shall be construed as including a reference to the purposes referred to in paragraphs
(a) to (g).
(2) In subsection (1)—
“period of emergency” means any period beginning on such date as may be declared
by the Minister, by statutory instrument, to be the commencement and ending on such
date as may be so declared to be the termination of a period of emergency.
36
Reference of disputes as to State use
(1) Any dispute as to—
(a)
the exercise by a department of the State or a person authorized by the
Minister of the powers conferred by section thirty-four; or
(b)
the terms for the use of an invention for the service of the State
thereunder; or
(c)
the compensation payable upon a reference to the Tribunal under
subsection (4) of section twenty; or
(d)
the right of any person to receive any part of a payment determined in
terms of paragraph (b) or (c);
may be referred to the Tribunal by any party to the dispute in such manner as may be
prescribed.
(2) In any proceedings under this section to which a department of the State is a party,
the Minister may—
if the patentee is a party to the proceedings, apply for revocation of the
(a)
patent upon any ground upon which a patent may be revoked under section forty-five;
(b)
in any case, put in issue the validity of the patent without applying for
its revocation.
(3) If in any proceedings under this section any question arises whether an invention
has been recorded or tried as mentioned in section thirty-four or has been used by or
on behalf of or to the order of a department of the State under subsection (3) of
section twenty, and the disclosure of any document recording the invention or of any
evidence at the trial or use thereof would, in the opinion of the Minister, be
prejudicial to the public interest, the disclosure may be made confidentially to the
legal practitioner, if any, appearing for the other party or to an independent expert
agreed upon by the parties.
(4) In determining under this section any dispute between a department of the State
and any person as to terms for the use of an invention for the service of the State, the
Tribunal shall have regard to any benefit or compensation which that person or any
person from whom he derives title may have received or may be entitled to receive,
directly or indirectly, from any department of the State in respect of the invention in
question.
[amended by Act 9 of 2002, with effect from the 20th December, 2002.]
PART V
SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO SPECIFICATIONS, ANTICIPATION
AND RIGHTS IN INVENTIONS
37
Amendment of specification by Registrar
(1) Subject to this section, an applicant for a patent or a patentee may at any time, by
request in writing lodged at the Patent Office, seek leave to amend either his
provisional or his complete specification. including drawings forming part thereof,
and shall in making any such request state the nature of the proposed amendment and
the reasons therefor.
(2) Where there are joint applicants or patentees, a request in terms of subsection (1)
shall be made by them jointly or by one or more of them with the written consent of
the other or others, and in the case of disagreement between them the Registrar may,
if satisfied that one or more of them should be allowed to proceed alone and subject
to such conditions as he may impose, permit the request to be made without the
consent of the others:
Provided that all parties interested shall be notified by the applicant of the request and