Patents Act, 1978 (Act No. 57 of 1978)Chapter V : Applications for patents33. Priority dates |
| (1) | For the purposes of this Act, the priority date of an invention to which an application for a patent relates, and also that of any matter contained in any such application, whether or not such matter is the same as the invention, shall, except as otherwise provided in this Act, be the date of the lodging of the application. |
| (2) | Where priority is claimed in an application in terms of section 31(1) from one or more prior applications, or one or more prior applications in a convention country or countries, or both, and the invention claimed in the application is fairly based on matter disclosed in one or more of any such prior applications, the priority date of the invention shall be the date of lodging of the earliest of such prior applications in which that matter was disclosed in so far as it is fairly based on such earliest application. |
[Sub-section (2) substituted by section 2 of Act No. 58 of 2002.]
| (3) | Any invention claimed in an application may have one or more priority dates. |
| (4) | Until the contrary is proved, the priority date of an invention shall be the earliest priority date claimed in an application. |
| (5) | In determining whether an invention claimed in an application is fairly based on the matter disclosed in a prior application or a prior application in a convention country, regard shall be had to the disclosures contained in all documents lodged at the same time as and in support of that prior application or prior application in a convention country. |
| (6) | The priority date of new matter introduced by way of a supplementary disclosure in terms of section 51(8) shall be the date of lodging of the supplementary disclosure. |
[Section 33 substituted by section 35 of Act No. 38 of 1997.]