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 of that claim shall be the date of the filing of the relevant specification.

(3) Where the complete specification is filed or proceeded with in pursuance of two or more applications accompanied by such specifications as are mentioned in sub-section (2) and the claim is fairly based on the matter disclosed.


 * a. in one of those specifications, the priority date of that claim shall be the date of the filing of the application accompanied by that specification;
 * b. partly in one and partly in another, the priority date of that claim shall be the date of the filing of the application accompanied by the specification of the later date.

(4) Where the complete specification has been filed in pursuance of a further application made by virtue of sub-section (1) of section 16 and the claim is fairly based on the matter disclosed in any of the earlier specifications, provisional or complete, as the case may be, the priority date of that claim shall be the date of the filing of that specification in which the matter was first disclosed.

(5) Where, under the foregoing provisions of this section, any claim of a complete specification would, but for the provisions of this sub-section, have two or more priority dates, the priority date of that claim shall be the earlier or earliest of those dates.

(6) In any case to which sub-sections (2), (3), (4) and (5) do not apply, the priority date of a claim shall, subject to the provisions of section 137, be the date of filing of the complete specification.

(7) The reference to the date of the filing of the application or of the complete specification in this section shall, in cases where there has been a post-dating under section 9 or section 17 or, as the case may be, an ante-dating under section 16, be a reference to the date as so post-dated or ante-dated.

(8) A claim in a complete specification of a patent shall not be invalid by reason only of-
 * a. the publication or use of the invention so far as claimed in that claim on or after the priority date of such claim; or
 * b. the grant of another patent which claims the invention, so far as claimed in the first mentioned claim, in a claim of the same or a later priority date.

CHAPTER IV

EXAMINATION OF APPLICATIONS

12. Examination of application

(1) When the complete specification has been led in respect of an application for a patent, the application and the specification relating thereto shall be referred by the Controller to an Examiner for making a report to him in respect of the following matters, namely:-
 * a. whether the application and the specification relating thereto are in accordance with the requirements of this Act and of any rules made thereunder;
 * b. whether there is any lawful ground of objection to the grant of the patent under this Act in pursuance of the application;
 * c. the result of investigations made under section 13; and
 * d. any other matter which may be prescribed.

(2) The Examiner to whom the application and the specification relating thereto are referred under sub-section (1) shall ordinarily make the report to the Controller within a period of eighteen months from the date of such reference.