-75) ar omitted.

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Second

5. The Forms contained in the Second Schedule to these Rules may, as far as they are applicable, be used in any pro- Schedule. ceedings under the said Acts or under these Rules and so far as they relate to the same subject-matter shall be substituted for the forms in the First Schedule to the Act of 1883.

APPLICATIONS FOR PATENTS.

representative

inventor.

6. In the case of an application for a patent by the legal repre- Application by sentative of a person who has died possessed of an invention, of deceased the probate of his will, or the letters of administration granted of his estate and effects, or an official copy of such probate or letters, shall be produced at the Patent Office in proof of the applicant's title as such legal representative, and must be supported by such further evidence as the Comptroller may require.

service.

7. Every application for a patent shall be accompanied by a Address for statement of an address (hereinafter referred to as "the address for service") to which all notices, requisitions, and communications of every kind may be sent by the Comptroller or by the Board of Trade, and such statement shall thereafter be binding upon the applicant until a substituted address for service shall be furnished by him to the Comptroller. The Comptroller may in any particular case require that the address for service be in the United Kingdom.

8. Applications for patents sent through the post shall, as far as may be practicable, be opened and numbered in the order in which the letters containing the same have been respectively delivered in the ordinary course of post.

Applications left at the Patent Office otherwise than through the post shall be in like manner numbered in the order of their receipt at the Patent Office.

9. Where a person making application for a patent includes in his specification by mistake, inadvertence, or otherwise, more than one invention, he may, with the consent of the Comptroller, at any time before the date allowed for the acceptance of his complete specification, amend the same so as to apply to one

Order of recording applications.

Application patents by way

for separate

of amendment.

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