Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act , 1927

PRELIMINARY.

1 Short title.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act, 1927.

2 Commencement of Act.

2.—This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed therefor by any order or orders of the Executive Council, either generally or with reference to any particular Part of this Act, and different days may be fixed for the commencement of different Parts of this Act, but so that no such day be later than six months after the passing of this Act.

3 Definitions.

3.—In this Act—

the word “patent” means letters patent for an invention;

the expression “British patent” means a patent granted by the Patent Office in London;

the word “patentee” means the person for the time being entered on the register as the grantee or proprietor of the patent;

the word “invention” means any new and useful art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement in any art, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, and includes an alleged invention;

subject to the provisions of this Act, the words “inventor” and “applicant” respectively include the legal representative of a deceased inventor or applicant;

the word “design” means only the features of shape, configuration, pattern, or ornament applied to any article by any industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical, or chemical, separate or combined, which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye, but does not include any mode or principle of construction, or anything which is in substance a mere mechanical device;

the word “article” means (as respects designs) any article of manufacture and any substance artificial or natural or partly artificial and partly natural;

the word “copyright” when used in relation to a design registered under Part III. of this Act means the exclusive right to apply the design to any article in any class in which the design is registered;

the expression “proprietor of a new or original design”—

(a) where the author of the design, for good consideration, executes the design for some other person, means the person for whom the design is so executed, and

(b) where any person acquires the design or the right to apply the design to any article either exclusively of any other person or otherwise, means, in the respect and to the extent in and to which the design or right has been so acquired, the person by whom the design or right is so acquired, and

(c) in any other case means the author of the design,

and where the property in, or the right to apply, the design has devolved from the original proprietor upon any other person, includes that other person;

the expression “working on a commercial scale” means the manufacture of the article or the carrying on of the process described and claimed in a specification for a patent in or by means of a definite and substantial establishment or organisation, and on a scale which is adequate and reasonable in all the circumstances;

the word “mark” includes a device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter, numeral, or any combination thereof;

the expression “trade mark” means a mark used or proposed to be used upon or in connection with goods for the purpose of indicating that they are the goods of the proprietor of such trade mark by virtue of manufacture, selection, certification, dealing with, or offering for sale;

the word “controller” means the Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property appointed under this Act;

the expression “the Office” means the Industrial and Commercial Property Registration Office established pursuant to this Act;

the word “Journal” means the Official Journal of Industrial and Commercial Property issued by the controller pursuant to this Act;

the expression “the register” means the appropriate register kept pursuant to this Act;

the expression “British register” means the appropriate register kept in the Patent Office in London pursuant to the statutes relating to that Office;

the expression “Patent Office in London” means the office in London called the Patent Office and maintained under the statutes relating to the granting of patents for inventions and the registration of designs and trade marks in the late United Kingdom and in Great Britain;

the expression “late United Kingdom” means the late United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland;

the expression “self-governing British dominions” means and includes the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, and Newfoundland;

the expression “British dominions” includes Great Britain and Northern Ireland and (save where the context otherwise requires) the self-governing British dominions;

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

the expression “Law Officer” means the Attorney-General of Saorstát Eireann;

the word “prescribed” means prescribed by general rules made under this Act;

the word “court” means the High Court of Justice in Saorstát Eireann.

4 Repeals.

4.—The Acts mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent mentioned in the third column of the said Schedule.

PART I. ESTABLISHMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION OFFICE.

5 Establishment of Industrial and Commercial Property Registration Office.

5.—(1) There shall be established an Industrial and Commercial Property Registration Office for the purposes of this Act and such other purposes as may hereafter be assigned to it by the Oireachtas.

(2) The Office shall be divided into two branches, namely—

(a) a Patents Branch, in which shall be transacted and done all such business, matters, and things as are by this Act or otherwise by law directed to be transacted or done in the Office in relation to patents;

(b) a Designs and Trade Marks Branch, in which shall be transacted and done all such business, matters, and things as are by this Act or otherwise by law directed to be transacted or done in the Office in relation to designs or in relation to trade marks;

(3) The Office shall be under the immediate control of the Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property who shall act under the general superintendence and direction of the Minister.

6 Appointment of Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property.

6.—(1) The Executive Council shall as soon as may be after the passing of this Act and thereafter as occasion arises appoint a fit person to the office of Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property, who shall hold office for such time and on such terms as the Executive Council shall appoint.

