§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will take steps to change the patent law on the lines of the Australian law, a copy of which has been sent to him, so that the Comptroller-General of Patents will be enabled, in a future postal strike, to safeguard the rights of applicants whose complete patent specifications due to be filed during the strike contain developments of an invention over what is described in their provisional specification or other priority document.
§ Mr. RidleyAs is clear from the Report of the Banks Committee, there are disadvantages in conferring powers to extend time limits. I am, however, prepared to consult the Standing Advisory Committee on Patents on the possibility of future legislation containing limited powers of this sort.
During the recent postal strike the Comptroller-General of Patents took, after consultation with the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, such steps as were open to him to alleviate hardship to applicants for patents.