Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act 1888
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1888 c. 50 |
| Year | 1888 |
Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1888
(51 & 52 Vict.) CHAPTER 50.
An Act to amend the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883.
[24th December 1888]
Whereas it is expedient to amend the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883, herein-after referred to as the principal Act:
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen'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 Register of patent agents.
(1)1.—(1.) After the first day of July one thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine a person shall not be entitled to describe himself as a patent agent, whether by advertisement, by description on his place of business, by any document issued by him, or otherwise, unless he is registered as a patent agent in pursuance of this Act.
(2) (2.) The Board of Trade shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, and may from time to time, make such general rules as are in the opinion of the Board required for giving effect to this section, and the provisions of section one hundred and one of the principal Act shall apply to all rules so made as if they were made in pursuance of that section.
(3) (3.) Provided that every person who proves to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade that prior to the passing of this Act he had been bon fide practising as a patent agent shall be entitled to be registered as a patent agent in pursuance of this Act.
(4) (4.) If any person knowingly describes himself as a patent agent in contravention of this section he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.
(5) (5.) In this section ‘patent agent’ means exclusively an agent for obtaining patents in the United Kingdom.
2 Amendments of 46 & 47 Vict. c. 57. — s. 7, as to applications.
2. For section seven of the principal Act the following section shall be substituted, namely:—
7 7.
(1)‘7. (1.) If the examiner reports that the nature of the invention is not fairly described, or that the application, specification, or drawings has not, or have not, been prepared in the prescribed manner, or that the title does not sufficiently indicate the subject matter of the invention, the comptroller 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 comptroller so directs, bear date as from the time when the requirement is complied with.
(2) (2.) Where the comptroller refuses to accept an application or requires an amendment, the applicant may appeal from his decision to the law officer.
(3) (3.) The law officer shall, if required, hear the applicant and the comptroller, and may make an order determining whether, and subject to what conditions (if any), the application shall be accepted.
(4) (4.) The comptroller shall, when an application has been accepted, give notice thereof to the applicant.
(5) (5.) If, after an application for a patent has been made, but before the patent thereon has been sealed, another application for a patent is made, accompanied by a specification bearing the same or a similar title, the comptroller, if he thinks fit, on the request of the second applicant, or of his legal representative, may, within two months of the grant of a patent on the first application, either decline to proceed with the second application or allow the surrender of the patent, if any, granted thereon.’
3 s. 9, as to disclosure of reports of examiners.
3. In sub-section five of section nine of the principal Act the words ‘other than an appeal to the law officer under this Act’ shall be omitted.
4 s. 11, as to opposition to grant of patent.
4. In sub-section one of section eleven of the principal Act the words from ‘or on the ground of an examiner’ to ‘a previous application,’ both inclusive, shall be omitted, and there shall be added in lieu thereof the following words, namely, ‘or on the ground that the complete specification describes or claims an invention other than that described in the provisional specification, and that such other invention forms the subject of an application made by the opponent in the interval between the leaving of the provisional specification and the leaving of the complete specification.’
5 s. 18, as to amended specifications.
5. For sub-section ten of section eighteen of the principal Act the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—
(10)‘(10.) The foregoing provisions of this section do not apply when, and so long as any action for infringement or proceeding for revocation of a patent is pending.’
6 s. 52, as to inspection of designs.
6. After sub-section one of section fifty-two of the principal Act the following words shall be added; namely,
‘Provided that where registration of a design is refused on the ground of identity with a design already registered, the applicant for registration shall be entitled to inspect the design so registered.’
7 s. 58, as to piracy of registered designs.
(1)7.—(1.) In section fifty-eight of the principal Act the words ‘or cause to be applied’ shall be added after the word ‘apply.’
(2) (2.) To the same section the following words shall be added: ‘Provided that the total sum forfeited in respect of any one design shall not exceed one hundred pounds.’
8 s. 62, as to application for registration.
(1)8.—(1.) In subsection two of section sixty-two of the principal Act for the words ‘the patent office in the prescribed manner’ shall be substituted the words ‘such place and in such manner as may be prescribed.’
(2) (2.) To the same section of the principal Act the following sub-section shall be added:—
(6)‘(6.) Where an applicant for the registration of a trade mark otherwise than under an international convention is out of the United Kingdom at the time of making the application he shall give the comptroller an address for service in the United Kingdom, and if he fails to do so the application shall not be proceeded with until the address has been given.
9 s. 63, as to limit of time for proceeding with application.
9. In section sixty-three of the principal Act for the words ‘the application shall be deemed to be abandoned’ shall be substituted the words ‘the comptroller shall give notice of the non-completion to the agent employed on behalf of the applicant, and, if at the expiration of fourteen days from that notice the registration is not completed, shall give the like notice to the applicant, and if at the expiration of the latter fourteen days, or such further time as the comptroller may in special cases permit, the registration is not completed, the application shall be deemed to be abandoned.’
10 s. 64, as to fancy words.
(1)10.—(1.) For section sixty-four of the principal Act the following section shall be substituted, namely—
64 64.
(1)64.—(1.) For the purposes of this Act, a trade mark must consist of or contain at least one of the following essential particulars:
(a .) A name of an individual or firm printed, impressed, or woven in some particular and distinctive manner; or
(b .) A written signature or copy of a written signature of the individual or firm applying for registration thereof as a trade mark; or
(c .) A distinctive device, mark, brand, heading, label, or ticket; or
(d .) An invented word or invented words; or
(e .) A word or words having no reference to the character or quality of the goods, and not being a geographical name.
(2) (2.) There may be added to any one or more of the essential particulars mentioned in this section any letters, words, or figures, or combination of letters, words, or figures, or of any of them, but the applicant for registration of any such additional matter must state in his application the essential particulars of the trade mark, and must disclaim in his application any right to the...
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