Patents Act 1949

4 Contents of specification

(1) Every specification, whether complete or provisional, shall describe the invention, and shall begin with a title indicating the subject to which the invention relates.

(2) Subject to any rules made by the Board of Trade under this Act, drawings may, and shall if the comptroller so requires, be supplied for the purposes of any specification, whether complete or provisional; and any drawings so supplied shall, unless the comptroller otherwise directs, be deemed to form part of the specification, and references in this Act to a specification shall be construed accordingly.

(3) Every complete specification—

(a) shall particularly describe the invention and the method by which it is to be performed;

(b) shall disclose the best method of performing the invention which is known to the applicant and for which he is entitled to claim protection ; and

(c) shall end with a claim or claims defining the scope of the invention claimed.

(4) The claim or claims of a complete specification must relate to a single invention must be clear and succinct, and must be fairly based on the matter disclosed in the specification.

(5) Rules made by the Board of Trade under this Act may require that in such cases as may be prescribed by the rules, a declaration as to the inventorship of the invention, in such form as may be so prescribed, shall be furnished with the complete specification or within such period as may be so prescribed after the filing of that specification.

(6) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section a complete specification filed after a provisional specification, or filed with a convention application, may include claims in respect of developments of or additions to the invention which was described in the provisional specification or, as the case may be, the invention in respect of which the application for protection was made in a convention country, being developments or additions in respect of which the applicant would be entitled under the provisions of section one of this Act to make a separate application for a patent.

(7) Where a complete specification claims a new substance, the claim shall be construed as not extending to that substance when found in nature.