New Zealand Legislation: Acts
Acts are laws made by Parliament
(1) If the Commissioner is satisfied, upon a request or claim made in accordance with the provisions of this section,—
(a) That the person in repect of or by whom the request or claim is made is the inventor of an invention in respect of which application for a patent has been made, or of a substantial part of that invention; and
(b) That the application for the patent is a direct consequence of his being the inventor,—
the Commissioner shall, subject to the provisions of this section, cause him to be mentioned as inventor in any patent granted in pursuance of the application, in the complete specification, and in the register of patents:
Provided that the mention of any person as inventor under this section shall not confer or derogate from any rights under the patent.
(2) For the purposes of this section the actual deviser of an invention or a part of an invention shall be deemed to be the inventor, notwithstanding that any other person is for any of the other purposes of this Act treated as the true and first inventor; and no person shall be deemed to be the inventor of an invention or a part of an invention by reason only that it was imported by him into New Zealand.
(3) A request that any person shall be mentioned as aforesaid may be made in the prescribed manner by the applicant for the patent or (where the person alleged to be the inventor is not the applicant or one of the applicants) by the applicant and that person.
(4) If any person (other than a person in respect of whom a request in relation to the application in question has been made under subsection (3) of this section) desires to be mentioned as aforesaid, he may make a claim in the prescribed manner in that behalf.
(5) A request or claim under the foregoing provisions of this section must be made not later than 2 months after the date of the publication of the complete specification, or within such further period (not exceeding one month) as the Commissioner may, on an application made to him in that behalf before the expiration of the said period of 2 months and subject to payment of the prescribed fee, allow.
(6) No request or claim under the foregoing provisions of this section shall be entertained if it appears to the Commissioner that the request or claim is based upon facts which, if proved in the case of an opposition under the provisions of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 21 of this Act by the person in respect of or by whom the request or claim is made, would have entitled him to relief under that section.
(7) Subject to the provisions of subsection (6) of this section, where a claim is made under subsection (4) of this section, the Commissioner shall give notice of the claim to every applicant for the patent (not being the claimant) and to any other person whom the Commissioner may consider to be interested; and before deciding upon any request or claim made under subsection (3) or subsection (4) of this section, the Commissioner shall, if required, hear the person in respect of or by whom the request or claim is made, and, in the case of a claim under the said subsection (4) any person to whom notice of the claim has been given as aforesaid.
(8) Where any person has been mentioned as inventor in pursuance of this section, any other person who alleges that he ought not have been so mentioned may at any time apply to the Commissioner for a certificate to that effect, and the Commissioner may, after hearing (if required) any person whom he may consider to be interested, issue such a certificate, and if he does so, he shall rectify the specification and the register accordingly.
(9) An appeal to the Court shall lie from any decision of the Commissioner under this section.
Compare: Patents Act 1949, s 16 (UK); 1939 No 26 s 58
