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Patents and Designs
PATENTS AND DESIGNS ACT

CHAPTER 82:83

LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Act
10 of 1900

Amended by
13 of 1905
35 of 1905
15 of 1913
20 of 1918
20 of 1924
2 of 1929

25 of 1932
20 of 1933
5 of 1947

11 of 1955
17 of 1959
17 of 1966
45 of 1979
18 of 1996
21 of 1996

L.R.O.

Current Authorised Pages
Pages Authorised

(inclusive) by L.R.O.
1–16 ..

UNOFFICIAL VERSION


UPDATED TO DECEMBER 31ST 2014

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LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

2 Chap. 82:83 Patents and Designs

Note on Subsidiary Legislation

Subsidiary Legislation made under the Patents Act, 1996 (Act No. 21 of 1996) shall apply to
this Act.

Note on Application of Act
Part I of this Act was repealed by the Patents Act, 1996 (Act No. 21 of 1996) and Parts II and
III were repealed by the Industrial Designs Act, 1996 (Act No. 18 of 1996).
See section 2(2) for the application of this Act.

Note on the Industrial Designs Act, 1996 (Act No. 18 of 1996) and the
Patents Act, 1996 (Act No. 21 of 1996)

Section 25 of the Industrial Designs Act, 1996 states as follows:
“Subject to the provisions of section 26, Parts II and III of the Patents and Designs

Act are repealed, and section 2 and Part IV thereof insofar as they relate to industrial
designs shall not apply.”.

Section 91 of the Patents Act 1996 states as follows:
“Subject to the provisions of this section, Part I of the Patents and Designs Act is repealed,

and section 2 and Part IV thereof insofar as they relate to patents shall not apply.”.

UNOFFICIAL VERSION


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L.R.O.

LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Patents and Designs Chap. 82:83 3

CHAPTER 82:83

PATENTS AND DESIGNS ACT

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

1. Short title.
2. Interpretation and application of Act.

PART I

PATENTS
LOCAL PATENTS

Sections 3 to 19 Repealed by Act No. 21 of 1996.

PART II

DESIGNS
Sections 20 to 29 Repealed by Act No. 18 of 1996.

PART III

UNITED KINGDOM DESIGNS
Sections 30 to 40 Repealed by Act No. 18 of 1996.

PART IV

GENERAL
41. Trusts.
42. Scandalous patent or design.
43. When patent, etc., deemed to be registered.
44. Entry of assignments and transmissions.

Power of proprietor to assign.
Priority.

45. Inspection of and extracts from register.
46. Correction of errors, cancellations and amendment.
47. Certificate of Controller to be evidence.
48. Order by a Judge.
49. Powers of Court or Judge.
50. Persons under disability.
51. Publication of quarterly lists.

SECTION

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LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

4 Chap. 82:83 Patents and Designs

52. Transmission of copies, etc., to England.
53. Declarations.
54. International and Commonwealth arrangements.
55. Extension of time for applications under section 54 in certain cases.
56. Provisions as to communication of inventions and designs under

agreements with other countries.
57. Provisions as to Rules under sections 55 and 56.
58. Commonwealth arrangements.
59. Inventions and designs made in Germany or Japan.

RULES AND FEES
60. Rules and fees.

SCHEDULE.

SECTION

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L.R.O.

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Patents and Designs Chap. 82:83 5

CHAPTER 82:83

PATENTS AND DESIGNS ACT

An Act relating to Patents for Inventions and Designs.

[28TH MARCH 1900]

1. This Act may be cited as the Patents and Designs Act.

2. (1) In this Act—
“certified” means certified in accordance with the provisions of

Part V of the Evidence Act;
“class” means prescribed class;
“company” means any body of persons, corporate or

unincorporate, and, in relation to a country, means any such
body having its principal place of business in that country
or controlled by the government of that country or by a
national thereof or by any such body having its principal
place of business in that country; and the expressions “British
company”, “ German company” and “Japanese company”
shall be construed accordingly;

“Controller” has the meaning assigned to this officer in the
Patents Act;

“copyright” means the exclusive right to apply a design to any
article of manufacture or to any such substance as aforesaid
in the class or classes in which the design is registered;

“Court” means the High Court;
“design” means any design applicable to any article of

manufacture, or to any substance artificial or natural, or
partly artificial and partly natural, whether the design is
applicable for the pattern, or for the shape or configuration,
or for the ornament thereof, or for any two or more of such
purposes, and by whatever means it is applicable, whether
by printing, painting, embroidering, weaving, sewing,
modelling, casting, embossing, engraving, staining, or any
other means whatever, manual, mechanical or chemical,
separate or combined;

1950 Ed.
Ch. 31 No. 18.
10 of 1900.
Commencement.

Short title.
[17 of 1959].

