priority is claimed, the earliest validly claimed priority date and leads to the grant of a patent
shall have the right to the patent.
(4) The right to a patent may be assigned, or may be transferred by succession.
(5) Where an invention is made in execution of an employment contract, the right to the
patent shall belong, in the absence of contractual provisions to the contrary, to the employer.
(6) When an invention is made in execution of a commission or an employment
contract, the right to the patent for that invention shall belong, in the absence of contractual
provisions to the contrary, to the person having commissioned the work or to the employer, as
the case may be.
(7) When the invention has an economic value much greater than the parties could have
reasonably foreseen at the time of concluding the contract, the inventor shall have a right to
equitable remuneration, which shall be determined by the court in the absence of agreement
between the parties.
(8) Notwithstanding subsections (6) and (7), when an employee, whose employment
contract does not require him to engage in inventive activity, makes, in the field of activities
of his employer, an invention by using data or means available to him through his
employment, the right to the patent for that invention shall belong, in the absence of
contractual provisions to the contrary, to the employer.
Provided that the employee shall have a right to equitable remuneration taking into
account his salary, the economic value of the invention and any benefit derived from the
invention by the employer. In the absence of agreement between the parties, the remuneration
shall be determined by the court.
(9) Any contractual provision which is less favourable to the inventor than the
provisions of this section shall be null and void.
(10) The inventor shall be named as such in the patent, unless in a special written
declaration addressed to the Registrar he indicates that he wishes not to be named. Any
promise or undertaking by the inventor made to any person to the effect that he will make
such a declaration shall be without legal effect.
Applications
7.—(1) An application for a patent shall be filed with the Registrar and shall contain a
request, a description, one or more claims, one or more drawings, where required, and an
abstract. It shall be accompanied by the payment of the prescribed application fee.
(2) The request shall contain a petition to the effect that a patent be granted, the name
of the applicant and other prescribed data concerning the applicant, the inventor and the agent,
if any, and the title of the invention.
LESOTHO
Industrial Property Order, 1989 (Order No. 5 of 1989, as last amended by Act No. 4 of 1997)
[LS 1-001]
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