Patents (Amendment) Bill 1999: Committee and Remaining Stages.
Sections 1 to 5, inclusive agreed to.
SECTION 6.
Government amendment No. 1:
In page 7, to delete line 18 and substitute the following:
"23.—(1) The date of filing of a patent application shall be".
Gabh mó leithscéal as a bheith déanach. Bhíos ag vótáil sa Dáil. I am taking Committee Stage on behalf of my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, who has another commitment. As has been explained previously, the amendments in this instance are mainly technical in nature.
The aim of amendment No. 1 is to delete line 18 and substitute the following: "23.-(1) The date of filing of a patent application shall be". The purpose of this editorial amendment is to insert the title of the section into the section, as amended.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 6, as amended, agreed to.
Sections 7 and 8 agreed to.
SECTION 9.
Government amendment No. 2:
In page 9 to delete lines 37 and 38 and substitute the following:
"9.—Part II of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following sections after section 35 but in Chapter IV of the Part.".
This amendment was suggested by the Parliamentary Counsel. It is an editorial amendment, the purpose of which is to insert a clarifying reference in Part II of the Principal Act into the introduction of the section.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 9, as amended, agreed to.
SECTION 10.
Government amendment No. 3:
In page 12, line 21, to delete "including in particular" and substitute "including, in particular,".
This is only a minor grammatical correction.
Amendment agreed to.
Government amendment No. 4:
In page 13, line 33, after "or" to insert "by".
This is a minor grammatical change suggested by the Parliamentary Counsel to insert the word "by" before the reference to subsection (10) in subsection (11) of that section.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 10, as amended, agreed to.
Sections 11 to 25, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 26.
Amendment No. 6 is related to amendment No. 5, therefore, both amendments may be discussed together by agreement.
Government amendment No. 5:
In page 18, line 39, to delete " ", ".
Amendment No. 5 relates to a drafting point to facilitate the introduction of a new subsection (2D) which is to follow subsection (2C). Amendment No. 6 also relates to section 26. It proposes to insert the following paragraph between lines 39 and 40, which is the new subsection (2D) to which I referred. It states: "Where the Controller decides to allow a request under this section to correct an error or mistake in a withdrawal of an application for a patent and notice of the request was published in the Journal under subsection (2A), the Controller shall make an order restoring the application and publish notice of the restoration in the Journal". This is clearly to provide that where the controller decides to restore an application withdrawn in error, the notice of the request to restore the application has been published under subsection (2A), and that he is in a position to do that.
Amendment agreed to.
Government amendment No. 6:
In page 18, between lines 39 and 40, to insert the following:
"(2D) Where the Controller decides to allow a request under this section to correct an error or mistake in a withdrawal of an application for a patent and notice of the request was published in the Journal under subsection (2A), the Controller shall make an order restoring the application and publish notice of the restoration in the Journal.",".
Amendment agreed to.
Section 26, as amended, agreed to.
Section 27 agreed to.
SECTION 28.
Government amendment No. 7:
In page 20, to delete lines 27 to 46 and substitute the following:
"118A.—(1) If an applicant for, or proprietor of, a patent fails to observe any time limit specified by the Controller the applicant or proprietor may request an extension of time in accordance with the prescribed requirements.
(2) Subject to subsections (5) and (6), the Controller shall grant the request, provided that the prescribed requirements are complied with.
(3) An extension of a time limit granted under subsection (2) shall expire at the end of the period prescribed for the purposes of this section.
(4) If the request for an extension of time is granted, the legal consequences of the failure to observe the time limit specified by the Controller shall be deemed not to have ensued.
(5) Where a time limit has been extended under subsection (2) any further request for an extension of time may be granted by the Controller subject to the conditions that the Controller sees fit.
(6) This section does not apply to proceedings before the Controller pursuant to Part VIII.".".
The proposal is to delete lines 27 to 46 and substitute the text as outlined in the amendment. The substance of the section remains the same, apart from subsection (3). For drafting reasons the Parliamentary Counsel found it necessary, in order to facilitate the introduction of the subsection, to set out the entire provision. The purpose of the section is to reflect Article 11 of the Patent Law Treaty relief in respect to time limits, which requires that a right to a one-off extension of a time limit fixed by an office — in this case the controller — must be allowed as a right and not subject to the exercise of discretion on the part of the controller's office. This is a most important provision.
Subsection (3) is being introduced to reflect that Article 11 of the Patent Law Treaty requires that a minimum length of extension be allowed from the date of expiration of the extended time limit. This limit will be prescribed in the patent rules. Subsection (1) is unchanged from that passed by Dáil Éireann. Subsection (2) provides that the controller shall grant the extension, as I explained. Subsection (4) provides that if an extension of time is granted, the legal consequences of the failure to observe the time limit shall be deemed not to have ensued. Subsection (5) provides that any further examination of time will be at the discretion of the controller. Subsection (6) provides that this section does not apply to proceedings before the controller.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 28, as amended, agreed to.