Interpretation
and application
of Act.
[11 of 1955].
Ch. 7:02.

Ch. 82:76.

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6 Chap. 82:83 Patents and Designs

“enemy territory” means—
(a) any area which was enemy territory as defined by

section 2(1) of the Trading with the Enemy Act;
(b) any area in relation to which the provisions of

the said Act applied by virtue of an Order made
under section 2(2), as they applied in relation to
enemy territory as so defined; and

(c) any area which, by virtue of regulation 8 or
regulation 9 of the Defence (Trading with the
Enemy) Regulations 1940, or any Order made
thereunder, was treated for any of the purposes of
the said Act as enemy territory as so defined or as
such territory as is referred to in paragraph (b);

“Germany” means territory comprised in the German State on the
1st March 1938;

“German national” does not include any person who at the
relevant time was a German national by reason only of the
incorporation of any territory in the German State after
1st March 1938, or was not an enemy for any of the purposes
of the Trading with the Enemy Act;

“invention” means any manner of new manufacture the subject
of letters patent and grant of privilege within section 6 of
the Statute of Monopolies of the United Kingdom, and
includes an alleged invention;

“Judge” means a Judge of the Court;
“patent” means certificate of registration in the Register of Patents,

and includes all the rights conferred or evidenced by
the registration;

“patentee” means the person for the time being registered as the
proprietor of a patent;

“registered” means registered in the Register of Patents or the
Register of Designs, as the case may be; and “registration”
has a corresponding meaning;

Ch. 14:03.

21 Jac.I., c.3
(U.K.).

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Patents and Designs Chap. 82:83 7

“specification” includes all tracings, drawings, diagrams, and other
exhibits referred to in the specification;

“United Kingdom patent” means letters patent for an invention
granted in the United Kingdom.

(2) This Act shall be read as one with the Patents Act and
where there is any conflict between this Act and the Patents Act,
the Patents Act shall prevail.

PART I

PATENTS
LOCAL PATENTS

Part I (Sections 3 to 19) repealed by Act No. 21 of 1996.

PART II

DESIGNS

Part II (Sections 20 to 29) repealed by Act No. 18 of 1996.

PART III

[8TH MARCH 1929]

UNITED KINGDOM DESIGNS

Part III (Sections 30 to 40) repealed by Act No. 18 of 1996.

PART IV

GENERAL

41. There shall not be entered in any register kept under this
Act, or be receivable by the Controller, any notice of any trust
expressed, implied, or constructive.

42. The Controller may refuse to grant a patent for an invention
or to register a design which is, or of which the use would be,
scandalous or contrary to law or morality.

43. Any patent or design shall be deemed to be registered when
the name of any person is entered, as the proprietor thereof, in the
Register of Patents or the Register of Designs, as the case may be.

Ch. 82:76.

Trusts.

Scandalous
patent or design.
[11 of 1955].

When patent,
etc., deemed to
be registered.
[11 of 1955].

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8 Chap. 82:83 Patents and Designs

44. Where a person becomes entitled by assignment,
transmission, or other operation of law to a patent or to the copyright
in a registered design, the Controller shall, on request, and on proof
of title, cause the name of the person to be entered as proprietor of
the patent or of the copyright in the design in the Register of Patents
or the Register of Designs, as the case may be. The person for the
time being entered in the Register of Patents or the Register of
Designs as proprietor for a patent or copyright in a design, as the
case may be, shall, subject to this Act, and to any rights appearing
from the register to be vested in any other person, have power
absolutely to assign, grant licences as to, or otherwise deal with
the same, and to give effectual receipts for any consideration for
the assignment, licence, or dealing. Any equities in respect of the
patent or design may be enforced in like manner as in respect of
any other personal property, and the priority of all assignments
and charges shall, as regards purchasers for value without notice,
be determined by priority of registration.

