Letters Patent, Or Letters Overt - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition letters-patent-or-letters-overt

Definition :

Letters-patent, or letters overt [fr. liter' patentes, Lat.], writings of the sovereign, sealed with the Great Seal of England, whereby a person or public company is enabled to do acts or enjoy privileges which he or it could not do or enjoy without such authority. They are so called because they are open with the seal affixed and ready to be shown for confirmation of the authority thereby given. Peers are sometimes created by letters-patent, and letters-patent of precedence were granted to barristers. By letters-patent aliens are made denizens, and especially new inventions are protected; hence the incorporeal chattel of patent-right.

A 'patent-right' is a privilege granted by the Crown to the first inventor of any new contrivance in manufactures, that he alone shall be entitled, during a limited period, to make Articles according to his own invention--Statute of Monopolies, 21 Jac. 1, c. 3.

To be the subject of a patent-right an article must be material and capable of manufacture, an idea or scientific law or hypothesis cannot be patented: it must be new within the United Kingdom and not known to the public at the date of grant and show some utility. The person applying for the patent must be the true and first inventor of it; yet where the secret is acquired abroad by one who afterwards introduces it into the realm, he is considered by the law as the true inventor.

The various statutes regulating the procedure for obtaining a patent were consolidated, with amendments, by the (English) Patents and Designs Act, 1907 (7 Edw. 7, c. 29), and further amended by Patents and Designs Act, 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5, c. 80), and 1932 (22 & 23 Geo. 5, c. 2), which, proceeding on the principle that an inventor is a person to be encouraged, simplifies and renders less expensive the procedure for granting a patent and enforcing the rights under it. The rights conferred to do extend beyond Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man (patents elsewhere, such as in any of the Dominions or foreign countries must be applied for locally); see infra. s. 1 is as follows:

1.--(1) An application for a patent may be made by any person who claims to be the true and first inventor of an invention, whether he is a British subject or not, and whether alone or jointly with any other person.

(2) The application must be made in the prescribed form, and must be left at, or sent by post to, the Patent Office in the prescribed manner.

(3) The application must contain a declaration to the effect that the applicant is in possession of an invention, whereof he, or in the case of a joint application one at least of the applicants, claims to be the true and first inventor, and for which he desires to obtain a patent, and must be accompanied by either a provisional or complete specification.

(4) The declaration required by this section may be either a statutory declaration or not, as may be prescribed.

Applications may be made at once for a complete specification or for a provisional specification. The provisional specification protects the inventor pending the examination of the complete specification when lodged and during formalities required for the grant of the letters patent on the complete specification, which must be lodged within 12 months of first application. opposition to the grant is heard by the Comptroller of the Patent Office subject to appeal to an Appeal Tribunal (s. 12 of the Act of 1932). When granted, the patent must be sealed on a stamped application within 21 months. The grant entitles the patentee to all rights and profits in the invention. Upon infringement of the patent the patentee can protect his rights by injunction and a claim for damages. The patent is valid for 16 years with a further period of 7 to 14 years if the High Court decide that the invention has not been sufficiently remunerated. The patent is subject to certain rights of the Crown which may be reserved on the grant, and if the invention is likely to be useful in war the naval and military authorities may acquire it upon compensation agreed by the Treasury. The patent may be registered in such foreign countries as are parties to a Convention with the country, within 12 months, and it is assignable under seal either absolutely or with time or regional limits. Upon death, the patent rights vest in the personal representatives. It should be noted that the invention may be revoked if it is worked exclusively outside the United Kingdom at the end of 4 years from the date of grant, and revocation or a compulsory licence may be obtained if the invention is not being worked adequately, or if it is capable of, and is not being worked on a commercial scale in the United Kingdom after 4 years from the date of grant. Inventors should obtain the assistance of a chartered patent agent.

See also (English) Patents and Designs Acts, 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5, c. 80), and 1932 (22 & 23 Geo. 5, c. 32); and consult Terrell on Patents.

Letters Patent mean an instrument issued by the Crown Government, Umaji Keshao Meshram v. Radhika Bai, AIR 1986 SC 1272 (1315): (1986) Supp SCC 401: (1986) 1 SCR 731.

Letters Patent is not an Act, but it is granted by the Sovereign by virtue of an Act of Parliament and it should be construed in the same way as an Act, Benoari Lal Sarma v. Emperor, AIR 1943 Cal 285.