Patents and Designs Act 1942
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1942 c. 6 |
| Year | 1942 |
Patents and Designs Act, 1942
(5 & 6 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 6.
An Act to amend the Patents and Designs Acts, 1907 to 1939, as respects the extension of the term of a patent where the patentee has suffered loss by reason of hostilities, as respects the right of the Crown to use inventions and designs, and as respects arrangements with other countries relating to inventions and designs.
[26th February 1942]
Be it enacted by the King'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 Amendments as to extension of patents where loss by reason of hostilities.
(1) In section eighteen of the Patents and Designs Act, 1907 (which relates to the extension of the term of a patent) the following subsection shall be inserted after subsection (6) (which relates to cases in which the patentee as such has suffered loss or damage by reason of hostilities between His Majesty and any foreign state):—
(7) Where an application is made under subsection (6) of this section—
(a ) the power conferred on the court by the proviso to subsection (1) of this section to allow the application to be made at such time as the court may in its discretion think fit shall be exercisable free from the restriction imposed by that proviso that the time allowed must be not later than the time limited for the expiration of the patent, if the court is satisfied that the allowance of a time later than the expiration thereof is justified by the patentee's having been prevented from making the application by being on active service or by other circumstances arising by reason of hostilities between His Majesty and any foreign state;
(b ) an order may be made notwithstanding that the term of the patent may have been previously extended, or that a new patent for the invention may have been previously granted, by one or more orders made under this section, and notwithstanding that the previous order, or one of the previous orders, may have been made otherwise than pursuant to an application under subsection (6) of this section;
(c ) the restriction imposed by subsection (5) of this section on the length of the further term for which a patent may be extended shall not have effect, but the term granted by an order, whether by way of extension or grant of a new patent, shall not exceed ten years, and, where two or more orders are made pursuant to applications under subsection (6) of this section in relation to the same invention, the aggregate of the terms thereby granted, whether by way of extension or grant of a new patent, shall not exceed ten years.’
(2) In the case of a patent limited to expire after the third day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and before the expiration of six months from the passing of this Act, an application under subsection (6) of the said section eighteen may be made at any time during the said six months, and the court may allow the application to be made at such time as the court may in its discretion think fit if the court is satisfied that the allowance of a time later than the expiration of the said six months is justified by the applicant's having been prevented from making the application by being on active service or by other circumstances arising by reason of hostilities between His Majesty and any foreign state.
2 Amendments as to right of Crown to use inventions.
(1) After subsection (1) of section twenty-nine of the Patents and Designs Act, 1907 (which relates to the right of the Crown to use patented inventions) there shall be inserted the following subsections—
(1A) The power of a Government department under subsection (1) of this section to make, use or exercise an invention for the services of the Crown shall include power during any war period to make, use, exercise or vend an invention, upon such terms as are mentioned in the said subsection (1), for any purpose which appears to the department necessary or expedient for the efficient prosecution of any war in which His Majesty may be engaged or for the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community; and the terms of any such agreement or licence as is mentioned in the said...
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