Patents Regulations (Revised Edition 2013)

Summary

This is the Patents Regulations (originally 1908, revised to 30 June 2013) made under the BVI Patents Act. It sets out the detailed procedural rules for filing, prosecuting, opposing and registering patents in the Virgin Islands, including the forms to be used, formatting standards for specifications and drawings, evidence rules, fee payment timing, and the register maintained by the Registrar of Patents.

• Application procedure: Prescribes forms (Schedule 1), order of recording applications, claims requirements, handling of single-invention rules, and extension of time requests for leaving or accepting a complete specification.
• Convention applications: Sets requirements for applications claiming priority from a foreign application, including the declaration of foreign filings and the deadline to file.
• Document and drawing formatting: Specifies paper size, margins, ink, drawing scale, labelling and copy requirements for specifications and drawings submitted to the Registrar.
• Evidence and opposition proceedings: Governs statutory declarations and affidavits, notices of opposition, evidence exchange deadlines, and hearings before the Registrar.
• Register and fees: Covers entries in the register (assignments, licences, addresses, corporate changes), certified copies, hours of inspection, and payment of fees for continuance of a patent, including enlargement of time for late payment.

The Regulations are addressed to patent applicants, patentees, their agents, and the Registrar of Patents, rather than to financial services licensees generally. Much of the content is procedural machinery (form numbers, paper dimensions, drawing specifications) rather than substantive compliance obligations for regulated financial entities.

Key obligations

• A convention application must contain a declaration of the foreign application(s) relied on, specify the places and dates of those foreign filings, be made within 12 months of the date of the first foreign application, and be accompanied by a complete specification signed by the original applicant(s) or their legal representative if deceased.
• Documents (other than drawings) sent to the Registrar must be in English, in large legible characters, in deep permanent ink, on strong white paper of approximately 13 by 8 inches, with a left-hand margin of at least one and a half inches, and signed in a large legible hand; duplicates must be supplied if the Registrar requires.
• Drawings accompanying specifications must meet prescribed paper, ink, scale, sizing and labelling requirements (regulations 15 to 21), including bearing the applicant's name, sheet numbering, and the applicant's or agent's signature, with no descriptive matter appearing on the drawing itself.
• A true copy (facsimile) of original drawings must be filed at the same time as the originals, marked as original or true copy.
• Statutory declarations and affidavits used in proceedings must be headed, drawn up in the first person, divided into numbered paragraphs, and made and subscribed before an authorised person as specified in regulation 24 depending on where they are sworn.
• An applicant seeking an extension of time to leave or accept a complete specification must apply on Form U or Form V and state the grounds and circumstances for the extension, substantiated by proof if required by the Registrar.
• Notice of opposition to a patent application must be filed and evidence exchanged (opponent's evidence, applicant's evidence, closing of evidence) in accordance with the sequence and timing set out in regulations 30 to 38 and 42 to 46.
• Fees for continuance of a patent must be paid within the prescribed times, with the Registrar recording the date of payment or entering a note of failure to pay; enlargement of the payment period may be sought under regulation 65.

Applies to

patent applicants, patentees, inventors and their legal representatives, patent agents

Deadlines

• within 12 months from the date of the first foreign application: Deadline for filing a convention application claiming priority from a foreign patent application.