The Patents Act, 1857 (Cap. 283, as amended up to Act No. 8 of 1975), Jamaica

may assign

their rights. Act, his executors, administrators, or assigns, may assign and transfer the whols or any part of his right, title, and interest in the said invention and discovery in the Letters Patent to him granted to any person whomsoever, and the assignee thereof, having recorded the said assignment in

811975 the office of the Registrar of Companies in this Island,

S. 2(b).

shall thereafter stand in the place and stead of the original patentee, as well as to all or the part assigned, of right, privilege, and advantage, as also in respect of all or pro- portionate liability or responsibility as to the said Letters Patent, and the invention and discovery thereby secured; and in like manner shall the assignees of any such asignee stand and be considered to be in the place and stead of the original patentee or inventor.

Patent may 31. Letters Patent may, upon the like proceedings being

be granted

to assignee had in all respects as in the case of an original application, of patentee

be issued by the Governor-General to the assignee of any

elsewhere.

person who may have taken out Letters Patent for his in- vention or discovery in any other country, but not for any invention or discovery made abroad for which no Letters Patent have been there obtained :

Provided that the invention or discovery so assigned shall not have been introduced into public and common use into this Island prior to the application for a patent; and that the assignee of such foreign patent shall file with his applica- tion the assignment, duly proved, under which he claims a patent in this Island, and an affidavit setting forth the date of the patent abroad, that the article thereby patented has not been in public and common use in this Island, and that he is the assignee for a good consideration.

I-

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Validity of Patent; defective or imuficient spccificntioiz

32. If in any suit or action it shall be proved, or specially patents to be found by the verdict of a jury, that by mistake, accident, or ~$~~~rl inadvertence, and without any wilful default, or intent to muchas

shall be

defraud or mislead the public, a patentee under this Act shall pro\ed to be in his specification have claimed to be the original and first ::E;o,,. inventor or discoverer of any material or substantial part of the thing patented, but of which part he was not the original or first inventor, and shall have no just or legal right to claim the same, his patent in such case shall be deemed good and valid for so much of the invention, or discovery, or improve- ment, as shall be actually his own, provided it is a materiltl and substantial part of the thing patented, and be plainly distinguishable from other parts patented without right; and every such patentee, and his legal representatives or assignees, whether holding the whole or a particular interest in the patent, may maintain suits at law or in equity for any infringement of such part of the same as is actually the in- vention or discovery of such patentee, although his specifica- tion may embrace more than he has a legal right to claim; but if in such case the plaint8 shall obtain a verdict, or judgment, he shall not be entitled to costs, unless before the commencement of the suit he shall have filed in the office 8/1975 of the Registrar of Companies a disclaimer, attested by s.2(h). one, or more than one witness of that part of the thing patented was claimed without right :

Provided that no person bringing a suit shall be entitled to the benefits of this section, if he shall, in the opinion of the court before which any such matter shall bs tried, have unreasonably neglected, or delayed, to record his disclaimer.

33. If any patent shall become inoperative or invalid by Patentsvoid

by defectivereason of a defective or insufficient description or specifica- descriptiontion, or by reason of the patentee claiming in his specification ~~~

as his own invention more than he had a right to claim, and renewed.

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[The inclusion of this page is authorized by L.N. 60/1976] Disclaimer or alteration of any partof patent may be recorded. 811975

S. 2(b).

811975

s. 2(c).

PATENT

the error has arisen from inadvertence, accident or mistake, and without any fraudulent or deceptive intention, it shall be lawful for the Governor-General upon the surrender of such patent, and upon petition therefor to cause a new patent to be issued to the patentee for the residue of the term men- tioned in the first patent, in accordance with the patentee’s amended description and specification. In case of his death, or the assignment by him of the original patent, or any frac- tional interest therein, the right shall vest in his legal rep- resentatives, to the extent of their respective interest in such patent; and the patent so re-issued, together with the amended description and specification, shall have the same effect and operation in law, as though the same had been originally filed in such amended form before the issuing of the original patent.

Disclaimers and alterations or additions to specifications

34. Every patentee under this Act or his legal representa- tive or assignee, whether holding the whole or any particular interest, may conjointly or separately, as the case may require, enter and record, at the office of the Registrar of Companies, having first obtained the leave of the Attorney- General certified by his fiat and signature, a disclaimer of any part of either the title of the invention or improvement or of the specification, stating the reason for such dis- claimer; or may, with such leave as aforesaid, enter and record at the said office a memorandum of any alteration in the said title or specification, not being such disclaimer or such alteration as shall extend the exclusive right granted by the said Letters Patent; and such disclaimer or memor- andum of alteration, being recorded by the said Registrar of Companies shall be deemed and taken to be part of such Letters Patent, or such specification, in all courts whatever :

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Provided that any person may enter a caveat at the office 8/1975

of the Registrar of Companies against such disclaimer or S.2(6).

alteration; which caveat being so entered, and a copy thereof being left with the Attorney-General, shall give the party entering the sanie a right to have notice of the application being heard by the Attorney-General :

Provided also, that no such disclaimer or alteration shall be receivable in evidence in any action or suit pending at the time when such disclaimer or alteration was entered; but in every such action or suit the original title and specifica- tion alone shall be given in evidence, and deemed and taken to be the title and specification of the invention for which the Letters Patent have been, or shall have been granted :

Provided also, that it shall be lawful for the Attorney- General, before granting such fiat, to require the party apply- ing for the same to advertise his disclaimer or alteration in such manner as to such Attorney-General shall seem right, and shall, if he so require such advertisement, certify in his fiat that the same has been duly made.