(2) Every person appointed to be controller under this Act shall receive such remuneration as the Minister for Finance shall determine.

(3) Subject to his being in good health at the time of appointment and notwithstanding that he is appointed without a certificate from the Civil Service Commissioners, the controller shall, if appointed permanently, be deemed to be employed in the permanent Civil Service of Saorstát Eireann and there may be granted to him on retirement or to his legal personal representative on death such superannuation or other allowance or gratuity as might under the Superannuation Acts for the time being in force have been granted had he been in the permanent Civil Service of Saorstát Eireann.

(4) Whenever the controller is temporarily unable to attend to his duties, or his office is vacant, the Minister may appoint a fit person to perform the duties of the controller under this Act during such inability or vacancy, and every person so appointed shall during his appointment have all the powers of the controller under this Act, and shall receive such remuneration, out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas, as the Minister shall, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, direct.

7 Controller to be a corporation and have official seal.

7.—(1) The Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property shall be a corporation sole under that name with perpetual succession and an official seal, and may sue and be sued by the name aforesaid.

(2) Impressions of the official seal of the Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property shall be judicially noticed and admitted in evidence.

8 Appointment of officers of controller.

8.—(1) The Minister shall appoint such persons to be officers of the controller, as, subject to the sanction of the Minister for Finance as to number, he may consider necessary for the purposes of this Act, and those officers shall hold office upon such terms and be remunerated at such rates and in such manner as the Minister for Finance may sanction.

(2) The salaries or remuneration of the controller and his officers, and such other expenses of carrying this Act into effect as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

9 Fees to be charged by controller.

9.—(1) There shall be charged by the controller and paid in respect of the grant of patents and the registration of designs, trade marks and artistic works, and applications therefor, and in respect of other matters in relation to patents, designs, trade marks and artistic works under this Act, such fees as may from time to time be prescribed by the Minister with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, so however that the fees prescribed in respect of the instruments and matters mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act shall not exceed the fees respectively specified in that Schedule.

(2) All fees charged by the controller under this section shall be collected and accounted for in such manner as shall be prescribed by the Minister, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance.

10 Controller to publish Official Journal and other documents.

10.—(1) The controller shall issue periodically an illustrated journal of patented inventions, registered designs, and registered trade marks to be called the Official Journal of Industrial and Commercial Property, and shall publish therein all such matters as are directed by this Act or otherwise by law to be published therein and such other matters and information as may appear to be useful or important to proprietors of patents, designs, trade marks, or copyright granted, registered, or subsisting in Saorstát Eireann.

(2) The controller may issue periodically either in or as a supplement to the Journal or as a separate publication reports of—

(a) cases relating to patents, designs, trade marks or copyright decided by courts of law in Saorstát Eireann, and

(b) such cases relating to patents, designs, trade marks, or copyright decided by courts of law outside Saorstát Eireann as the controller may consider to be useful or important to proprietors of patents, designs, trade marks, or copyright granted, registered, or subsisting in Saorstát Eireann.

(3) The controller may prepare and publish indexes, abridgments of specifications, catalogues and other works relating to inventions, patents, designs, and trade marks.

(4) The controller shall make provision for keeping on sale copies of all documents which he is by this section directed or authorised to issue or publish, and also of all complete specifications (together with any accompanying drawings) of patents in force other than British Patents which by virtue of this Act are deemed to be patents granted under this Act.

PART II.—PATENTS.

11 Application for patent generally.

11.—(1) An application for a patent may be made by any person who claims to be the true and first inventor of an invention, whether he is or is not an alien, and whether alone or jointly with any other person.

(2) The application must be made in the prescribed form, and must be left at, or sent by post to, the Office in the prescribed manner.

(3) The application must contain a declaration or (if so prescribed) a statutory declaration to the effect that the applicant is in possession of an invention of which, so far as the applicant knows or has been able to ascertain, he, or in the case of a joint application, one at least of the applicants, is the true and first inventor, and for which he desires to obtain a patent.

(4) Every application for a patent must be accompanied by either a provisional or a complete specification.

(5) In the case of a joint application, the declaration required by this section must be made by all the applicants.

