Skip to main content

Patents Act, 1949 (Section 41)

Volume 655: debated on Thursday 15 March 1962

The text on this page has been created from Hansard archive content, it may contain typographical errors.

41.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will amend the regulations governing applications for compulsory licences under Section 41 of the Patents Act, 1949, in such a way as to prevent patent-holders, through the imposition of a time limit, from delaying for long periods the hearing of opposed applications.

No. Both parties must be given adequate opportunity to prepare their cases and submit their evidence and counter-evidence and this needs time, particularly if one party is abroad. An arbitrary overall time limit, unless a very long one, might work unjustly on one or other party.