I ask leave to introduce a Bill entitled the Patents Trade Marks and Designs (Validation) Bill, 1926, of which the long title is "An Act to declare and establish the validity in Saorstát Eireann of certain British patents and the British registration of certain trade marks and designs." The important section is Section 2, which, as it is short, I propose to read:—
"Every patent granted by the Patent Office in London, whether before or after the passing of this Act, and bearing date as of any day prior to the 7th day of December, 1921, shall have and be deemed always to have had the same force and effect in Saorstát Eireann as it has for the time being in Great Britain whether such force and effect are derived from or dependent on the original grant of the patent or any renewal thereof or any payment of fees, and whether such renewal or payment was made before or after the passing of this Act."
There are other sections which do exactly the same thing in regard to trade marks and designs as that section sets out to do in regard to patents. Deputies must have noticed in a case that came before the court recently, a judge of the High Court decided that patents granted before 7th December, 1921, ceased by the setting up of the Free State to have any further force or effect in the Free State. An appeal has been entered against that decision. The matter is, therefore, sub judice, but if the decision be established as the rule of law which is to operate in regard to patents then it is the view of the Executive Council that there should be legislation to declare the validity of such patents as from the 7th December, 1921, and to declare that with retrospective effect. This is the proposed legislation.