Provided that if such person is absent from India, they may be signed and verified on his behalf by a patent agent authorised by him in writing in that behalf.
129. Restrictions on practice as patent agents
(1) No person, either alone or in partnership with any other person, shall practise, describe or hold himself out as a patent agent, or permit himself to be so described or held out, unless he is registered as a patent agent or, as the case may be, unless he and all his partners are so registered.
(2) No company or other body corporate shall practice, describe itself or hold itself out as patent agents or permit itself to be so described or held out.
Explanation – For the purposes of this section, practice as a patent agent includes any of the following acts, namely: –
- a. applying for or obtaining patents in India or elsewhere;
- b. preparing specifications or other documents for the purposes of this Act or of the patent law of any other country;
- c. giving advice other than of a scientific or technical nature as to the validity of patents or their infringement.
130. Removal from register patent agents and restoration
(1) The Central Government may remove the name of any person from the register when it is satisfied, after giving that person a reasonable opportunity of being heard and after such further inquiry, if any, as it thinks fit to make -
(i) that his name has been entered in the register by error or on account of misrepresentation or suppression of material fact;
(ii) that he has been convicted of any offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment or has been guilty of misconduct in his professional capacity which in the opinion of the Central Government renders him unfit to be kept in the register.
(2) The Central Government may, on application and on sufficient cause being shown, restore to the register the name of any person removed therefrom.
131. Power of Controller to refuse to deal with certain agents
(1) Subject to any rules made in this behalf, the Controller may refuse to recognise as agent in respect of any business under this Act –
- a. any individual whose name has been removed from, and not restored to, the register;
- b. any person who has been convicted of an offence under section 123;
- c. any person, not being registered as a patent agent, who in the opinion of the Controller is engaged wholly in acting as agent in applying for patents in India or elsewhere in the name or for the benefit of the person by whom he is employed;
- d. any company or firm, if any person whom the Controller could refuse to recognise as agent in respect of any business under this Act, is acting as a director or manager of the company or is a partner in the firm.
(2) The Controller shall refuse to recognize as agent in respect of any business under this Act any person who neither resides nor has a place of business in India.
132. Savings in respect of other persons authorized to act as agent
Nothing in this Chapter shall be deemed to prohibit –
- a. the applicant for a patent or any person, not being a patent agent who is duly authorised by the applicant from drafting any specification or appearing or acting
