continue until the end of the time aforesaid or, if any extension of that time is granted
as aforesaid, until the expiration of the extension or the last extension so granted.
16
Acceptance and publication of complete specification and cancellation thereof
(1) Subject to section fifteen, the complete specification may be accepted by the
Registrar at any time after the applicant has complied with the requirements imposed
upon him by this Act:
Provided that the applicant may give notice to the Registrar requesting him to
postpone acceptance until such date, not being later than eighteen months from the
date of lodging of the complete specification, as may be specified in the notice and
the Registrar may postpone acceptance accordingly.
(2) Subject to subsection (5), on the acceptance of a complete specification the
Registrar shall give notice to the applicant who shall, within the prescribed period or
within such further period as the Registrar may allow, advertise in the Journal the fact
that the specification has been accepted and, unless the acceptance of the
specification is so advertised, the application shall lapse.
(3) Upon advertisement in terms of subsection (2) the application form, the
specification and the other documents essential to obtain acceptance which were
lodged in pursuance thereof shall be open to public inspection unless the acceptance
of the complete specification has been cancelled in terms of subsection (5) before
such advertisement.
(4) After the date of the publication in terms of subsection (2) of notice of acceptance
of a complete specification and until the sealing of a patent in respect thereof, the
applicant shall have the like privileges and rights as if a patent for the invention had
been sealed on the date of the publication of the notice unless the acceptance of the
complete specification has been cancelled in terms of subsection (5) before that date.
(5) If so requested before the advertisement in the Journal in terms of subsection (2)
of the acceptance of a specification, the Registrar may at any time prior to the
publication of such advertisement cancel in the prescribed manner the acceptance of
that complete specification and on such cancellation he shall—
(a)
make a note thereof in the Register; and
(b)
if the advertisement of the acceptance is subsequently published in the
Journal, cause notice of the cancellation of the acceptance of the specification to be
published in the Journal.
(6) The cancellation of the acceptance of a complete specification in terms of
subsection (5) shall not preclude the Registrar from re-accepting that complete
specification at a later date if at the time the applicant requested the cancellation he
also gave notice to the Registrar such as is referred to in the proviso to subsection (1).
17
Opposition to grant of patent
(1) Any person interested, including the State, may within three months from the date
of the advertisement of the acceptance of a complete specification which has not been
cancelled in terms of subsection (5) of section sixteen or within such further period as
the Registrar, on application made to him within the said period of three months, may
allow, or, with the consent of the applicant, at any time before the sealing of the
patent, oppose the grant of a patent in accordance with this section by giving written
notice to the registrar of the Tribunal of opposition to such grant on any of the
following grounds and no others—
(a)
that the applicant is not a person entitled under section six to make the
application;
(b)
that the application is in fraud of the rights of the person giving such
notice or of any persons under or through whom he claims;
(c)
that the invention does not relate to an art, whether producing a
physical effect or not, process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter which
is capable of being applied in trade or industry;
(d)
subject to section twenty-six, that the invention is obvious in that it
involves no inventive step having regard to what was common knowledge in the art at