Singapore legislation
Section 17
Section 17
Priority date
(1)
For the purposes of this Act, the priority date of an invention to which an application for a patent relates and also of any matter (whether or not the same as the invention) contained in the application is, except as provided by the provisions of this Act, the date of filing the application.
(2)
Where in or in connection with an application for a patent (called in this section the application in suit) a declaration is made, whether by the applicant or any predecessor in title of the applicant, complying with the relevant requirements of the rules and specifying one or more earlier relevant applications for the purposes of this section made by the applicant or a predecessor in title of the applicant, and the application in suit has a date of filing, within the period mentioned in subsection (3)(a) or (b), then —
if an invention to which the application in suit relates is supported by matter disclosed in the earlier relevant application or applications, the priority date of that invention, instead of being the date of filing the application in suit, is the date of filing the relevant application in which that matter was disclosed or, if it was disclosed in more than one relevant application, the earliest of them; and
the priority date of any matter contained in the application in suit which was also disclosed in the earlier relevant application or applications is the date of filing the relevant application in which that matter was disclosed or, if it was disclosed in more than one relevant application, the earliest of them.
(3)
For the purposes of subsection (2), the period is —
the period of 12 months immediately following the date of filing of the specified earlier relevant application or, if there is more than one relevant application, the earliest of them; or
where the Registrar has granted a request under subsection (4), the period commencing immediately after the period referred to in paragraph (a) and ending at the end of such period as may be prescribed.
(4)
The applicant may make a request to the Registrar for the declaration referred to in subsection (2) to be made after the period referred to in subsection (3)(a).
(5)
Where the applicant makes a request under subsection (4), the applicant must, if the applicant has failed to file the application in suit within the period mentioned in subsection (3)(a), indicate in the request whether the applicant’s failure to file the application in suit within the period mentioned in subsection (3)(a) —
occurred in spite of due care required by the circumstances having been taken; or
was unintentional.
(6)
The Registrar must grant a request under subsection (4) if and only if —
the request is made within such period and in such manner, and complies with such requirements, as may be prescribed; and
where the applicant has failed to file the application in suit within the period referred to in subsection (3)(a), the Registrar is satisfied that the applicant’s failure to file the application in suit within the period mentioned in subsection (3)(a) —
occurred in spite of due care required by the circumstances having been taken; or
was unintentional.
(7)
Where an invention or other matter contained in the application in suit was also disclosed in 2 earlier relevant applications filed by the same applicant as in the case of the application in suit or a predecessor in title of the applicant and the second of those relevant applications was specified in or in connection with the application in suit, the second of those relevant applications, so far as it concerns that invention or matter, is to be disregarded unless —
it was filed in or in respect of the same country as the first; and
not later than the date of filing the second, the first (whether or not so specified) was unconditionally withdrawn, or was abandoned or refused, without —
having been made available to the public whether in Singapore or elsewhere;
leaving any right outstanding; and
having served to establish a priority date in relation to another application, wherever made.
(8)
This section applies for determining the priority date of an invention for which a patent has been granted as it applies for determining the priority date of an invention to which an application for that patent relates.
(9)
In this section and section 18, “relevant application” means any of the following applications which has a date of filing:
an application for a patent under this Act;
an application in or for a convention country for protection in respect of an invention or an application which, in accordance with the law of a convention country or a treaty or international convention to which a convention country is a party, is equivalent to such an application.
(10)
In subsection (9), “convention country” means —
a country other than Singapore that is a party to the Paris Convention or a member of the World Trade Organisation; or
any other country with which Singapore has entered into a treaty, convention, arrangement or engagement and which is declared by the Minister, by order in the Gazette, as a convention country.