{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/patents-act-1949/section-51",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/patents-act-1949/section-51.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/Geo6/12-13-14/87",
  "legislation_title": "Patents Act 1949",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/patents-act-1949",
  "path": "section/51",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "51",
  "heading": "Previous communication, display or working.",
  "text": "(1) An invention claimed in a complete specification shall not be deemed to have been anticipated by reason only of the communication of the invention to a Government department or to any person authorised by a Government department to investigate the invention or its merits, or of anything done, in consequence of such a communication, for the purpose of the investigation.\n(2) An invention claimed in a complete specification shall not be deemed to have been anticipated by reason only of—\n(a) the display of the invention with the consent of the true and first inventor at an exhibition certified by the Board of Trade for the purposes of this section, or the use thereof with his consent for the purposes of such an exhibition in the place where it is held.\n(b) the publication of any description of the invention in consequence of the display or use of the invention at any such exhibition as aforesaid;\n(c) the use of the invention, after it has been displayed or used at any such exhibition as aforesaid and during the period of the exhibition, by any person without the consent of the true and first inventor; or\n(d) the description of the invention in a paper read by the true and first inventor before a learned society or published with his consent in the transactions of such a society,\nif the application for the patent is made by the true and first inventor or a person deriving title from him not later than six months after the opening of the exhibition or the reading or publication of the paper as the case may be.\n(3) An invention claimed in a complete specification shall not be deemed to have been anticipated by reason only that, at any time within one year before the priority date of the relevant claim of the specification, the invention was publicly worked in the United Kingdom—\n(a) by the patentee or applicant for the patent or any person from whom he derives title; or\n(b) by any other person with the consent of the patentee or applicant for the patent or any person from whom he derives title,\nif the working was effected for the purpose of reasonable trial only and if it was reasonably necessary, having regard to the nature of the invention, that the working for that purpose should be effected in public.\n(4) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the comptroller shall not refuse to accept a complete specification or to grant a patent, and a patent shall not be revoked or invalidated, by reason only of any circumstances which, by virtue of this section, do not constitute an anticipation of the invention claimed in the specification.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C1",
      "text": "S. 51 extended by (S.) Food and Drugs (Scotland) Act 1956 (c. 30), s. 5(4)"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C2",
      "text": "S. 51(1) extended by British Telecommunications Act 1981 (c. 38, SIF 96), s. 88, Sch. 5 para. 11(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "C",
      "label": "C3",
      "text": "S. 51 extended (E.W.) by Food Act 1984 (c. 30, SIF 53:1), s. 5(4)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/12-13-14/87/section/51",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T11:19:59.574435+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}