Patents Act, 1978 (Act No. 57 of 1978)Chapter V : Applications for patents38. Circumstances in which complete specifications may be changed to provisional specifications, and post-dating of applications |
| (1) | Where an application for a patent (not being an application mentioned in section 31(1)(c) is accompanied by a specification purporting to be a complete specification, the registrar may, if the applicant so requests in the prescribed manner at any time before the acceptance of the specification but not later than 12 months from the date on which the application was lodged at the patent office, direct that it be treated for the purposes of this Act as a provisional specification and deal with the application accordingly. |
| (2) | At any time after an application has been lodged at the patent office, and before acceptance of the complete specification, the registrar may, at the request of the applicant, made in the prescribed manner, direct that the application be post-dated to such date as may be specified in the request: Provided that— |
| (a) | no application shall be post-dated under this subsection to a date later than six months from the date on which it was actually so lodged or would, but for this subsection, be deemed to have been so lodged; |
| (b) | an application claiming priority shall not be post-dated under this subsection to a date later than the last date on which, under the provisions of this Act, the application could have been lodged; and |
| (c) | no application shall be post-dated if priority has been claimed on the basis of that application by the applicant or his successors or predecessors in title in the Republic or elsewhere in a subsequent application for a patent which leaves any rights outstanding. |