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12 1964

PATENTS ACT, 1964

PART VIII.

The Office and the Controller.

Patents Office.

77. —(1) There shall continue to be, for the purposes of this Act and for such other purposes as have been or may, from time to time, be assigned to it by the Oireachtas, an office for the registration of patents, designs and trade marks which shall be known as the Patents Office and references in any enactment to the Industrial and Commercial Property Registration Office established under the Act of 1927 shall be construed as references to the Office.

(2) The Office shall be under the immediate control of the Controller who shall act under the general superintendence and direction of the Minister.

Controller of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks.

78. —(1) The office of Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property shall continue in being as a corporation sole with perpetual succession and an official seal (impressions of which shall be judicially noticed and admitted in evidence) and shall be known as the Controller of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks and the Controller may sue and be sued in that name and references in any enactment to the Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property appointed under the Act of 1927 shall be construed as references to the Controller.

(2) (a) The Government shall appoint as occasion arises a fit person to the office of Controller who shall hold office for such time and on such terms as the Government shall appoint.

(b) The person holding office immediately before the commencement of this Act as Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have been appointed to the office of Controller under this section on the same terms and at the same remuneration as he held the first-mentioned office.

(3) Every person appointed to be Controller under this Act shall receive such remuneration as the Minister for Finance shall determine.

(4) Subject to his being in good health at the time of appointment and notwithstanding that he is appointed without a certificate from the Civil Service Commissioners, the Controller shall, if appointed permanently, be deemed to be employed in the permanent Civil Service of the State and there may be granted to him on retirement or to his legal personal representative on death such superannuation or other allowance or gratuity as might under the Superannuation Acts for the time being in force have been granted had he been in the permanent Civil Service of the State.

(5) Any act or thing directed to be done by or to the Controller may be done by or to any officer authorised by the Minister.

(6) Whenever the Controller is temporarily unable to attend to his duties, or his office is vacant, the Minister may appoint a fit person to perform the duties of the Controller during such inability or vacancy, and every person so appointed shall during his appointment have all the powers of the Controller under this Act and as otherwise determined by law and shall receive such remuneration, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, as the Minister shall, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance direct.

Appointment of officers of Controller.

79. —(1) The officers of the Controller shall be appointed by the Minister and there shall be such number of officers as the Minister with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, may consider necessary for the purposes of this Act and for such other functions as the Controller may be charged with, and those persons shall hold office upon such terms and be remunerated at such rates and in such manner as the Minister for Finance may sanction.

(2) The salaries or remuneration of the Controller and his officers and such other expenses of carrying this Act into effect as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(3) Persons holding office immediately before the commencement of this Act as officers of the Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have been appointed officers of the Controller under this Act on the same terms and at the same remuneration as they held such first-mentioned offices.

Fees.

80. —(1) There shall be charged by the Controller and paid in respect of matters relating to the grant of patents under this Act or other matters determined by law as coming within the duties of the Controller, such fees as may from time to time be prescribed by the Minister with the sanction of the Minister for Finance.

(2) All fees charged by the Controller under this section shall be collected and accounted for in such manner as shall be prescribed by the Minister with the sanction of the Minister for Finance.

(3) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of any fees payable under this section.

Official Journal.

81. —(1) The Controller shall issue periodically a journal (which is referred to in this Act as the Journal) in which he shall publish all matters which he is directed by this Act or otherwise by law to publish, and also such matters and information as appear to him to be useful or important in relation to patented inventions and other matters for which he is responsible under this Act or otherwise by law.

(2) The Controller may issue periodically either in or as a supplement to the Journal or as a separate publication reports of—

(a) cases relating to patents, designs, trade marks or copyright decided in the State, and

(b) such cases relating to patents, designs, trade marks, or copyright decided outside the State as the Controller may consider to be useful or important.

(3) The Controller may prepare and publish indexes, abridgments of specifications, catalogues and other works relating to inventions, patents, designs, and trade marks.

(4) The Controller shall make provision for the sale of copies of all documents which he is by this section, or otherwise by law, directed or authorised to issue or publish, and also of all complete specifications (together with any accompanying drawings) of patents in force under this Act.

Reports to be privileged.

82. —Except as prescribed by the Minister, reports of examiners and other officers made under this Act or under any other Act for the administration of which the Controller is responsible shall not be published or be open to public inspection and shall not be liable to production or inspection in any legal proceeding unless the court or officer having power to order discovery in such legal proceeding certifies that such production or inspection is desirable in the interests of justice and ought to be allowed.

Controller may consult Attorney General.

83. —The Controller may, in any case of doubt or difficulty arising in the administration of any of the provisions of this Act or of any other Act for the administration of which he is responsible apply to the Attorney General for directions in the matter.

Annual report.

84. —The Controller shall, before the 1st day of September in every year, cause a report respecting the execution by or under him of this Act and of any other Act for the administration of which he is responsible during the year ending on the previous 31st day of March to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas, and therein shall include for the year to which the report relates all general rules made in that year under or for the purposes of the said Acts and an account of all fees, salaries, and allowances, and other money received and paid under the said Acts.

Hours of business and excluded days.

85. —(1) Rules made by the Minister under this Act may specify the hour at which the Office shall be deemed to be closed on any day for purposes of the transaction by the public of business under this Act or such other business as may by law be made a function of the Controller or the Office or of any class of such business, and may specify days as excluded days for any such purposes.

(2) Any business done under this Act on any day after the hour specified as aforesaid or on a day which is an excluded day, in relation to business of that class, shall be deemed to have been done on the next following day not being an excluded day; and where the time for doing anything under this Act expires on an excluded day, that time shall be extended to the next following day not being an excluded day.