45. Every register kept under this Act shall be prima facie
evidence of all matters duly entered therein; and every such
register and the specification of every registered patent shall be
open to the inspection of the public on payment of the prescribed
fee, subject to this Act and to such regulations as may be
prescribed; and certified copies, sealed with the seal of the
Controller, of any entry in the register or of any such specification,
shall be given to any person requiring the same on payment of
the prescribed fee. Whenever any specification or extract includes
any tracing, drawing, or diagram, an additional fee for any copy
thereof shall be paid equal to the cost of preparing the tracing,
drawing, or diagram.

46. The Controller may, on request in writing, accompanied
by the prescribed fee—

(a) correct any clerical error in or in connection
with an application for a patent or for
registration of a design;

(b) correct any clerical error in the name, style, or
address of the registered proprietor of a patent or
design; or

Entry of
assignments and
transmissions.
[11 of 1955].

Power of
proprietor to
assign.

Priority.

Inspection of
and extracts
from register.

Correction of
errors,
cancellations
and amendment.
[11 of 1955].

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Patents and Designs Chap. 82:83 9

(c) permit an applicant for registration of a design to
amend his application by omitting any particular
goods or classes of goods in connection with
which he has desired the design to be registered.

47. A certificate purporting to be under the hand of the
Controller as to any entry, matter, or thing which he is authorised
by this Act, or by any general Rules made thereunder, to make or
do, shall be prima facie evidence of the entry having been made,
and of the contents thereof, and of the matter or thing having been
done or left undone.

48. An order requiring the Controller to do or abstain from
doing anything under this Act, may be made by a Judge on a
summons in Chambers.

49. In any proceedings under this Act, the Court or a Judge, as
the case may be, may at any time make such orders for an
injunction, inspection, or account, impose such terms, and give
such directions as to the order in which the parties shall be heard,
and the procedure under this Act generally, as the Court or
Judge sees fit.

50. If any person is, by reason of infancy, mental illness, or
other disability, incapable of making any declaration or doing
anything required or permitted by this Act, or by any Rules made
under the authority of this Act, then the guardian or committee, if
any, of such incapable person, or if there be none, any person
appointed by any Court or Judge possessing jurisdiction in respect
of the property of persons under disability, upon the petition of
any person on behalf of the incapable person, or of any other person
interested in the making of such declaration or doing such thing,
may make such declaration, or a declaration as nearly as possible
corresponding thereto, as circumstances permit, and do such thing
in the name and on behalf of the incapable person, and all acts
done by the substitute shall for the purposes of this Act be as
effectual as if done by the person for whom he is substituted.

Certificate of
Controller to be
evidence.

Order by a
Judge.

Powers of Court
or Judge.

Persons under
disability.

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10 Chap. 82:83 Patents and Designs

51. The Controller shall cause to be published, during each
quarter, in the Gazette, a list of all patents granted and designs
registered, during the preceding quarter, and any further information
that he may deem generally useful or important.

52. Copies of the specifications of all registered patents, and
all registered amendments thereof, and of all published lists of
registered designs, shall be transmitted to the Comptroller of
Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks in England.

53. Any declaration required to be made under this Act may
be taken by the Controller.

54. (1) Any person who has applied for protection for any
invention or design in the United Kingdom, or in any foreign
State between the Government of which and the Government of
Trinidad and Tobago arrangements have been made under the
provisions of section 103 of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks
Act 1883, as amended by the Patents Act 1901, of the United
Kingdom or any subsequent written law, for mutual protection
of inventions and designs shall be entitled to a patent for his
invention, or to registration of his design, as the case may be,
under this Act, in priority to other applicants; and the patent or
registration shall take effect from the same date as the date of the
application in the United Kingdom or such foreign State, as the
case may be.

(2) The application shall be made, in the case of a patent,
within twelve months or, in the case of a design, within four months,
from the person applying for protection in the United Kingdom or
the foreign State with which the arrangement is in force.