12 Application for patent in certain cases.

12.—(1) Any person or the legal representative or assignce of any person who applied after the 6th day of December, 1921 and before the commencement of this Part of this Act to the Minister for Economic Affairs of the late Provisional Government of Ireland or to the Minister for Industry and Commerce of Saorstát Eireann for a patent or protection in respect of an invention shall be entitled to apply under this Act within one year after the commencement of this Part of this Act for a patent in respect of the same invention and shall be entitled to have such application under this Act dated and treated as having been made as of the date of the first-mentioned application for the purposes of determining the respective priorities of the said application under this Act and any other application, fixing the date to be borne by any patent granted pursuant to the said application under this Act, and determining whether the invention had been previously published in Saorstát Eireann or in Great Britain.

(2) Any person or the legal representative or assignee of any person who has obtained between the 6th day of December, 1921 and the commencement of this Part of this Act protection for an invention in any British dominion (other than Great Britain and Northern Ireland) or foreign state to which the provisions of section 152 (which relates to international arrangements) of this Act are applied or declared to be applicable by order made under that section shall be entitled to apply under this Act within one year after the commencement of this Part of this Act for a patent in respect of the same invention and shall be entitled to have the said application under this Act dated and treated as having been made as of the date of the application for protection of the invention in such British dominion or foreign state for the purposes of determining the respective priorities of the said application under this Act and any other application, fixing the date to be borne by any patent granted pursuant to the said application under this Act, and determining whether the invention had been previously published in Saorstát Eireann or in Great Britain.

(3) Any person who applies for a patent under the provisions of this section may at any time before the grant of such patent (hereinafter called the first-mentioned patent) or within such time after such grant as may be allowed by the controller apply to the controller for the revocation of any patent (hereinafter called the second-mentioned patent) which by virtue of this Act is deemed to be a patent granted under this Act and bears date as of any date between the 6th day of December, 1921 and the commencement of this Part of this Act and is for the same invention as that in respect of which the first-mentioned patent is applied for on the ground that the date of the application for the second-mentioned patent was subsequent to the date of an application made by the applicant for the first-mentioned patent to the Minister for Economic Affairs of the late Provisional Government of Ireland or to the Minister for Industry and Commerce of Saorstát Eireann or in any such British dominion or foreign state as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section for a patent or protection of the same invention and the controller may on such application for revocation revoke the second-mentioned patent on the ground aforesaid, but on no other ground.

(4) An appeal shall lie to the law officer from every decision of the controller on an application for revocation under the foregoing sub-section.

(5) The term limited in a patent granted pursuant to an application made under the provisions of sub-section (1) of this section for the duration of such patent shall be sixteen years from the date of the commencement of this Part of this Act, and for the purposes of the application of the Second Schedule to this Act to such patent the date of such patent shall be deemed to be the date of such commencement.

(6) No fees shall be payable under this Act on any patent granted pursuant to an application made under the provisions of sub-section (2) of this section in respect of anything done or any period of time expired before the commencement of this Part of this Act.

13 Specifications of inventions.

13.—(1) A provisional specification must commence with the title of the invention and must describe the nature of the invention.

(2) A complete specification must commence with the title of the invention and must particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed and must end with a distinct statement of the invention claimed.

(3) The controller may, whenever he considers it desirable so to do, require that suitable drawings shall be supplied with the specification (whether provisional or complete) or at any time before the acceptance thereof, and such drawings when supplied shall be deemed to form part of the specification.

(4) Whenever the invention in respect of which an application for a patent is made is a chemical invention, such typical samples and specimens as may be prescribed shall, if in any particular case the controller considers it desirable so to require, be furnished to the controller before the acceptance of the complete specification.

14 Proceedings upon application.

14.—(1) The controller shall refer every application for a patent to an examiner.

(2) If the examiner reports that the nature of the invention is not fairly described, or that the application, specification, or drawings have not been prepared in the prescribed manner, or that the title does not sufficiently indicate the subject-matter of the invention, the controller 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 controller so directs bear date as from the time when the requirement is complied with.

(3) Where the controller refuses to accept an application or requires an amendment, the applicant may appeal from his decision to the law officer, who shall, if required, hear the applicant and the controller, and may make an order determining whether and subject to what conditions (if any) the application shall be accepted.

(4) The controller shall, when an application has been accepted, give notice thereof to the applicant.

15 Provisional protection.