Patent Act — P-4 20
in subsection (8) shall, until the expiry of the term — or, if applicable, of the additional term — during which a patent for the invention may be in force, be kept sealed by the Commissioner, and shall not be opened except under the authority of an order of the Minister of National Defence. Delivery of secret application (10) The packet described in subsection (8) shall be delivered at any time during the continuance of the patent to any person authorized by the Minister of National Defence to receive it, and shall, if returned to the Commissioner, be kept sealed by him. Delivery to Minister (11) On the expiry of the term — or, if applicable, of the additional term — of the patent, the packet described in subsection (8) shall be delivered to the Minister of National Defence. Revocation (12) No proceeding by petition or otherwise lies to have declared invalid or void a patent granted for an invention in relation to which a certificate has been given by the Minister of National Defence under subsection (7), except by permission of the Minister. Prohibition of publication and inspection (13) No copy of any specification or other document or drawing in respect of an invention and patent, by this section required to be placed in a sealed packet, shall in any manner whatever be published or open to the inspection of the public, but, except as otherwise provided in this section, this Act shall apply in respect of the invention and patent. Waiver by Minister (14) The Minister of National Defence may at any time waive the benefit of this section with respect to any particular invention, and the specification, documents and drawing relating thereto shall thereafter be kept and dealt with in the regular way. Rights protected (15) No claim shall be allowed in respect of any infringement of a patent that occurred in good faith during the time that the patent was kept secret under this section, and any person who, before the publication of the patent, had in good faith done any act that, but for this subsection would have given rise to a claim, is entitled, after the publication, to obtain a licence to manufacture, use and sell the patented invention on such terms as may, in the absence of agreement between the parties, be settled by the Commissioner or by the Federal Court on appeal from the Commissioner. Communication to Minister (16) The communication of any invention for any improvement in munitions of war to the Minister of National Defence, or to any person or persons authorized by the Minister of National Defence to investigate the invention or the merits thereof, shall not, nor shall anything done for the purposes of the investigation, be deemed use or publication of the invention so as to prejudice the grant or validity of any patent for the invention. Order to keep non-assigned application secret (17) The Governor in Council, if satisfied that an invention relating to any instrument or munition of war, described in any specified application for patent not assigned to the Minister of National Defence, is vital to the defence of Canada and that the publication of a patent therefor should be prevented in order to preserve the safety of the State, may order that the invention and application and all the documents relating thereto shall be treated for all purposes of this section as if the invention had been assigned or agreed to be assigned to the Minister of National Defence. Rules (18) The Governor in Council may make rules for the purpose of ensuring secrecy with respect to applications and patents to which this section applies and generally to give effect to the purpose and intent thereof. R.S., 1985, c. P-4, s. 20; 2001, c. 41, s. 36 2023, c. 26, s. 488 2024, c. 16, s. 57