§ 173 Clause 117, page 95, line 30, leave out "order" and insert "rules"
§ 174 Clause 117, page 95, line 31, leave out from "7" to "68" and insert "11, 34, 37(1) or (2), 38(8), 58(3),"
§ 175 Clause 117, page 95, line 32, at end insert— "(ff) providing for the appointment of advisers to assist the comptroller in any proceeding before him;"
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176 Clause 117, Page 96, line 12, at end insert— (4A) The remuneration of any adviser appointed under rules to assist the comptroller in any proceeding shall be determined by the Secretary of State with the consent of the Minister for the Civil Service and shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.
§ 177 Clause 118, line 29, after "order" insert "or rule".
§ 178 Clause 119, line 38, leave out "in" and insert "of".
§ 179 Clause 121, page 97, line 29, leave out "(subject to the provisions of that Schedule)"
§ 180 Page 98, line 12, after "provisions" insert "and savings".
§ 181 Clause 124, page 99, line 29, leave out "the first occasion on which it has a" and insert "its"
§ 182 Clause 124, page 99, leave out lines 41 to 43
§ 183 Page 100, leave out lines 30 to 35
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184 Page 101, line 30, at end insert—
"mortgage", when used as a noun, includes a charge for securing money or money's worth and, when used as a verb, shall be construed accordingly;
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185 Page 102, line 17, at end insert— "relevant convention court", in relation to any proceedings under the European Patent Convention, the Community Patent Convention or the Patent Cooperation Treaty, means that court or other body which under that convention or treaty has jurisdiction over those proceedings, including (where it has such jurisdiction) any department of the European Patent Office;
§ 186 Page 103, line 21, after first "5" insert ",(Disclosure of matter, etc., between earlier and later applications)".
§ 187 Page 103, line 21, after "69(1)" insert "and (2) 72(4)".
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188 Page 103, line 26, at end insert— (7A) The Arbitration Act 1950 shall not apply to any proceedings before the comptroller under this Act".
§ 189 Clause 126, page 104, line 18, leave out "and this subsection" and insert ",this subsection and the repeal of section 41 of the 1949 Act".
1084§ 190 Clause 126, page 104, line 28, leave out "subject to any savings contained in that column".
§ 7.16 p.m.
§ The LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, with the leave of the House I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 173 to 190 en bloc. These are purely technical Amendments. I do not think there is anything to which I should draw your Lordships' attention.
§ Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendments.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ Lord LLOYD of KILGERRANMy Lords, may I speak very briefly to Amendment No. 175, which provides for the appointment of advisers to assist the comptroller in any proceedings before him. This is something more than a technical Amendment. This is a very important power now given to the comptroller and a matter which was pressed by me at several stages of the Bill. The comptroller can now have rules which will enable him to have advisers sitting with him in connection with the assessing of compensation for employee-inventors. It may arise that there will be very serious difficulties in regard to the accounts of a company, and the comptroller can now get assistance in that direction. Also there may be important matters in relation to industrial relations in the company where the advice of those experts in industrial relations, the trade union organisation, would be able to help. I therefore welcome Amendment No. 175 as an important development.
§ Lord LYELLMy Lords, I ask the House to give its attention to Amendment 189. I wonder whether the noble and learned Lord can settle a point on which I have a query in my mind. It is my understanding that the old Section 41 of the 1949 Act was repealed as a result of a Division at Committee stage. Why is the repeal of Section 41 to be delayed beyond the commencement of this Act. If we look at Amendment No. 189, this is inserted as an amendment to subsection (5); this fixes the date when the Act shall come into effect with the exception of three or four paragraphs. Yet the Amendment includes the repeal of Section 41. 1085 I believe that Section 41 still is a valid enactment. Could the noble and learned Lord confirm that it is not the Government's intention to re-enact this section? I understand that the Minister in another place gave assurances that adequate safeguards would exist parallel to Section 41, and therefore would replace it. This resulted from the continuous discussion under various voluntary price regulation schemes. I would be grateful if the noble and learned Lord could enlighten me on this particular small Amendment.
§ The LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran, for underlining the importance—and it is significant—which he attaches to Amendment No. 175 which, as he has indicated, inserts in Clause 117(2) a power for the Secretary of State to provide by rules that the comptroller may be assisted by advisers in any proceedings before him. I know that the noble Lord has always favoured that, and the Patent Office has now taken the view that it would be useful to enable the comptroller to call in outside assistance in appropriate cases—it is not suggested that this should apply in all cases—especially on applications by employees for compensation. The advisers need not be, and probably would not be, scientific advisers: that was a point that the noble Lord made earlier and I am grateful that he has brought it forward.
As regards the matter raised in respect of Amendment No. 189, the repeal of the special compulsory licence provision for patented medicines of Section 41, of the 1949 Act, has already been announced. The purpose of Amendment No. 189 is to make the repeal effective from the date of enactment of the Bill—in other words, from Royal Assent. If there were to be an interval between enactment and repeal, applications for licences under Section 41 might be filed while repeal was pending and that would be undesirable. That is the explanation.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.