Patents Act, 1970

2. Definitions and interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) "assignee" includes the legal representative of a deceased assignee, and references to the assignee of any person include references to the assignee of the legal representative or assignee of that person;

(b) "Controller" means the Controller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks referred to in section 73;

(c) "convention application" means an application for a patent made by virtue of section 135;

(d) "convention country" means a country notified as such under sub-section (1) of section 133;

(e) "district court" has the meaning assigned to that expression by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908);

(f) "exclusive license" means a license from a patentee which confers on the licensee, or on the licensee and persons authorized by him, to the exclusion of all other persons (including the patentee), any right in respect of the patented invention, and "exclusive licensee" shall be construed accordingly;

(g) "food" means any article of nourishment and includes any substance intended for the use of babies, invalids or convalescents as an article of food or drink;

(h) "government under taking" means any industrial under taking carried on-

(i) by a department of the government; or

(ii) by a corporation established by a Central, Provincial or State Act, which is owned or controlled by the government; or

(iii) by a government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), and includes the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and any other institution which is financed wholly or for the major part by the said council;

(i) "High Court" means-

(i) in relation to the Union territory of Delhi , the High Court of Delhi ;

(ii) in relation to the State of Arunachal Pradesh and the State of Mizoram, the Gauhati High Court (the High Court of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh);

(iii) in relation to the Union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands , the High Court at Calcutta ;

(iv) in relation to the Union territory of the Lakshadweep , the High Court of Kerala;

(v) in relation to the Union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu and the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the High Court at Bombay;

(vi) in relation to the Union territory of Pondicherry , the High Court at Madras ;

(vii) in relation to the Union territory of Chandigarh , the High Court of Punjab and Haryana; and

(viii) in relation to any other state, the High Court for that state;

(j) "invention" means any new and useful-

(i) art, process, method or manner of manufacture;

(ii) machine, apparatus or other article;

(iii) substance produced by manufacture, and includes any new and useful improvement of any of them, and an alleged invention;

(k) "legal representative" means a person who in law represents the estate of a deceased person;

(l) "medicine or drug" includes-

(i) all medicines for internal or external use of human beings or animals,

(ii) all substances intended to be used for or in the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of diseases in human beings or animals,

(iii) all substances intended to be used for or in the maintenance of public health, or the prevention or control of any epidemic disease among human beings or animals,

(iv) insecticides, germicides, fungicides, weedicides and all other substances intended to be used for the protection or preservation of plants,

(v) all chemical substances which are ordinarily used as intermediates in the preparation or manufacture of any of the medicines or substances above referred to;

(m) "patent" means a patent granted under this Act and includes for the purposes of sections 44, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 78, 134, 140, 153, 154 and 156 and Chapters XVI, XVII and XVIII, a patent granted under the Indian Patents and Designs Act, 1911 (2 of 1911);

(n) "patent agent" means a person for the time being registered under this Act as a patent agent;

(o) "patented article" and "patented process" mean respectively an article or process in respect of which a patent is in force;

(p) "patentee" means the person for the time being entered on the register as the grantee or proprietor of the patent;

(q) "patent of addition" means a patent granted in accordance with section 54;

(r) "patent office" means the patent office referred to in section 74;

(s) "person" includes the government;

(t) "person interested" includes a person engaged in, or in promoting, research in the same field as that to which the invention relates;

(u) "prescribed" means, in relation to proceedings before a High Court, prescribed by rules made by the High Court, and in other cases, prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(v) "prescribed manner" includes the payment of the prescribed fee;

(w) "priority date" has the meaning assigned to it by section 11;

(x) "register" means the register of patents referred to in section 67;

(y) "true and first inventor" does not include either the first importer of an invention into India , or a person to whom an invention is first communicated from outside India .

(2) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference-

(a) to the Controller shall be construed as including a reference to any officer discharging the functions of the Controller in pursuance of section 73;

(b) to the patent office shall be construed as including a reference to any branch office of the patent office.

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