32
Government Gazette 23 March 2012
Act No. 1, 2012
No. 4907
INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY ACT, 2012
ARIPO patents
44.
(1)
Where an application for the grant of a patent in ARIPO is
filed with the Office as the receiving office as contemplated in Article 2 of the Harare
Protocol, the Registrar must without delay transmit the application to the office of
ARIPO and perform such acts as are required of him or her, after which the application
must be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Harare Protocol.
(2)
If the office of ARIPO decides to grant a patent on an application and
notifies the Registrar, the Registrar must –
(a)
accord as the filing date of the application, the filing date accorded to
the application by the office of ARIPO;
(b)
determine whether the application complies with sections 35 and 36;
(c)
if the Registrar finds that the requirements referred to in sections 35
and 36 are not complied with, communicate in writing to the office of
ARIPO within six months from the date on which the Registrar was
notified, that if a patent is granted by that office that patent has no effect
in Namibia;
(d)
if the Registrar finds that the requirements referred to in sections 35
and 36 are complied with, deal with the application in accordance with
sections 38 and 39.
(3)
A patent granted by ARIPO by virtue of the Harare Protocol and in
respect of which Namibia is a designated State, has the same effect in Namibia as a
patent granted under this Act unless the Registrar has communicated to ARIPO in
respect of the application therefor, a decision as contemplated in subsection (2)(c).
PART 6
DURATION OF PATENT AND ANNUAL FEES
Duration of patent and extension
45.
Subject to section 46, a patent expires 20 years after the filing date of
the application for the patent in terms of section 34(1), 44(2)(a) or 83(2)(c), as the case
may be.
Annual fees
46.
(1)
In order to maintain the patent or patent application, the owner
of the patent or the applicant for a patent must, in the manner prescribed, pay to the
Registrar the prescribed annual fee for each year starting one year after the filing date of
the application for the grant of the patent.
(2)
If the owner of a patent or the applicant for a patent fails to pay the
prescribed fee within the prescribed period, the Registrar may on request by the owner
or applicant, grant a grace period not exceeding six months within which the annual fee
and any prescribed surcharge must be paid by the owner or applicant.