Sch. PATENTS ACT (as amended) obvious, capable of being used or applied in trade or industry and includes an alleged invention; “inventor” means the person who actually devised the invention and includes the legal representative of an inventor but does not include a person to whom an invention has been communicated, either from within or outside Zimbabwe; “Journal” means the Patent and Trade Marks Journal published in terms of section ninety-five; “legal representative” means— (a) the liquidator or receiver of a company; (b) the representative recognized by law of any person who has died, become insolvent or bankrupt or assigned his estate, is an infant or a minor, is of unsound mind or is otherwise under a disability; “Minister” means the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs or any other Minister to whom the President may from time to time assign the administration of this Act; “patent” means letters patent for an invention granted for Zimbabwe under section twenty-one;* “patentee” means the person for the time being entered on the Register as grantee or proprietor of a patent; “patent agent” means a person who is registered or deemed to have been registered as such in terms of this Act; “patent of addition” means a patent granted under section twenty-six;* “Patent Office” means the Patent Office established under section three; “patented article” means any article in respect of which a patent has been granted and is for the time being in force; “published” means made available to the public and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provision, a document shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be published if it can be inspected as of right by members of the public, whether upon payment of a fee or otherwise; “Register” means the Register of Patents kept at the Patent Office under section five; “Register of Patent Agents” means the Register of Patent Agents kept under subsection (1) of section sixtyfour; “Registrar” means the Controller or a registrar of patents appointed in terms of paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section three; “repealed legislation” means the Patents Act, 1957 (No. 13 of 1957) or the Patents Act [Chapter 222 of 1939]; “specification” means a provisional or a complete specification, as the circumstances may require, referred to in section nine; "Tribunal" means the Intellectual Property Tribunal established by section 3 of the Intellectual Property Tribunal Act [Chapter 26:08].1 (2) Subject to sections nineteen, forty, eighty and eightythree, an invention shall be deemed to be new for the purposes of this Act if on or before the effective date of the application for a patent in respect thereof the invention was not— (a) known or used anywhere in Zimbabwe by anyone other than the applicant or his agent or the person or persons from or through whom such applicant has derived his right or title: Provided that secret knowledge or secret user otherwise than on a commercial scale shall be disregarded; or (b) worked anywhere in Zimbabwe otherwise than by way of reasonable technical trial or experiment by the applicant or any person or persons from or through whom such applicant has derived his right or title; or (c) described in a patent specification available to public inspection in accordance with any repealed legislation or this Act; or (d) described in writing or in any other way in any publication of which there was a copy anywhere in or outside Zimbabwe at the effective date of the application; or (e) claimed in any complete specification for a patent which was lodged in accordance with any repealed legislation or this Act and which, though not available to public inspection at the effective date of the application, was deposited pursuant to an application for a patent which is, or will be, of prior date to the date of any patent which may be granted in respect of the said invention. (3) A reference in this Act to the date of a patent shall be construed as a reference to the appropriate date specified in subsection (1) of section twenty-three. 2A Inventions for which patent may not be granted2 A patent shall not be granted under this Act for⎯ (a) diagnostic, therapeutic or surgical methods for the treatment of human beings or animals; or (b) plants and animals, other than micro-organisms; or (c) essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals, other than microbiological processes. PART II ADMINISTRATION 3 Patent Office, Controller, registrars of patents and other officers (1) There shall be established an office, to be called the Patent Office, for the registration of patents and other matters in terms of this Act. (2) There shall be— (a) an officer, to be styled the Controller of Patents, Trade Marks and Industrial Designs, who shall exercise general supervision and direction of the Patent Office; and (b) one or more registrars of patents who shall, subject to the control of the Controller, have all the powers conferred by this Act upon the Registrar; and (c) such examiners and other officers as the Minister considers necessary for the better carrying out of the provisions of this Act; whose offices shall be public offices and form part of the Public Service. (3) An examiner or other officer referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (2) shall, if the Minister so directs, have the power to do any act or thing which may be lawfully done by a registrar of patents under this Act or any other enactment. 4 Seal There shall be a seal of the Patent Office and impressions thereof made for the purposes of this Act or the repealed legislation shall be judicially noticed. 5 Register of Patents (1) There shall be kept at the Patent Office a Register of Patents, in which shall be entered—