Patent decision

BL number

O/078/04

Concerning rights in

GB0106932.9

Hearing Officer

Mr M C Wright

Decision date

25 March 2004

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Mr Dick Lucien Chitolie

Provisions discussed

Patents Rules 1995, Rule 110(4)

Keywords

Third party terms

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The applicant objected to the imposition of terms (commonly referred to as "third party terms") as a condition for him accepting the Office’s decision to exercise discretion under rule 110(4) to extend the period for filing a request for substantive examination. The terms, which are analogous to those in section 28A, are intended to protect the interests of third parties who may have started in good faith to use the invention between the date the patent application was announced as ceased and the date the request for an extension of time was published. The Hearing Officer found that the terms struck the right balance between the interest of the public and the rights of the applicant and that the balance of justice demanded that such terms should be applied.

Full decision O/078/04 260Kb