(b) in good faith and for the purposes of the undertaking, was manufacturing the product or applying the
process or had made serious preparations with a view to doing so, then, notwithstanding the grant of
a patent, there shall exist a right (exercisable by the person for the time being conducting the
undertaking, and not otherwise) to continue the manufacture or application, or to continue and
complete the preparations and thereafter undertake the manufacture or application, as the case may
be, and in respect of any resulting products to do any other act mentioned in subsection (1) of this
section.
7. (1) Subject to this Act, a patent shall expire at the end of the twentieth year from the date of the filing of the
relevant patent application.
(2) A patent shall lapse if the prescribed annual fees are not duly paid in respect of it:
Provided that(a) a period of grace of six months shall be allowed for the payment of the fees; and
(b) if the fees and any prescribed surcharge are paid within that period, the patent shall continue as if the
fees had been duly paid.
(3) The expiration or lapse of a patent shall be registered and notified.
8. (1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, a patent, may be surrendered by the patentee by written
declaration addressed to the Registrar.
(2) The surrender of a patent(a) may relate to all or any of the claims made by the patent;
(b) subject to paragraph (d) of this subsection, shall be registered and notified;
(c) shall not be effective until it has been registered; and
(d) if it relates to a patent as to which a contractual licence or licence of right is registered, shall be
registered only if it is accompanied by the written consent of the licensee.
9. (1) Subject to this section, on the application of any person (including a public officer acting in the exercise
of his functions) the court shall declare a patent null and void(a) if the subject of the patent is not patentable under section 1 of this Act; or
(b) if the description of the invention or the claim does not conform with section 3(2) of this Act; or
(c) if for the same invention a patent has been granted in Nigeria as the result of a prior application or an
application benefiting from an earlier foreign priority.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section may apply to the whole of a patent or to any particular claim or claims
made by it.
(3) For the purpose of disposing of an application under subsection (1) of this section, the court on the
motion of the applicant or of its own motion may require the patentee of the relevant patent to produce in
evidence any of the following(a) a list of any publications or earlier patents referred to in connection with a patent application made in
respect of the same invention by the patentee to the appropriate authority in any country outside
Nigeria;
(b) any proceedings relating to the patent application in question or any patent granted in pursuance of it;
and