2 Introduction
2. On 7 June 2004 the Government laid the draft Order
before Parliament, together with an explanatory statement from
the Department of Trade and Industry (the Department).[1]
3. We have already reported on the proposal for this
Order, which proposed amending the Patents Act 1977 (the 1977
Act) in seven separate respects:
- Proposal A
would amend the provisions of the 1977 Act insofar as they relate
to the date of filing of a patent application at the Patent Office.
- Proposal B would amend
the provisions of the 1977 Act insofar as they relate to the formalities
of filing an application.
- Proposal C would amend
the procedures provided for by the 1977 Act where applicants are
offered an opportunity to remedy defects in their application
which have been discovered during the course of the preliminary
examination or the substantive examination.
- Proposal D would provide
for a limited right of reinstatement of a patent application where
it has been terminated because a deadline has been missed.
- Proposal E would provide
more flexibility in the time in which an applicant may file an
application which claims priority from an earlier application.
- Proposal F would reform
the regime applying to patent applications whose contents, if
disclosed, would prejudice national security.
- Proposal G would remove
a burden and an anomaly which the Department claims presently
exists between the signature formalities required to make a transaction
in a patent in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.
4. The House has instructed us to examine the draft
Order against such of the criteria specified in Standing Order
No. 141(6) as are relevant. We are also required to consider the
extent to which the responsible Minister has had regard to any
resolution or report of the Committee, or to any other representations
made during the period for parliamentary consideration.[2]
Our discussion of matters arising from our examination is set
out below.
1 Copies of the draft order and statement are available
to Members of Parliament from the Vote Office and to members of
the public from the Department. The proposal is also available
on the Cabinet Office website: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/act/proposals.htm
. Back
2
Standing Order No. 141(7) Back
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