Patents Act, 1992

Mention of inventor.

17.—(1) The inventor or joint inventors of an invention shall have a right to be mentioned as such in any specification of a patent granted for the invention and shall also have a right to be so mentioned, if practicable, in any published patent application for the invention.

(2) Unless he has already given the Controller the information hereinafter mentioned, an applicant shall within the prescribed period file with the Controller a statement—

(a) identifying the person or persons whom he believes to be the inventor or inventors, and

(b) where the applicant is not the sole inventor or the applicants are not the joint inventors, indicating the derivation of his or their right to be granted the patent,

and if he fails to do so, the application shall be deemed to be withdrawn.

(3) Where a person has been mentioned as sole or joint inventor in pursuance of this section, any other person who alleges that the former ought not to have been so mentioned may at any time request the Controller to make a finding to that effect; and if the Controller does so, he shall accordingly amend the register and any undistributed copies both of the published patent application and of the specification of the granted patent.