ANNEX TO EXPLANATORY NOTES: PATENTS ACT 2004:AMENDMENTS TO THE PATENTS ACT 1977 Section 25 – Term of patent
(3)A patent shall cease to have effect at the end of the period prescribed for the payment of any renewal fee if it is not paid within that period.
(3)Where any renewal fee in respect of a patent is not paid by the end of the period prescribed for payment (the “prescribed period”) the patent shall cease to have effect at the end of such day, in the final month of that period, as may be prescribed.
(4)If during the period of six months immediately following the end of the prescribed period the period ending with the sixth month after the month in which the prescribed period ends the renewal fee and any prescribed additional fee are paid, the patent shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as if it had never expired, and accordingly –
(a)anything done under or in relation to it during that further period shall be valid;
(b)an act which would constitute an infringement of it if it had not expired shall constitute such an infringement; and
(c)an act which would constitute the use of the patented invention for the services of the Crown if the patent had not expired shall constitute that use.