amendment, to the Law Officer, i. e. the At torney or Solicitor-General, and the Law Of ficer hears the applicant and the Comptrol ler and makes an order determining whether, and subject to what conditions, if any, the application is to be accepted. Upon the ac ceptance of the application the Comptroller gives notice to the applicant. If after an ap plication has been made, but before the pa tent thereon has been sealed, another applica tion for a patent is made, accompanied by a specification bearing the same or a similar title, the Comptroller, if he thinks fit, on the request of the second applicant or his le gal representative, may within two months of the grant of a patent on the first application either decline to proceed with the second or allow the surrender of the patent granted thereon. An applicant whose invention is sufficient ly matured, may deliver a complete specifi cation in the first instance, i. e. along with his application. The advantages of this provision are that a patent can be taken out more quickly and at less expense, and that the applicant is at once secured against in fringers. But this course ought only to be followed when the invention has been per fected. If the applicant does not leave a complete specification with his application, he may leave it at any subsequent time with in nine, or, if the Comptroller grant him an extension, ten months thereafter. Unless a complete specification is left within the pre scribed time, the application is deemed to be abandoned. When a complete specifica tion is left after a provisional, the Comptrol ler refers both to an examiner for the pur pose of ascertaining whether the complete specification has been prepared in the pre scribed manner and whether the invention particularly described therein is substantial ly the same as that described in the provision al specification. If the examiner report against the applicant the consequences above noted in connection with provisional specifications again follow. Unless a com
plete specification is accepted within twelve, or, by leave of the Comptroller, fifteen months from the date of the application, it becomes void. The reports of the examiners are not in any case published or open to public in spection, and are not liable to production or inspection in any legal proceedings, unless the court or officer having power to order discovery in such proceedings, certify that it is desirable in the interests of justice, and ought to be allowed. On the acceptance of the complete speci fication the Comptroller advertises the fact, and the application and specification, or specifications, with drawings, if any, are then for the first time open to public inspection. Any person may at any time within two months from the date of the advertisement of the acceptance of a complete specification give notice at the Patent Office of oppo sition to the grant on the ground (a) of the applicant having obtained the invention from him or from a person of whom he is the legal representative, or (b) that the invention has been patented on an application of prior date, or (V) on the ground that the complete specification describes or claims an inven tion other than that described and claimed in the provisional, and that such other inven tion forms the subject of an application made by the opponent in the interval between the leaving of the provisional and of the com plete specification, but on no other grounds. Where such notice is given, the Comptroller notifies the opposition and other applicant, and then on the expiring of the two months above referred to hears the applicant and the opponent, who must be a person inter ested in the grant which he is opposing, and decides between them, subject to an appeal to the Law Officer. The parties both be fore the Comptroller may be represented by patent agents or by counsel, who in such cases may accept instruction from patent agents direct without the intervention of a solicitor. The Law Officer is also enabled to obtain, if he think fit, the assistance of
