QUESTION: Section 7(3) mentions that applicant is in possession of an invention. What do you mean by possession of an invention?
ANSWER:
To understand Section 7(3) you need to look at Form 1, where there is a statement the applicant has to make that he is in possession of the invention. I made it very clear that possession is demonstrated through your disclosure, you have to say that you have achieved an invention. For instance, let us take the classic instance of a person who states that he has invented a perpetual machine, a machine that is capable of perpetual motion. You know that it is against the laws of thermodynamics, you cannot achieve it in the real world. He is going to mention that he possesses the invention.
But in his description, he will not be able to describe his invention in a way in which perpetual motion can be achieved. So it will fail on 2 counts: one the patent office will insist on a working model, the inventor will not be able to demonstrate a working model and two it will not enable a person skilled in the art to make an invention. So one way we understand possession is that you would have enabled a person who is skilled in the art to make the invention. So if you have not done that then the patent office will assume that you don’t possess the invention.
So possession is to show that it is not just a concept or an idea, but rather it is something that can be worked into practice. You can see the language in section 10, there are various best method of working, the way to work the invention, all that shows that the person possess it. So if you don’t know how to make the invention, so how are you going to teach others? It is something that has evolved over the years as a part of the evolution of patent law, you would say that I’m in possession of the invention and you can check Form 1 where there is a column where the applicant has to tick.