Patents Act, 1992

Right to patent.

16.—(1) The right to a patent shall belong to the inventor or his successor in title, but if the inventor is an employee the right to a patent shall be determined in accordance with the law of the state in which the employee is wholly or mainly employed or, if the identity of such state cannot be determined, in accordance with the law of the state in which the employer has his place of business to which the employee is attached.

(2) If two or more persons have made an invention independently of each other, the right to a patent for the invention shall belong to the person whose patent application has the earliest or earlier (as may be appropriate) date of filing, but this provision shall apply only if the earliest or earlier application has been duly published under this Act.

(3) For the purposes of proceedings before the Controller the applicant shall be deemed to be entitled to exercise the right to the patent.