### Patents Ordinance 《專利條例》

47. Patent not to be impugned for lack of unity
No person may in any proceedings object to a patent or to an amendment of a specification of a patent on the ground that the claims contained in the specification of the patent, as they stand or, as the case may be, as proposed to be amended, relate—
(a) to more than one invention; or
(b) to a group of inventions which are not so linked as to form a single inventive concept.
[cf. 1977 c. 37 s. 26 U.K.]

48. Surrender of patents
(1) The proprietor of a patent may at any time by written notice given to the Registrar offer to surrender his patent.
(2) Any person may give notice to the Registrar of his opposition to the surrender of a patent under this section, and if he does so the Registrar shall notify the proprietor of the patent and, subject to subsection (4), shall determine the question.
(3) If the Registrar is satisfied that the patent may properly be surrendered he may accept the offer and, as from the date on which notice of his acceptance is advertised in the official journal, the patent shall cease to have effect, but no action for infringement shall lie in respect of any act done before that date and no right to compensation shall accrue for any Government use of the patented invention before that date. (Amended 2 of 2001 s. 14)
(4) The Registrar may if he thinks fit refer the matter to the court for determination.
[cf. 1977 c. 37 s. 29 U.K.]

49. Registrar’s power to revoke patent on grounds of “ordre public” or morality
(1) Any person may at any time after a patent has been granted for an invention under this Ordinance refer to the Registrar the question of whether, having regard to any of the matters specified in section 9A(5), the invention is a patentable invention.
(2) Where a question is so referred—
(a) subject to paragraph (b), the Registrar shall determine the question;
(b) the Registrar may if he thinks fit refer the question to be determined by the court and, without prejudice to the court’s jurisdiction apart from this paragraph to determine any such question, the court shall have jurisdiction to do so.
(3) If the Registrar or the court determines that the invention is not a patentable invention by reason of any of the matters specified in section 9A(5) he or it shall order that the patent shall be revoked and upon the making of such an order the patent shall be treated as never having had effect.
(4) Any person may oppose a reference under subsection (1).
(Amended 17 of 2016 s. 55)

### Patents Ordinance 《專利條例》

50. Nature of, and transactions in, patents and applications for patents
(1) Any patent or application for a patent is personal property (without being a thing in action), and any patent or any such application and rights in or under it may be transferred, created or granted in accordance with subsections (2) to (7).
(2) Subject to section 54, any patent or any such application, or any right in it, may be assigned or mortgaged.
(3) Any patent or any such application or right shall vest by operation of law in the same way as any other personal property and may be vested by an assent of personal representatives.
(4) Subject to section 54, a licence may be granted under any patent or any such application for working the invention which is the subject of the patent or the application; and—
(a) to the extent that the licence so provides, a sub-licence may be granted under any such licence and any such licence or sub-licence may be assigned or mortgaged; and
(b) any such licence or sub-licence shall vest by operation of law in the same way as any other personal property and may be vested by an assent of personal representatives.
(5) Subsections (2) to (4) shall have effect subject to this Ordinance.
(6) Any of the following transactions, that is to say—
(a) any assignment or mortgage of a patent or any such application, or any right in a patent or any such application;
(b) any assent relating to any patent or any such application or right,
shall be void unless it is in writing and is signed by or on behalf of the assignor, mortgagor or party granting such assent as the case may be (or, in the case of an assent or other transaction by a personal representative, by or on behalf of the personal representative) or in the case of a body corporate is so signed or is under the seal of that body.
(7) An assignment of a patent or any such application or a share in it, and an exclusive licence granted under any patent or any such application, may confer on the assignee or licensee the right of the assignor or licensor to bring proceedings by virtue of section 80 or 88 for a previous infringement or to bring proceedings under section 72 for a previous act.
[cf. 1977 c. 37 s. 30 U.K.]

### Patents Ordinance 《專利條例》

52. Effect of registration procedures on rights in patents
(1) Any person who claims to have acquired the property in a patent or application for a patent by virtue of any transaction, instrument or event to which this section applies shall be entitled as against any other person who claims to have acquired that property by virtue of an earlier transaction, instrument or event to which this section applies if, at the time of the later transaction, instrument or event—
(a) either—
(i) application has not been made for registration of the earlier transaction, instrument or event; or
(ii) in the case of any application for a standard patent which has not been published or any application for a short-term patent, notice of the earlier transaction, instrument or event has not been given to the Registrar in accordance with rules (if any) made for the purposes of section 51(2)(c); and
(b) the person claiming under the later transaction, instrument or event did not know of the earlier transaction, instrument or event.
(2) Subsection (1) shall apply equally to the case where any person claims to have acquired any right in or under a patent or application for a patent by virtue of a transaction, instrument or event to which this section applies, and that right is incompatible with any such right acquired by virtue of an earlier transaction, instrument or event to which this section applies.
(3) This section applies to the following transactions, instruments and events—
(a) the assignment of a patent or application for a patent, or a right in it;
(b) the mortgage of a patent or application or the granting of security over it;
(c) the grant or assignment of a licence or sub-licence or mortgage of a licence or sub-licence under a patent or application;
(d) the death of the proprietor or one of the proprietors of any such patent or application or any person having a right in or under a patent or application and the vesting by an assent of personal representatives of a patent, application or any such right; and
(e) any order or directions of a court or other competent authority transferring a patent or application or any right in or under it to any person and the event by virtue of which the court or authority had power to make any such order or give any such directions.
[cf. 1977 c. 37 s. 33 U.K.]

53. Rectification of register
(1) The court may, on the application of any person aggrieved, order the register to be rectified by the making, or the variation or deletion, of any entry in it.
(2)  In proceedings under this section the court may determine any question which it may be necessary or expedient to decide in connection with the rectification of the register.
[cf. 1977 c. 37 s. 34 U.K.]