(3) Nothing contained in this section shall entitle the
patentee or proprietor of the design to recover damages for
infringements happening prior to the date of the actual acceptance
of his complete specification or the actual registration of his design,
as the case may be, in Trinidad and Tobago.

Publication of
quarterly lists.
[11 of 1955].

Transmission of
copies, etc., to
England.

Declarations.

International
and
Commonwealth
arrangements.
[11 of 1955].
46 & 47 Vict.
c. 57.
1 Edw. VII.
c. 18.

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LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Patents and Designs Chap. 82:83 11

(4) The publication in Trinidad and Tobago during the
respective periods aforesaid of any description of the invention, or
the use therein during such periods of the invention, or the
exhibition or use therein during such periods of the design or the
publication therein during such periods of a description or
representation of the design shall not invalidate the patent granted
for the invention or the registration of the design.

(5) The application for the grant of a patent or the
registration of a design under this section shall be made in the
same manner, and subject to the payment of the same fees, as
prescribed in the Patents Act.

(6) In the case of a patent, an application under this section
shall be accompanied by a complete specification which if it is not
accepted within the period of twelve months, shall with drawings,
if any, be open to public inspection at the expiration of that period.

(7) The provisions of this section shall, in the case of
foreign States, apply only in the case of those foreign States with
respect to which the President, from time to time, by Order declares
the provisions of the aforesaid section *103 of the said Patents,
Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883, or any subsequent written
law, to be applicable, and so long only in the case of each State as
such Order continues in force with respect to that State.

55. (1) The President may, as respects any Convention
country (as defined in section 91A of the Patents and Designs Acts
1907 to 1946 of the United Kingdom), if he is satisfied that
provision substantially equivalent to the provision to be made by
or under this section has been or will be made under the law of
that country, make Rules empowering the Controller to extend the
time for making application under section 54 of this Act for the
granting, in priority to other applicants, of a patent for an invention,
or for the registration, in priority to other applicants, of a design,
in any case where the period specified in section 54(2) for the
making of an application under the section expires during a period
prescribed by the Rules.

*Prior to Independence various Orders in Council had been made by Her Majesty declaring this
section applicable to certain foreign States.

Ch. 82:76.

Extension of
time for
applications
under section 54
in certain cases.
7 Edw. 7
c. 29.

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12 Chap. 82:83 Patents and Designs

(2) Rules made under this section—
(a) may, where any agreement or arrangement has

been made between Her Majesty’s government
in the United Kingdom and the government of
the Convention country for the supply or mutual
exchange of information or articles, provide,
either generally or in any class of case specified
in the Rules, that an extension of time shall not
be granted under this section unless the invention
or design has been communicated in accordance
with the agreement or arrangement;

(b) may, either generally or in any class of case
specified in the Rules, fix the maximum extension
which may be granted under this section and
provide for reducing the term of any patent
granted on an application made by virtue of this
section, and (notwithstanding anything contained
in Rules made under this Act) vary the times for
the payment of renewal fees in respect of such a
patent and the amount of such fees;

(c) may prescribe or allow any special procedure in
connection with applications made by virtue of
this section;

(d) may empower the Controller, as respects any
application made by virtue of this section, to
substitute for the period of twelve months
specified in section 54(6) such other period as
appears to him expedient;

(e) may empower the Controller to extend, subject
to such conditions, if any, as may be imposed by
or under the Rules, the time limited by or under
the foregoing provisions of this Act for doing any
act in relation to an application made by virtue of
this section;

(f) may provide for securing that the rights conferred
by a patent granted or registration made on an
application made by virtue of this section shall

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Patents and Designs Chap. 82:83 13

be subject to such restriction or conditions as may
be specified by or under the Rules and in
particular that where, otherwise than as the result
of any communication made in accordance with
such an agreement or arrangement as is mentioned
in paragraph (a) and before the date of the
application in question or such later date as may
be allowed by the Rules, either the invention has
been made, used, exercised or vended, or the
design applied, by any person (including a person
acting on behalf of the State), or application for a
patent for the invention or for registration of the
design has been made by any such person as
aforesaid, the rights conferred by a patent granted,
or registration made, upon the first-mentioned
application shall be subject to such conditions and
reservations for the protection of that person as
may be specified by or under the Rules.

