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No. 10

Invention
made in
execution of
employment
contracts.

9. (1) 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.

10. (1) The inventor shall be named as such in the patent, Naming of
inventor.
unless in a special written declaration signed by him and addressed
to the Registrar he indicates that he wishes not to be named.

(2) Inventions made without any relation to an employment
or service contract and without the use of the employer's resources,
installations or equipment shall belong solely to the employee or
person commissioned.

(2) 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.

Patents and Industrial Designs Act

2012

(3) In the absence of an express term to the contrary,
inventions made by the employee or person commissioned which do
not come within subsection (1) and which results from both the
personal contribution of the inventor and the resources, installations
or equipment of the employer, shall be owned jointly in equal shares
and the employer shall have the exclusive right to a licence of
exploitation and the employee or person commissioned shall have
the right to a fixed remuneration.

No. 10

Patents and Industrial Designs Act

PART IV -APPLICATION FOR GRANT AND REFUSAL OF
�
GRANT OF PATENT
�
11.
(1) An application for a patent shall be filed with the Application.
Registrar and shall contain (a)	� a request;
(b)	� a description;

(4) The exploitation of the subject of the patent shall be
started by the employer within one year from the date of the patent
grant, failing which the invention shall become the exclusive property
of the employee or person commissioned.

(c)	� one or more claims;

(5) The employer may also apply for a patent under
subsection (3) to be granted in another country provided that fixed
remuneration is guaranteed to the employee or person commissioned.

(e)	� an abstract.

(6) In the absence of an agreement to start the exploitation
of the patent during such exploitation, either of the joint owners on
an equal footing may exercise his right of preference within the period
provided under this Act.
(7) This section shall also apply where relevant directly or
indirectly to governmental and other public organisations.
(8)	� The advantages given to the employee by subsection
(4) shall not be reduced by contract.

2012

(d)	� one or more drawings or deposits of biological
material where required; and

(2) The application shall be subject to the payment of the
prescribed application fee.
(3) Where the applicant's ordinary residence or principal
place of business is outside Sierra Leone, he shall be represented by
an agent.
(4) The request shall contain a petition to the effect that
the patent be granted, and shall state the name of and other prescribed
date concerning the applicant, the inventor and the agent, if any, and
the title of the invention.

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