Patents, Designs, Copyright and Trade Marks (Emergency) Act 1939
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1939 c. 107 |
| Year | 1939 |
Patents, Designs, Copyright and Trade Marks (Emergency) Act, 1939
(2 & 3 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 107.
An Act to make such special provision with respect to patents, registered designs, copyright and trade marks, as is expedient to meet any emergency which may arise as a result of war.
[21st September 1939]
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 Provisions as to existing licences under patents, designs and copyright of enemies and enemy subjects, and as to contracts relating thereto.
(1)Notwithstanding the provisions of section one of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1939 , or any rule of law relating to intercourse or dealings with or for the benefit of enemies, a licence under a patent or for the application of a registered design or granting an interest in a copyright, being a licence which would have been in force in favour of a person resident in the United Kingdom or the Isle of Man if neither the proprietor of the patent or registered design, or the owner of the copyright, as the case may be, nor any person otherwise interested therein, had been an enemy, shall not be invalid by reason of the fact that the proprietor or owner or any person otherwise interested therein is an enemy, nor shall any contract, in so far as it relates to any such licence as aforesaid, be invalid by reason of the fact that any party to the contract is an enemy:
Provided that nothing in this section shall—
(a ) render valid a grant or an assignment of any such licence as aforesaid, or any contract relating to any such licence, if that grant, assignment or contract is made during the existence of a state of war and is unlawful by virtue of any provision of the said section one or of any such rule as aforesaid, or
(b ) authorise the performance of any contract relating to any such licence as aforesaid in a manner inconsistent with any of the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1939, or of any other enactment relating to intercourse or dealings with or for the benefit of enemies, or to the property, rights, or capacity of enemies, or in a manner inconsistent with any rule of law relating to any of those matters.
(2) In the case of any such licence as aforesaid, where an enemy or an enemy subject is, or has at any time since the beginning of the third day of September nineteen hundred and thirty-nine been, whether alone or jointly with any other person, the proprietor of the patent or registered design, or the owner of the copyright, as the case may be, or entitled to any other interest therein (not being merely the interest of a licensee), the comptroller may, on the application of the licensee or any other person interested in the patent, registered design or copyright, by order—
(a ) revoke the licence;
(b ) revoke or vary any conditions subject to which the licence has effect; or
(c ) revoke or vary any of the provisions of a contract relating to the licence in so far as they relate thereto.
An order for a variation made under this subsection may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order made thereunder.
2 Power of comptroller to grant licences under patents, designs or copyright of enemies and enemy subjects.
(1) Where—
(a ) an enemy or an enemy subject is, or has at any time since the beginning of the third day of September nineteen hundred and thirty-nine been, whether alone or jointly with any other person, the proprietor of a patent or registered design or the owner of a copyright, or entitled to any other interest in a patent, registered design or copyright (not being merely the interest of a licensee), and
(b ) the comptroller is satisfied that it is in the interest of all or any of His Majesty's subjects that the rights conferred by the patent should be exercised, or that the design should be applied or the copyright exercised, as the case may be, and that a person who is not an enemy or an enemy subject desires to exercise the said rights or apply the said design or exercise the said copyright and is in a position so to do,
the comptroller may, on the application of that person, make an order granting to him a licence under the patent or for the application of the design or granting an interest in the copyright, as the case may be, either for the whole of the residue of the term of the patent, registration or copyright, or for such less period as the comptroller thinks fit.
(2) The power of the comptroller under this section to make an order granting a licence shall include the power—
(a ) to make an order granting an exclusive licence;
(b ) to make an order granting a licence in relation to a patent, registered design or copyright, notwithstanding that a licence, whether exclusive or otherwise (not being an exclusive licence granted by virtue of the powers conferred by this section), is in force in relation thereto; and
(c ) to make an order granting a licence on any terms that the comptroller may think expedient.
(3) Where, under the power conferred by this section, the comptroller makes an order granting a licence in relation to a patent, registered design, or copyright in relation to which any other licence has been granted otherwise than by an order made under this section, the comptroller may, in relation to that other licence, make any order which the comptroller would have had power to make on an application under subsection (2) of the last foregoing section, and which appears to him to be expedient having regard to the order made under this section.
(4) An order granting a licence under this section shall, without prejudice to any other method of enforcement, operate as if it were embodied in a deed granting the licence which the patentee, the proprietor of the registered design, or the owner of the copyright, as the case may be, and all other parties having any interest therein, had executed with full capacity so to do, and the order shall accordingly operate to take away from any such party any right in relation thereto the exercise whereof would be inconsistent with the exercise of the licence in accordance with and subject to the terms on which it is granted.
(5) A licensee under a licence granted under this section may institute proceedings for infringement in his own name as though he were the patentee, the proprietor of the registered design or the owner of the copyright, as the case may be, so, however, that any person other than an enemy who, whether alone or jointly with any other person, is the patentee, the registered proprietor of the registered design, or the owner of the copyright, as the case may be, shall, unless the court in which the proceedings are taken thinks fit to direct otherwise, be made a party to the proceedings, either—
(a ) if he consents in writing thereto, as a plaintiff, or
(b ) if he does not so consent, as a defendant.
Where any person is made defendant to any proceedings by virtue of this subsection, he shall not be liable for any costs unless he enters an appearance and takes part in the proceedings.
(6) An order granting a licence under this section shall give directions as to the person to whom or the manner in which the licensee is to pay or deal with any royalties or other payments to be paid in respect of the licence. In framing any such directions, the comptroller shall have regard to the purposes of any relevant order for the time being in force under the Trading with the Enemy Act, 1939; but any directions given by him under this subsection shall, in so far as they may be inconsistent with the provisions of any such order, have effect to the exclusion of those provisions.
(7) An order under this section and a licence granted by such...
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