56. Where an agreement or arrangement has been made
between Her Majesty’s government in the United Kingdom and
the government of another country for the supply or mutual
exchange of information or articles, and the President is satisfied
that provision substantially equivalent to the provision to be made
by or under this section has been or will be made under the law of
that country, the President may make Rules to secure that the
communication, in accordance with the agreement or arrangement,
of an invention or design, or the publication, making, use, exercise
or vending of an invention, or publication or application of a design,
in consequence of the communication, shall not prejudice any
application for a patent for the invention or registration of the
design, being an application made by a person from whom the
invention or design was so communicated or the legal
representative or assignee of such a person, or invalidate the grant
on such an application of a patent for the invention or the
registration of such an application of the design.

Provisions as to
communication
of inventions
and designs
under
agreements with
other countries.

UNOFFICIAL VERSION


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14 Chap. 82:83 Patents and Designs

57. (1) Any Rules made in pursuance of sections 55 and 56
shall be laid before Parliament.

(2) Any such Rules and any order made, direction given,
or other action taken under the Rules by the Controller, may be
made, given or taken so as to have effect as respects things done
or omitted to be done on or after such date, whether before or
after the coming into operation of the Rules, as may be specified
in the Rules.

58. (1) Whenever it appears to the President that the
legislature of any Commonwealth territory has made satisfactory
provision for the protection in such territory of inventions and
designs patented or registered in Trinidad and Tobago, the
President may, by Order, apply all or any of the provisions of
section 57 relating to the protection of inventions and designs
patented or registered in the United Kingdom, with such
variations or additions, if any, as to the President seem fit, to
inventions patented, and designs registered, in such
Commonwealth territory.

(2) An Order under this section shall, from a date to be
mentioned for the purpose in the Order, take effect as if its
provisions had been contained in this Act.

59. (1) An application for a patent or for the registration of a
design may be refused by the Controller at any stage of the
proceedings on the ground that the invention or design was, during
the period beginning with 3rd September 1938, and ending with
31st December 1945, invented or designed in Germany or Japan
or invented or designed by a German or Japanese national in any
territory which was then enemy territory.

(2) The ground mentioned in subsection (1) shall be an
additional ground for revoking a patent under section 10, and shall
also, on infringement proceedings, be an additional ground of
defence or for a counterclaim for the revocation of a patent or the
cancellation of the registration of a design.

Provisions as to
Rules under
sections 55
and 56.

Commonwealth
arrangements.

Inventions and
designs made in
Germany or
Japan.

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Patents and Designs Chap. 82:83 15

(3) The foregoing provisions of this section shall not
apply in any case where—

(a) the applicant, patentee, or proprietor of a
registered design, as the case may be, proves that
the invention or design was invented or designed
in Germany before 3rd September 1938, or was
invented or designed in Japan before 7th
December 1941, and has at no time since the said
3rd September or, as the case may be, the said
7th December, been beneficially owned in whole
or in part by a German or Japanese national or a
German or Japanese company;

(b) the application for the patent or for the registration
of the design was made before 1st February 1946,
and the applicant, patentee, or proprietor of the
design, as the case may be, proves that the
invention or design was independently invented
or designed outside Germany and Japan by a
person, other than a German or Japanese national,
being either the applicant, patentee or proprietor
or a person through whom he claims; or

(c) the invention or design was invented or designed
by a prisoner of war in German or Japanese hands,
unless it is shown that it was subsequently
obtained from him by any German or Japanese
national before 1st January 1946.

(4) An appeal shall lie from any decision of the Controller
under this section to a Judge in Chambers.

(5) The Controller, with the sanction of the President, may
make Rules under section 60 for carrying this section into effect
and in particular for requiring applicants for a patent or for the
registration of a design to furnish information as to matters arising
under this section.

RULES AND FEES

60. Rules made under the Patents Act, and the fees prescribed
under that Act shall apply to this Act.

Rules and fees.
[11 of 1955].
Ch.82:76.

UNOFFICIAL VERSION


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LAWS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

16 Chap. 82:83 Patents and Designs

SCHEDULE
FORMS A, B, C and D have been omitted since these forms were made under
sections of the Act which have been repealed. (See note at Page 2).

UNOFFICIAL VERSION


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