Amendments made 4 March 2010: patents form 4 and 17 (revoked)
Updated 6 March 2020
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/directions-under-section-1232a-of-the-patents-act-1977/amendments-made-4-march-2010-patents-form-4-and-17
1. Directions under section 123(2A) of the Patents Act 1977
1.1 Patents forms 4 and 17
- The comptroller has made these directions under section 123(2A) of the Patents Act 1977.
- These directions set out some changes to the forms whose use is required by rules.
- These directions come into force on 6 April 2010.
- The following patents forms as set out in the Schedule to these directions are the forms the use of which is required by the Patents Rules 2007 (SI 2007/3291):
- Patents form 4 (Continuation of proceedings before the Comptroller)
- Patents form 17 (Request for opinion as to validity or infringement) - Patents form 17, as so set out, replaces the corresponding form in the Schedule to the directions made on 5 December 2007 (which came into force on 17 December 2007). The directions made on 5 December 2007 are, to that extent, revoked.
John Alty
Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks
4 March 2010
2. Guidance and notes on the directions given under section 123(2A)
2.1 Patents forms 4 and 17
(a) These notes are not part of the directions. They are intended to provide background and additional information.
(b)The Interpretation Act 1978 applies to these directions. Therefore, all the definitions set out in the Patents Act apply to these directions. Further, amongst other things, generally any words importing the masculine gender include the feminine and words in the singular include the plural and words in the plural include the singular.
(c) Section 123(2A) of the Patents Act allows the comptroller to give directions specifying any forms the use of which is required by the Patents Rules.
(d) Patents form 4 has been introduced and patents form 17 has been revised, as set out below.
2.2 Patents form 4 (Continuation of proceedings before the Comptroller)
(e) Patents form 4 has been introduced as a result of amendments to the Patents Rules 2007 and the Patents (Fees) Rules 2007. These amendments are made by the Patents and Patents and Trade Marks (Fees) (Amendment) Rules 2010, which come into force on 6 April 2010.
(f) In accordance with rule 80(1A) of the amended Patents Rules and Schedule 1 of the amended Patents (Fees) Rules, patents form 4 is required to continue proceedings before the Comptroller following receipt of a counter-statement.
2.3 Patents form 17 (Request for opinion as to validity or infringement)
(g) A warning note has been added to the front of the form to warn that any material submitted with the form will be made available to the public.
(h) A new guidance note (d) has been inserted to instruct that a separate form must be used for each patent for which an opinion is sought. The existing notes have been reorganised accordingly.
(i) Guidance note (f) (old note (e)) has been amended to clarify that an opinion in respect of both infringement and validity can be requested on the same form if both requests relate to the same patent.
(j) All of the UK patents forms (and information about associated fees) are available from our website.
(k) Any queries about these directions should be addressed to:
Intellectual Property Office
Concept House
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8QQ
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44(0)30 0300 2000
Telephone: +44(0)16 3381 4000
Minicom: +44(0)30 0020 0015