before a patent has been granted, that by virtue of any assignment or agreement in writing made by the applicant or one of the applicants for the patent or by operation of law, the claimant would, if the patent were then granted, be entitled thereto or to the interest of the applicant therein, or to an undivided share of the patent or of that interest, the Controller may, subject to the provisions of this section, direct that the application shall proceed in the name of the claimant or in the names of the claimants and the applicant or the other joint applicant or applicants, accordingly as the case may require.
(2) No such direction as aforesaid shall be given by virtue of any assignment or agreement made by one of two or more joint applicants for a patent except with the consent of the other joint applicant or applicants.
(3) No such direction as aforesaid shall be given by virtue of any assignment or agreement for the assignment of the benefit of an invention unless-
- a. the invention is identified therein by reference to the number of the application for the patent; or
- b. there is produced to the Controller an acknowledgement by the person by whom the assignment or agreement was made that the assignment or agreement relates to the invention in respect of which that application is made; or
- c. the rights of the claimant in respect of the invention have been finally established by the decision of a court; or
- d. the Controller gives directions for enabling the application to proceed or for regulating the manner in which it should be proceeded with under sub-section (5).
(4) Where one of two or more joint applicants for a patent dies at any time before the patent has been granted, the Controller may, upon a request in that behalf made by the survivor or survivors, and with the consent of the legal representative of the deceased, direct that the application shall proceed in the name of the survivor or survivors alone.
(5) If any dispute arises between joint applicants for a patent whether or in what manner the application should be proceeded with, the Controller, may upon application made to him in the prescribed manner by any of the parties, and after giving to all parties concerned an opportunity to be heard, give such directions as he thinks fit for enabling the application to proceed in the name of one or more of the parties alone or for regulating the manner in which it should be proceeded with, or for both those purposes, as the case may require.
21. Time for putting application in order for acceptance.
(1) An application for a patent shall be deemed to have been abandoned unless within fifteen months from the date on which the first statement of objections to the application or complete specification is forwarded by the Controller to the applicant or within such longer period as may be allowed under the following provisions of this section the applicant has complied with all the requirements imposed on him by or under this Act, whether in connection with the complete specification or otherwise in relation to the application.
Explanation – Where the application or any specification or, in the case of a convention application, any document filed as part of the application has been returned to the applicant by the Controller in the course of the proceedings, the applicant shall not be deemed to have complied with such requirements unless and until he has re-filed it.
(2) The period of fifteen months specified in sub-section (1) shall, on request made by the applicant in the prescribed manner and before the expiration of the period so specified, be extended for a further period so requested (hereafter in this section referred to as the extended period), so, however, that the total period for complying with the requirements of
