Section 3 Patents and Designs Act 1971

Section 3 of the Patents and Designs Act 1971 is about Patent applications. It is under ‘Patents’ of the Act. It provides as follows:

(1) Every patent application–
(a) shall be made to the registrar and shall contain–
(i) the applicant’s full name and address and, if that address is outside Nigeria, an address for service in Nigeria;
(ii) a description of the relevant invention with any appropriate plans and drawings;

(iii) a claim or claims; and
(iv) such other matter as may be prescribed; and

(b) shall be accompanied by-
(i) the prescribed fees;
(ii) where appropriate, a declaration signed by the true inventor requesting
that he be mentioned as such in the patent and giving his name and address; and
(iii) if the application is made by an agent, a signed power of attorney (so however that, notwithstanding any rule of law, legalisation or certification of the signature of the power of attorney shall be unnecessary).

(2) The description referred to in subsection (l) (a) (ii) of this section shall disclose
the relevant invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for the invention to be put into effect by a person skilled in the art or field of knowledge to which the invention relates; and the claim or claims referred to in subsection (1) (a) (iii) of this section shall define the protection sought and shall not go beyond the limits of the said description.

(3) A patent application shall relate to only one invention, but may include in connection with that invention–
(a) claims–
(i) for any number of products;
(ii) for any number of manufacturing processes for those products; and
(iii) for any number of applications of those products; and

(b) claims–
(i) for any number of processes; and
(ii) for the means of working those processes, for the resulting product or products and for the application of those products.

(4) Where the applicant for a patent seeks to avail himself of a foreign priority in respect of an earlier application made in a country outside Nigeria–
(a) he shall append to his application under subsection (1) of this section a written
declaration showing-

(i) the date and number of the earlier application;
(ii) the country in which the earlier application was made; and
(iii) the name of the person who made the earlier application; and

(b) not more than three months after the making of the application under subsection (1) of this section, he shall furnish the registrar with a copy of the earlier application certified correct by the Industrial Property Office (or its equivalent) in the country where the earlier application was made.

[/membership]