Section 29 agreed to.
SECTION 30.
Government amendment No. 8:
In page 21, line 25, after "following" to insert "section".
This arises from a suggestion by Parliamentary Counsel. It is an editorial amendment to include a reference to the following section in the introductory words of section 30.
Amendment agreed to.
Section 30, as amended, agreed to.
Sections 31 to 45, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 46.
Government amendment No. 9:
In page 29, line 8, to delete "amendments" and substitute "amendment".
This substitutes singular for plural. The reference should be to "amendment" because it is affected by section 43 (c).
Amendment agreed to.
Section 46, as amended, agreed to.
Sections 47 to 51, inclusive, agreed to.
TITLE.
Government amendment No. 10:
In page 5, line 12, to delete "THE 5TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1973" and substitute "5 OCTOBER 1973".
This is a stylistic change suggested by Parliamentary Counsel. It is required to align the manner in which the date is cited with the manner in which dates mentioned in the Long Title are cited.
Amendment agreed to.
Title, as amended, agreed to.
Bill reported with amendments.
When is it proposed to take Report Stage?
With agreement of the House it is proposed to take Report Stage on Wednesday, 17 November.
I am prepared to take Report State now. As the Minister of State stated——
It is an order of the House. I cannot change it. We have no choice on the matter.
I do not mean to cut across Senator Leyden. However, as the Minister of State pointed out, this Bill is technical and non-contentious. It is about commas and editorial and grammatical drafting points. I accept what Senator Leyden stated.
I appreciate the Senator's wishes. However, we discussed the matter with the Leader of the House and she feels Bills such as this should be given proper consideration. I welcome the departmental officials who are here today. When they have an opportunity to examine the Bill in detail they may discover a matter which must be dealt with. I am under instruction——
This Bill has gone on for so long.
I am under instruction from the Leader of the House not to take Report Stage. If the Minister of State requests it I will not object.
I am also in the hands of the Minister of State.
I am grateful to Senator Coghlan for making the offer. Some elements of the Bill involve time constraints. I did not expect to be afforded the opportunity to proceed with Report Stage. The officials inform me we are in a position to deal with it if the House agrees.
From previously being in the position of the Minister of State, I understand it is important to give 100% co-operation. Under the circumstances, if the Minister of State feels the Department is satisfied we can deal with Report Stage, and it would be of benefit to pass the Bill, I will concur with his request. The Leader of the House requires Bills to be given detailed consideration. Sometimes Bills are brought forward in the House in a hurry. If an early signature motion is required, we will agree to it. It is a matter for the Minister of State.
Will Senator Leyden make the proposal that Report Stage be taken now?
I propose that Report Stage be taken now.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Bill received for final consideration.
Question proposed: "That the Bill do now pass."
I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, for this Bill. It is technical but important and will have major repercussions on the protection of patents in this country. Perhaps after the Bill is passed the Minister of State will promote patents and encourage people to take them out. Sometimes people create important inventions but neglect to go through the proper patent process. As such, they lose rights to those products irrespective of the benefit they would have had personally, to their companies or to the country. I strongly recommend the Minister of State and the Department promote the benefits of patents in any way they can.
The acting director of the Patents Office was anxious about this matter. I understand a new director has been appointed. I do not know whether he or she has taken up the position yet. It would be worthwhile for the Minister of State to meet the new director and make patents more meaningful. It should be as simple as possible to patent. It is off-putting to have to go through an extremely expensive process and patent agents are not always necessary.
I thank the Minister of State and his efficient and effective departmental officials. It is nice to see three ladies in such prominent positions in the House. They are welcome and I congratulate them on this detailed and technical Bill. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, for coming before the House. I also thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and the Opposition for being so co-operative in passing this Bill.
I also thank the Ministers of State, Deputies Killeen and Michael Ahern, and their staff. I hope I did not upset anything between Senator Leyden and his Leader in this House. I would hate to do so. I understood from previous discussions I had with the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, that because this matter is non-contentious and has overrun, it was more expeditious to conduct our business as we did. The Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, mentioned time constraints may arise.
I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach, Senator Coghlan for his suggestion and Senators Leyden and Hanafin for their co-operation. On behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, I thank the Senators for facilitating the passage of the Bill. It must return to the Dáil and time constraints will arise. I also commend the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, on his work on this extremely technical Bill which is important for the protection of intellectual property. I also thank the hard-working departmental officials who included in this Bill several provisions which will save us introducing primary legislation in the future.
I understand this Bill is fully passed because it has gone through the Dáil.
Amendments have been made so it must go back.
Those amendments must go back.
Question put and agreed to.
I move that the sitting be suspended until 2 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 11.40 a.m. and resumed at 2 p.m.
