Intellectual
Property Rights
Patents
Act, 1970
CHAPTER XXI: PATENT AGENTS
125. Register of patent agents
The Controller
shall maintain a register to be called the register of patent agents in
which shall be entered the names and addresses of all persons qualified
to have their names so entered under section 126.
126. Qualifications for registration as patent agents
(1) A person
shall be qualified to have his name entered in the register of patent
agents if he fulfils the following conditions, namely,-
(a) he is a citizen of India;
(b) he has completed the age of
21 years;
(c) he has obtained a degree from
any university in the territory of India or possesses such other equivalent
qualifications as the Central Government may specify in this behalf, and,
in addition-
(i) is an advocate within the
meaning of the Advocates Act, 1961 (25 of 1961); or
(ii) has passed the qualifying
examination prescribed for the purpose;
(d) he has paid such fee as may
be prescribed.
(2) Notwithstanding
anything contained in sub-section (1), a person who has been practising
as a patent agent before the 1st day of November, 1966 and has filed not
less than five complete specifications before the said day, shall, on
payment of prescribed fee, be qualified to have his name entered in the
register of patent agents.
127. Rights of patent agents
Subject
to the provisions contained in this Act and to any rules made thereunder,
every patent agent whose name is entered in the register shall be entitled-
(a) to practise before the Controller;
and
(b) to
prepare all documents, transact all business and discharge such other
functions as may be prescribed in connection with any proceedings before
the Controller under this Act.
128. Subscription and verification of certain documents by patent
agents
(1) Subject
to the provisions contained in sub-section (2) and to any rules made under
this Act all applications and communications to the Controller under his
Act may be signed by a patent agent authorised in writing in this behalf
by the person concerned.
(2) The following documents namely,-
(i) applications for patents;
(ii) applications for the restoration
of lapsed patents;
(iii) applications for the sealing
of patents after the time allowed for that purpose by or under sub-section
(2), or sub-section (3) of section 43 has expired;
(iv) applications for leave to
amend;
(v) applications for compulsory
licences or for revocation; and
(vi) notices of surrender of patents,
shall be signed and verified in
the manner prescribed by the person making such applications or giving
such notices:
PROVIDED
that if such person is absent from India, they may be signed and verified
on his behalf by a patent agent authorised by him in writing in that behalf.
129. Restrictions on practice as patent agents
(1) No
person, either alone or in partnership with any other person, shall practise,
describe or hold himself out as a patent agent or permit himself to be
so described or held out, unless he is registered as patent agent or,
as the case may be, unless he and all his partners are so registered.
(2) No company or other body corporate
shall practise, describe itself or hold itself out as patent agents or
permit itself to be so described or held out.
Explanation : For the purposes
of this section, practise, as a patent agent includes any of the following
acts, namely,-
(a) applying for or obtaining
patents in India or elsewhere;
(b) preparing specifications or
other documents for the purposes of this Act or of the patent law of any
other country;
(c) giving
advice other than of scientific or technical nature as to the validity
of patents or their infringement.
130. Removal from register of patent agents and restoration
(1) The
Central Government may remove the name of any person from the register
when it is satisfied, after giving that person a reasonable opportunity
of being heard and after such further inquiry, if any, as it thinks fit
to make-
(i) that his name has been entered
in the register by error or on account of misrepresentation or suppression
of material fact; or
(ii) that he has been convicted
of any offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment or has been guilty
of misconduct in his professional capacity which in the opinion of the
Central Government renders him unfit to be kept in the register.
(2) The
Central Government may, on application and on sufficient cause being shown,
restore to the register the name of any person removed therefrom.
131. Power of Controller to refuse to deal with certain agents
(1) Subject
to any rules made in this behalf the Controller may refuse to recognise
as agent in respect of any business under this Act-
(a) any individual whose name
has been removed from, and not restored to, the register;
(b) any person who has been convicted
of an offence under section 123;
(c) any person, not being registered
as a patent agent, who in the opinion of the Controller is engaged wholly
or mainly in acting as agent in applying for patents in India or elsewhere
in the name or for the benefit of the person by whom he is employed;
(d) any company or firm, if any
person whom the Controller could refuse to recognise as agent in respect
of any business under this Act, is acting as a director or manager of
the company or is a partner in the firm.
(2) The
Controller shall refuse to recognise as agent in respect of any business
under this Act any person who neither resides nor has a place of business
in India.
132. Saving in respect of other persons authorised to act as
agents
Nothing
in this chapter shall be deemed to prohibit-
(a) the applicant for a patent
or any person, not being a patent agent who is duly authorised by the
applicant from drafting any specification or appearing or acting before
the Controller; or
(b) an advocate, not being a patent
agent, from taking part in any proceedings under this Act otherwise than
by way of drafting any specification.
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