Patents Act, 1992

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Claiming priority.

26.—(1) An applicant desiring to take advantage of the priority of a previous application shall file, in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed period, a declaration of priority. Rules made under this Act may require the filing of a copy of the previous application and, if the language of the latter is a foreign language, a translation in English.

(2) Multiple priorities may be claimed in respect of a patent application, notwithstanding the fact that they originated in different states, and, where appropriate, multiple priorities may be claimed for any one claim, and where multiple priorities are claimed, time limits which run from the date of priority shall run from the earliest date of priority.

(3) If one or more priorities are claimed in respeet of a patent application, the right of priority shall cover only those elements of the patent application which are included in the application or applications whose priority is claimed.

(4) If certain elements of the invention for which priority is claimed do not appear among the claims formulated in the previous application, priority may nonetheless be granted if the documents of the previous application as a whole specifically disclosed such elements.