INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ACT
Who can have a right to a patent?
67. (1) Subject to the provisions of section 68 the right
to a patent shall belong to the inventor.
(2) Where two or more persons have jointly made an
invention, the right to a patent shall belong to them jointly.
(3) If and to the extent to which two or more persons
have made the same invention independently of each other,
the person whose application has the earliest filling date or,
if priority is claimed, the earliest validly claimed priority
date, shall have the right to the patent, so long as that
application is not withdrawn, abandoned or rejected.
68. Where the essential element of the invention claimed
in a patent application or patent have been unlawfully derived
from an invention for which the right to the patent belongs
to another person, such other person may apply to the Court
for an order that the said patent application or patent be
assigned to him :
Provided that where, after a patent application has been
filed, the person to whom the right to the patent belongs
gives his consent to the filing of the said patent application,
such consent shall, for all purposes, be deemed to have been
effective from the date of filing of such application :
Provided also that the Court shall not entertain an
application for the assignment of a patent after the expiry of
a period of five years from the date of grant of the patent.
69. (1) In the absence of any provision to the contrary
in any contract of employment or for the execution of work,
the right to a patent for an invention made in the performance
of such contract of employment or in the execution of such
work shall be deemed to accrue to the employer, or the person
who commissioned the work, as the case may be :
Provided that where the invention acquires an economic
value much greater than the parties could reasonably have
foreseen at the time of entering the contract of employment
or for the execution of work, as the case may be, the inventor
shall be entitled to equitable remuneration which may be
fixed by the Court an application made to it in that behalf,
in the absence of an agreement between the parties.
(2) Where an employee whose contract of employment
does not require him to engage in any inventive activity,
makes in the field of activities of his employer, an invention
using data or means placed at his disposal by his employer,
the right to the patent for such invention shall be deemed to
accrue to the employer, in the absence of any provision to
the contrary in the contract of employment :
Provided that the employee shall be entitled to equitable
remuneration which, in the absence of agreement between
the parties, may be fixed by the Court, taking into account
his emoluments an application made to it in that behalf the
economic value of the invention and any benefit derived
from it by the employer.
(3) The rights conferred on the inventor under
subsections (1) and (2) shall not be restricted by contract.
70. (1) The inventor shall be named as such in the
patent, unless by a declaration in writing signed by him or
on his behalf and submitted to the Director-General, he
indicates his decision to forgo his name being included in
the patent.
(2) The provisions of subsection (1) shall not be
modified by the terms of any contract.