New Zealand Legislation: Acts

2 Interpretation

• (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

  Applicant includes a person in whose favour a direction has been given under section 24 of this Act and the personal representative of a deceased applicant

  Article includes any substance or material, and any plant, machinery, or apparatus, whether affixed to land or not

  Assignee includes the personal representative of a deceased assignee; and references to the assignee of any person include references to the assignee of the personal representative or assignee of that person

  Commissioner means the Commissioner of Patents

  Commonwealth

  [Repealed]

  Commonwealth: this definition was repealed, as from 2 September 1996, by section 2 Patents Amendment Act 1996 (1996 No 139).

  Convention application has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (4) of section 7 of this Act

  Convention country, in any provision of this Act, means an entity for the time being declared by an order under section 77 to be a convention country for the purposes of that provision

  Convention country: this definition was substituted, as from 14 October 1999, by section 3(2) Patents Amendment Act 1999 (1999 No 119).

  Court means the High Court

  Date of filing, in relation to any document filed under this Act, means the date on which the document is filed or, where it is deemed by virtue of any provision of this Act or of regulations made thereunder to have been filed on any different date, means the date on which it is deemed to be filed

  Exclusive licence means a licence from a patentee which confers on the licensee, or on the licensee and persons authorised by him, to the exclusion of all other persons (including the patentee), any right in respect of the patented invention; and exclusive licensee shall be construed accordingly

  Government Department means any Department or instrument of the Executive Government of New Zealand

  Integrated circuit means a circuit, in its final or an intermediate form, in which the elements, at least one of which is an active element, and some or all of the interconnections are integrally formed in or on a piece of material and that is intended to perform an electronic function

  Integrated circuit: this definition was inserted, as from 1 January 1995, by section 2 Patents Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 122). See sections 17 and 18 of that Act as to the transitional provisions. See regulation 2 Patents Amendment Act Commencement Order 1994 (SR 1994/302).

  International application means an application made under the Patent Cooperation Treaty for the protection of an invention

  International application: this definition was inserted, as from 1 December 1992, by section 2 Patents Amendment Act 1992 (1992 No 81).

  International Bureau means the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization

  International Bureau: this definition was inserted, as from 1 December 1992, by section 2 Patents Amendment Act 1992 (1992 No 81).

  International filing date means the international filing date given to an international application under Article 11 or Article 14(2) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty

  International filing date: this definition was inserted, as from 1 December 1992, by section 2 Patents Amendment Act 1992 (1992 No 81).

  Invention means any manner of new manufacture the subject of letters patent and grant of privilege within section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies and any new method or process of testing applicable to the improvement or control of manufacture; and includes an alleged invention

  Journal means the Patent Office Journal published under subsection (1) of section 112 of this Act

  Minister means the Minister of Commerce

  Minister: substituted, as from 1 December 1988, by section 4(1) Trade and Industry Act Repeal Act 1988 (1988 No 156).

  Patent means letters patent for an invention

  Patent Cooperation Treaty—

  • (a) Means the Patent Cooperation Treaty, signed at Washington on the 19th day of June 1970, the text of which, as amended on the 2nd day of October 1979 and modified on the 3rd day of February 1984, is set out in Schedule 1 to the Patents Amendment Act 1992; and

  • (b) Includes any amendments, modifications, and revisions from time to time made to the Treaty, being amendments, modifications, and revisions to which New Zealand is a party and by which New Zealand is bound:

  Patent Cooperation Treaty: this definition was inserted, as from 1 December 1992, by section 2 Patents Amendment Act 1992 (1992 No 81).

  Patent of addition means a patent granted in accordance with section 34 of this Act

  Patent Attorney means a person carrying on for gain in New Zealand the business of acting as agent for other persons for the purpose of applying for or obtaining patents in New Zealand or elsewhere

  Patentee, in relation to any patent, means the person or persons for the time being entered on the register of patents as grantee or proprietor of the patent

  Prescribed means prescribed by this Act or by regulations made under this Act

  Priority date has the meaning assigned to it by section 11 of this Act

  Published, except in relation to a complete specification, means made available to the public; and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision a document shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be published—

  • (a) If it can be inspected as of right at any place in New Zealand by members of the public whether upon payment of a fee or otherwise; or

  • (b) If it can be inspected in a library of a Government Department or of any institution or public authority and the library is one which is open generally to members of the public who are interested in matters to which the document relates and is a library in which members of the public in search of information related to the subject of the document would ordinarily seek and do in fact seek the information:

  Receiving Office has the same meaning as in Article 2(xv) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty

  Receiving Office: this definition was inserted, as from 1 December 1992, by section 2 Patents Amendment Act 1992 (1992 No 81).

  The Statute of Monopolies means the Act of the 21st year of the reign of King James the First, chapter 3, intituled “An Act concerning monopolies and dispensations with penal laws and the forfeiture thereof”.

  Treaty application means an international application—

  • (a) Which contains a request specifying New Zealand as a designated State under Article 4(1)(ii) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty; and

  • (b) Which has been given an international filing date:

  Treaty application: this definition was inserted, as from 1 December 1992, by section 2 Patents Amendment Act 1992 (1992 No 81).

  Treaty regulations—

  • (a) Means the regulations made under the Patent Cooperation Treaty and set out in Schedule 2 to the Patents Amendment Act 1992; and

  • (b) Includes any amendments from time to time made to those regulations.

  Treaty regulations: this definition was inserted, as from 1 December 1992, by section 2 Patents Amendment Act 1992 (1992 No 81).

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (3) of section 7 of this Act, so far as it relates to a convention application, and for the purposes of section 81 of this Act, the expression personal representative, in relation to a deceased person, includes the legal representative of the deceased appointed in any country outside New Zealand.

  (3) In the case of an entity that is a convention country but is not a state, part of a state, or a territory for whose international relations a state is responsible,—

  • (a) A reference in this Act to—

    • (i) Application for protection in a country; or

    • (ii) Application for protection in respect of a country,—

    must be read as a reference to application for protection under the rules of the entity:

  • (b) A reference in this Act to filing a specification in a convention country must be read as a reference to filing a specification under the rules of the entity:

  • (c) A reference in this Act to the law of a convention country must be read as a reference to the rules of the entity:

  • (d) A reference in this Act to the Government of a convention country must be read as a reference to the governing body of the entity.

  Compare: Patents Act 1949, s 101 (UK); 1921-22 No 18 s 2

  Subsection (3) was inserted, as from 14 October 1999, by section 3(3) Patents Amendment Act 1999 (1999 No 119).