Singapore legislation
Clause 17
of Patents Bill
Clause 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)
If in or in connection with an application for a patent (the application in suit) a declaration is made, whether by the applicant or any predecessor in title of his, 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 his and each having a date of filing during the period of 12 months immediately preceding the date of filing the application in suit, 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 shall instead of being the date of filing the application in suit be 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;
the priority date of any matter contained in the application in suit which was also disclosed in the earlier relevant application or applications shall be 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)
Where an invention or other matter contained in the application in suit was also disclosed in two earlier relevant applications filed by the same applicant as in the case of the application in suit or a predecessor in title of his and the second of those relevant applications was specified in or in connection with the application in suit, the second of those relevant applications shall, so far as it concerns that invention or matter, 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not later than the date of filing the second, the first (whether or not so specified) was unconditionally withdrawn, or was abandoned or refused, without —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 rights outstanding; and
having served to establish a priority date in relation to another application, wherever made.
(4)
This section shall apply 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.
(5)
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; or
an application in or for a convention country specified under section 89 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.