Patents Act 1977

Supplementary

15 Section 97(2) of this Act applies to—

(a) any appeal to the Patents Court by virtue of paragraph 4(1)(a), 6(1)(a), 8(2) or 11(5) above, and

(b) any appeal which is transferred to that Court by virtue of paragraph 11(4) or 12(3) above,

as it applies to an appeal under that section ; and section 97 of this Act shall apply for the purposes of any such appeal instead of section 85 of the 1949 Act.

16 In this Schedule " the old law" means the 1949 Act, any rules made under it and any relevant rule of law as it was or they were immediately before the appointed day.

17 For the purposes of this Schedule—

(a) issue is joined on a notice of opposition to the grant of a patent under section 14 of the 1949 Act when the applicant for the patent files a counter-statement fully setting out the grounds on which the opposition is contested ;

(b) issue is joined on an application for the revocation of a patent under section 33 of that Act when the patentee files a counter-statement fully setting out the grounds on which the application is contested.

18 (1) Nothing in the repeals made by this Act in sections 23 and 24 of the 1949 Act shall have effect as respects any such application as is mentioned in paragraph 3(3) of Schedule 1 above.

(2) Nothing in the repeal by this Act of the [1957 c. 13.] Patents Act 1957 shall have effect as respects existing applications.

(3) Section 69 of the 1949 Act (which is not repealed by this Act) and section 70 of that Act (which continues to have effect for certain purposes by virtue of paragraph 3 above) shall apply as if section 68 of that Act has not been repealed by this Act and as if paragraph 9 above had not been enacted.