Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act, 1927

Publication of invention at certain exhibitions.

60.—(1) The exhibition of an invention at an industrial or international exhibition, certified as such by the Minister, or the publication of any description of the invention during the period of the holding of the exhibition, or the use of the invention for the purpose of the exhibition in the place where the exhibition is held, or the use of the invention during the period of the holding of the exhibition by any person elsewhere, without the privity or consent of the inventor, or the reading of a paper by an inventor before a learned society or the publication of the paper in the society's transactions, shall not prejudice the right of the inventor to apply for and obtain a patent in respect of the invention or the validity of any patent granted on the application: Provided that—

(a) the exhibitor, before exhibiting the invention, or the person reading such paper or permitting such publication, gives the controller the prescribed notice of his intention to do so; and

(b) the application for a patent is made before or within six months from the date of the opening of the exhibition, or the reading or publication of such paper.

(2) The Executive Council may by Order apply this section to any exhibition mentioned in the Order in like manner as if it were an industrial or international exhibition certified as such by the Minister and any such Order may provide that the exhibitor shall be relieved from the condition of giving notice to the controller of his intention to exhibit, and shall be so relieved either absolutely or upon such terms and conditions as may be stated in the Order.