Patents Act 1990

Subject to this section and the regulations, if:

a request and complete specification relating to an application for a patent has been accepted; and

the patent has not been granted;

Subject to this section and the regulations, where a patent has been granted, the Commissioner may, and must if asked to do so by the patentee or any other person, re‑examine the complete specification.

Where the validity of a patent is disputed in any proceedings before a prescribed court under this Act, the court may direct the Commissioner to re‑examine the complete specification and the Commissioner must re‑examine the specification accordingly.

The re‑examination must be carried out in accordance with the regulations.

Where relevant proceedings in relation to a patent are pending, the Commissioner must not re‑examine the complete specification relating to the patent under subsection (2).

Where:

the Commissioner has started to re‑examine a complete specification relating to a patent under subsection (2); and

relevant proceedings in relation to the patent are started;