Acts Online
GT Shield

Patents Act, 1978 (Act No. 57 of 1978)

Chapter XIV : Acquisition of rights to inventions and patents by the State

80. Minister may require inventions to be kept in certain circumstances

 

 

(1) If the Minister is of opinion that in the national interest an application, specification, drawing or other document relating to any invention should be kept secret, he may order the registrar to keep the invention secret and to notify the applicant accordingly, and if any Minister of State desires to acquire such invention on behalf of the State, the provisions of section 79 shall as far as applicable apply, and for that purpose the reference in section 79 to the Minister of Defence shall be deemed to be a reference to the said Minister of State.

 

(2) Whenever any order issued by the Minister under this section is withdrawn, any steps which were prior to the date of that order taken under this Act in connection with the application which was the subject of that order, and which were interrupted in consequence of that order, may be proceeded with as if the interruption had not occurred, and any period which may have elapsed between the date on which that order was lodged with the registrar and the date of withdrawal thereof shall not be taken into account in the computation of any period of time prescribed by or under this Act.

 

(3) If the proprietor of an invention has suffered loss or damage by reason of that invention having been kept secret in pursuance of an order under subsection (1), the Minister shall pay to him such reasonable compensation as may be agreed upon or as may, in default of agreement, be determined by arbitration or, if the parties so agree, by the commissioner.