35. It shall be lawful for the Attorney-General, if he see cmon

alteration orfit, by certificate under his hand, to order by or to whom disclaimer. the costs of any hearing or enquiry for any such alteration or disclaimer shall be paid, and in what manner and by whom such costs are to be ascertained; and if any costs so ordered to be paid be amount thereof shall be so ascertained, it shall be lawful for the Attorney-General to make an order for the payment of the same, and every such order may by leave of the Supreme Court or a Judge thereof, be enforced in the same manner as a judgment or order to the same effect.

36. If an original patentee shall be desirous of adding a Improve-description and specification of an improvement upon his :;:: original invention or discovery, made or discovered by him original

invention orsubsequent to the date of his patent, he may upon the like d’ iscovery.

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8/1975

s.2(c).

Treblc damages to be paid to patentee for unlawful use of his

invention.

Penaltyfor ;$;ffalse

Penalty for unlawful user, or making false marks, etc.

1. Whenever in any case any Letters Patent shall be, or shall or may have been, granted to any person, under and by virtue of this Act, and any person, without the consent of the patentee, his executors, administrators, or assigns first had and obtained in writing, shall make, devise, use, or sell the thing, invention, or discovery whereof the exclu- sive right is secured to the said patentee by such Letters Patent, such person so offending shall forfeit and pay to the said patentee, his executors, administrators, or assigns a sum equal to three times the actual damage sustained by such patentee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, from or by reason of such offence; which sum shall and may be recover- able, together with costs of suit in the Supreme Court of this Island.

2. If any person shall write, paint, or print, or mould, cast, or carve, or engrave, or stamp upon anything made, used or sold by him, for the sole making or selling of which he hath not or shall not have obtained Letters Patent, the name, or any imitation of the name, of any other person

who hath or shall have obtained Letters Patent for the sole making and vending of such thing, without leave in writing of such patentee, or his assigns; or if any person shall, upon such thing, not having been purchased from the patentee or some psrson who purchased it from or under such patentee, or not having had the licence or consent in writing of such

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patentee or his assigns, write, paint, print, mould, cast, carve, engrave, stamp, or otherwise mark the word “Patent”, the words “Letters Patent”, or the words “by the Queen’s Patent”, or any words of the like kind, meaning, or import, with a view of imitating or counterfeiting the stamp, mark, or other device of the patentee; or shall, in any other manner, imitate or counterfeit the stamp or mark, or other device of the patentee, he shall for every such offence, be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars, to be recovered by action of debt in the Supreme Court, one-half to Her Majesty, and the other to any person who shall sue for the same :

Provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed to extend to subject any person to any penalty in respect of stamping, or in any way marking, the word “Patent” upon anything made, for the sole making or vending of which a patent before obtained shall have expired.

Forms

40. The forms in the Schedule may be used for and in respect of the several matters therein mentioned, and the same may be varied as occasion may require.

Construction of Act

41. If any doubts shall arise in the construction of this Act, the same may be construed by analogy to the laws now or hereafter to be in force in England relating to the granting of Letters Patent for inventions, so far as the pro- visions of such laws shall be applicable.

Legal proceedings in connecfion with Letters Parcnt

42.41) The proceedings by scire facias to repeal a patent is hereby abolished.

(2)

Revocation of a patent may be obtained on petition to the Supreme Court.

(3)

Every ground on which a patent might, on the twenty-seventh day of May, 1891, be repealed by scire facius shall be available by way of defence to an action of infringe- ment, and shall also be a ground of revocation.

(4)

A petition for revocation of a patent may be presented by-

(a)

the Attorney-General of this Island;

(b)

any person authorized by the Attorney-General;

(c)

any person alleging that the patent was obtained in fraud of his rights, or of the rights of any person under or through whom he claims;

(d)

any person alleging that he, or any person under or through whom he claims, was the true inventor of any invention included in the claim of the patentee;

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(e) Any person alleging that he, or any person under or through whom he claims an interest in any trade, business or manufacture, had publicly manufactured, used or sold, within this Island, before the date of the patent, anything claimed by the patentee as his invention.

(5)

The Plaintiff must deliver with his petition particulars of the objections on which he means to rely, and no evidence shall, except by leave of the court or a Judge, be admitted in proof of any objection of which particulars are not so delivered.

(6)

Particulars delivered may be from time to time amended by leave of the court or a Judge.

(7)

The defendant shall be entitled to begin, and give evidence in support of the patent, and if the plaintif€ gives evidence impeaching the validity of the patent, the defendant shall be entitled to reply.

(8)

Where a patent has been revoked on the ground of fraud the Governor-General may, on the application of the true inventor made in accordance with the provisions of this Act, grant to him a patent in lieu of, and bearing the same date as the date of revocation of, the patent so revoked, but the patent so granted shall cease on the expiration of the term for which the revoked patent was granted.

43.-(1) In an action or proceeding for infringement or powerto revocation of a patent, the court may, if it thinks fit, and z:$&e shall on the request of either of the parties to the proceeding, ==s~~r. call in the aid of an assessor specially qualified, and try and hear the case wholly or partially with his assistance; the action shall be tried without a jury unless the court shall otherwise direct.

(2) The remuneration, if any, to be paid to an assessor under this section, shall be determined by the court,