Intellectual Property Act 2003 · As enacted · Part IV · Chapter
73. Search report
Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
Every applicant shall furnish, within the prescribed period, a report, which if not in English shall be accompanied by a translation thereof in English, of a search which shall conform such type as may be prescribed :
Provided, however, that in lieu of the said search an applicant may request the Director-General to refer the application to a local examiner who shall examine the application on the basis of any claim with due regard to the description and the drawings, if any, and furnish a report to the Director-General within the prescribed period, on the relevant prior art, after making the required effort to discover as much of the relevant prior art as facilities permit ; and for the purposes of the search the local examiner shall make reference to every documentation on prior art available to him.
The applicant shall, when requiring the Director-General to refer his application to a local examiner, forward such application with the prescribed fee to Director-General.
The applicant shall, at the request of the Director-General, furnish him with the following documents in respect of any foreign application for a patent filed by him abroad relating to the same or essentially the same invention as that claimed in the application filed under this Act –
a copy of any communication received by the applicant concerning the results of any search or examination carried out in respect of the foreign application ;
a copy of the patent granted on the basis of the foreign application ; and
a copy of any final decision rejecting the foreign application or refusing the grant of a patent requested in the foreign application.
The applicant shall, at the request of the Director–
General, furnish him with a copy of any final decision invalidating the patent granted on the basis of the foreign application referred to in paragraph (a).
For this purposes of the section “local examiner”
means any skilled person to whom the Director-General may refer questions concerning patents.
Part V