2 No. 10 Patents and Industrial Designs Act 2012 No. 10 PART 1–PRELIMINARY Interpretation. 1. Patents and Industrial Designs Act 2012 "priority date" means the date of the earlier application that serves as the basis for the right of priority provided in the Paris Convention; In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires"agent " means a legal practitioner resident and practicing in Sierra Leone; "Paris Convention" means the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of March, 20 1883; "ARIPO" means the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation; "Registrar" means the Registrar of Intellectual Property; "Registry" means the office of the Registrar. "ARIPO Protocol" means the Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs adopted at Harare in December 1984; "Court" means the High Court; "industrial design" means any composition of lines or colours or any three dimensional material, whether or not associated with lines or colours, provided that such a composition, form or material gives a special appearance to a product of industry or handicraft, can serve as a pattern for a product of industry or handicraft and appeals to and is judged by the eye; "invention" means an idea of an inventor which permits in practice a solution to a specific problem in the field of technology; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for Trade; "patent" means the title granted to protect an invention; PART II - PATENTABILITY 2. An invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive Patentable inventions. step and is industrially applicable. 3. (1) An invention is new if it is not anticipated by prior Novelty. art. (2) For the purpose of this Act, prior art consists of everything disclosed to the public anywhere in the world, by publication in tangible form or by oral disclosure, by use or in any other way, prior to the filing or, where appropriate, the priority date, of the application claiming the invention. (3) In the evaluation of novelty, an application for the grant of a patent in Sierra Leone shall be considered to have been comprised in prior art as from the filing date of the application, or if priority is claimed, as from the date of its validity claimed priority, to the extent to which its content is available or is later made available to the public in accordance with this Act. (4) For the purposes of subsection (2), a disclosure of the invention to the public shall not be taken into consideration if it occurred within twelve months preceding the filing date or where applicable, the priority date of the application; and if it was by reason or in consequence of- 3