Criminal conduct regarding patents
The following are all criminal offences:
- To make a false entry in the Register, or cause it to be made;
- To forge an extract of the Register;
- To tender as evidence any such false entry or extract whilst knowing it is false;
- To make a false statement or false representation to the Registrar to deceive him in the administration of the Patents Act, whilst knowing it is false;
- To attempt to influence the Registrar into doing something, or not doing something, by making statements or representations whilst knowing they are false;
- For any employee in the Patent Office to buy, sell, or deal in any invention, or patent, or any right under a patent;
- To practise as a patent agent or patent attorney, or in any manner to hold oneself out as a patent agent or patent attorney unless registered as such in terms of the Patents Act, or practise in partnership with a person so registered;
- To represent in any way that an article is patented if it is not;
- To represent that an article is the subject of an application for a patent if this is not the case;
- To use the expression ‘patent office’ concerning your business, or any other representation suggesting an official connection with the Patent Office.
Read sections 81–85 of the Patents Act.