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.

J

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

2 ED. VII. C. 34.

of Comp

4. In sub-section four of section eighty-two of the principal Performance Act1 (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.

and construc

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

'Ante, p. 503.

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 ;

"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 (i.e. rules 69-75) ar omitted.

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.

PATENTS RULES, 1903.

Extension of time for leaving and accepting complete specification.

Notice and

of acceptance.

invention only, and may make application for a separate patent for each invention accordingly.

Every such application shall, if the applicant notify his desire to that effect to the Comptroller, bear the date of the first application and shall, together therewith, be proceeded with in the manner prescribed by the said Acts and by these Rules, as if every such application had been originally made on that date.

10. An application for extension of time for leaving or accepting a complete specification shall be made on Form U or on Form V, as the case may require, and shall state in detail in what circumstances and upon what grounds such extension is applied for, and the Comptroller may require the applicant to substantiate such allegations by such proof as the Comptroller may think

necessary.

II. On the acceptance of a provisional or complete specificaadvertisement tion the Comptroller shall give notice thereof to the applicant, and shall advertise the acceptance of every complete specification in the official journal of the Patent Office.

Inspection of complete specification.

12. Upon such acceptance in the case of a complete specification, the application and specification or specifications with the drawings (if any) may be inspected at the Patent Office upon payment of the prescribed fee.

Convention applications.

APPLICATIONS UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION.

13. Every Convention application shall contain a declaration that foreign application has been made for protection of the invention to which such Convention application relates, and shall specify all the Foreign States or British Possessions in which such foreign applications have been made, and the official date or dates thereof respectively. The application must be made within twelve months from the date of the first foreign application, and must be accompanied by a complete specification, and signed by the person or persons by whom such first foreign application was made. If such person, or any of such persons be dead, the application must be signed by the legal representative of such dead person, as well as by the other applicants, if

any.