Patents and Designs Act 1907

30 Assignment to Secretary for War or the Admiralty of certain inventions

(1) The inventor of any improvement in instruments or munitions of war may (either for or without valuable consideration) assign to the Secretary of State for War or the Admiralty on behalf of His Majesty all the benefit of the invention and of any patent obtained or to be obtained for the invention ; and the Secretary of State or the Admiralty may be a party to the assignment.

(2) The assignment shall effectually vest the benefit of the Invention and patent in the Secretary of State or the Admiralty on behalf of His Majesty, and all covenants and agreements therein contained for keeping the invention secret and otherwise shall be valid and effectual (notwithstanding any want of valuable consideration), and may be enforced accordingly .by the Secretary of State or the Admiralty.

(3) Where any such assignment has been made, the Secretary -of State or the Admiralty may at any time before the publication -of the complete specification certify to the comptroller that, in the interest of the public service, the particulars of the invention and of the manner in which it is to be performed should be kept secret.

(4) If the Secretary of State or the Admiralty so certify, the application and specifications, with the drawings (if any), and any amendment of the complete specification, and any copies of such documents and drawings, shall, instead of being left in the ordinary manner at the Patent Office, be delivered to the comptroller in a packet sealed by authority of the Secretary of State or the Admiralty.

(5) The packet shall, until the expiration of the term during which a patent for the invention may be in force, be kept sealed by the comptroller, and shall not be opened save under the authority of an order of the Secretary of State or the Admiralty or of the law officer.

(6) The sealed packet shall be delivered at any time during the continuance of the patent to any person authorised by the Secretary of State or the Admiralty to receive it, and shall if returned to the comptroller be again kept sealed by him.

(7) On the expiration of the term of the patent, the sealed packet shall be delivered to the Secretary of State or the Admiralty.

(8) Where the Secretary of State or the Admiralty certify as aforesaid, after an application for a patent has been left at the Patent Office, but before the publication of the complete specification, the application and specifications, with the drawings (if any), shall be forthwith placed in a packet sealed by authority of the comptroller, and the packet shall be subject to the foregoing provisions respecting a packet sealed by authority of the Secretary of State or the Admiralty.

(9) No proceeding by petition or otherwise shall lie for revocation of a patent granted for an invention in relation to which a certificate has been given by the Secretary of State or the Admiralty as aforesaid.

(10) No copy of any specification or other document or drawing, by this section required to be placed in a sealed packet, shall in any manner whatever be published or open to the inspection of the public, but, save as in this section otherwise directed, the provisions of this Act shall apply in respect of any such invention and patent as aforesaid.

(11) The Secretary of State or the Admiralty may at any time waive the benefit of this section with respect to any particular invention, and the specifications, documents, and drawings shall be thenceforth kept and dealt with in the ordinary way.

(12) The communication of any invention for any improvement in instruments or munitions of war to the Secretary of State or the Admiralty, or to any person or persons authorised by the Secretary of State or the Admiralty to investigate the same or the merits thereof, shall not, nor shall anything done for the purposes of the investigation, be deemed use or publication of such invention so as to prejudice the grant or validity of any patent for the same.

(13) Rules may be made under this Act, after consultation with the Secretary of State and the Admiralty, for the purpose of ensuring secrecy with respect to patents to which this section applies, and those rules may modify any of the provisions of this Act in their application to such patents as aforesaid so far as may appear necessary for the purpose aforesaid.