Clause 10

Subject to subsection (2), any person may request for a search and examination report in respect of any claim or claims in the specification of a patent on any of the following grounds:

where the patent was granted on the basis of any examination report or search and examination report referred to in section 29, any international preliminary report on patentability referred to in section 30(2)(b)(vi) or any international preliminary examination report, that —

at least one claim in the application for the patent at the time the prescribed documents for the grant of the patent were filed and the prescribed fee for the grant of the patent was paid was not related to any claim in the application at the time the report was issued —

which has been examined; and

which is referred to in the report; or

the Examiner of the application did not consider all the relevant prior art before preparing the report;

where the patent was granted on the basis of any prescribed information relating to a corresponding application or corresponding international application referred to in section 29, that —

at the time the prescribed documents for the grant of the patent were filed and the prescribed fee for the grant of the patent was paid, at least one claim in the application for the patent did not relate to any claim —

which is set out in the prescribed information relating to the corresponding application or corresponding international application, as the case may be; and

which has been examined to determine whether the claim appears to satisfy the criteria of novelty, inventive step (or non-obviousness) and industrial applicability (or utility); or

the Examiner of the corresponding application or corresponding international application, as the case may be, did not consider all the relevant prior art before preparing his report on the examination of the corresponding application or corresponding international application, as the case may be.(2) The Registrar shall not grant a request under subsection (1) unless —

the request is filed in the prescribed manner;

the prescribed fee for the search and examination report has been paid; and

in a case to which subsections (3) and (4) apply, subsection (4) has been complied with.(3) Subject to subsection (4), any person who files a request under subsection (1) may, at the time he files the request, also file —

any observation which he wishes to make in relation to the patent; and

any document which he considers to be relevant for the purposes of the examination.(4) Where any document referred to in subsection (3)(b) is not in English, the person who files the request under subsection (1) shall also file an English translation of the document.(5) The Registrar shall not grant a request under subsection (1) if he is of the view that the request is frivolous, vexatious or an abuse of the process.(6) No request under subsection (1) shall be filed or granted where there are pending before the court or the Registrar proceedings in which the validity of the patent may be put in issue.(7) Where the Registrar grants a request under subsection (1), the Registrar shall cause the claim or claims to be subjected to —

a search by an Examiner to discover the relevant prior art contained in —

such documentation as may be prescribed; and

any additional documentation that the Examiner is aware of and considers to be relevant; and

an examination by an Examiner to determine —

whether the conditions specified in sections 13 and 25(4) and (5) have been complied with;

whether the specification of the patent discloses any additional matter referred to in section 84(1); and

whether the specification of the patent discloses any matter extending beyond that disclosed in the application for the patent as filed,taking into consideration all the relevant prior art, if any, that the Examiner is aware of or that has been discovered in the search.(8) If it appears to the Examiner during the examination of the specification of the patent that —

the conditions specified in sections 13 and 25(4) and (5) have not been complied with; or

the specification of the patent discloses —

any additional matter referred to in section 84(1); or

any matter extending beyond that disclosed in the application for the patent as filed,the Examiner shall give the proprietor of the patent a written opinion to that effect, and the proprietor of the patent shall, before the examination report is issued, have the right to respond in the prescribed manner to the written opinion within the prescribed period.(9) Upon receiving the search and examination report prepared by the Examiner, the Registrar shall —

send a copy of the report to the proprietor of the patent; and

where the request under subsection (1) is not filed by the proprietor of the patent, send a copy each of —

the report;

any written opinion given by the Examiner; and

any response given in the prescribed manner by the proprietor of the patent to any such written opinion,to the person who filed the request.”.