26 CAP. 400] Substitutionof applicants Patents 23. (I) If the Registrar is satisfied, on a claim made in the pre­ scribed manner at any time before a patent has been granted, that by virtue of any assignment or agreement made by the applicant or one of the applicants for a patent, or by operation of law, the claimant would, if the patent were then granted, be entitled thereto or to the interest of an applicant therein, or to an undivided share of the patent or of that interest, the Registrar may, subject to the provisions of this section, direct that the application shall proceed in the name of the claimant or in the names of the claimant and the applicant or the other joint applicant or applicants, as the case may require. (2) No such direction as aforesaid shall be given by virtue of any assignment or agreement made by one of two or more joint appli­ cants for a patent except with the consent of the other joint applicant or applicants. (3) No such direction as aforesaid shall be given by virtue of any assignment or agreement for the assignment of the right to an inven­ tion unless­ (a) the invention is identified thereinby reference to the num­ ber of the application for the patent; (b) there is produced to the Registrar an acknowledgement by the person by whom the assignment or agreement was made that the assignment or agreement relates to the inven­ tion in respect of which that application is made; or (c) the rights of the claimant in respect of the invention have been finally established by a decision of the High Court or any court to which an appeal against such a decision has been brought. (4) Where one of two or more joint applicants for a patent has died at any time before the patent has been granted, the Registrar, if satisfied of such decease, may alter the application by substituting the legal representative of such deceased applicant and shall there­ after seal the application in the names of the surviving applicants and of such legal representative unless, upon a request in that behalf made by the survivor or survivors, and with the consent of such legal representative, the Registrar directs that the application shall proceed and be sealed in the name of the survivor or survivors alone. (5) If any dispute arises between joint applicants for a patent whether or in what manner the application should be proceeded with, the Registrar may, upon application made to him in the prescribed manner by any of the parties, and after giving to all parties concerned an opportunity to be heard. give such directions as he thinks fit for enabling the application to proceed in the name of one or more of the parties alone or for regulating the manner in which it shall be pro­ ceeded with, or for both those purposes, as the case may require.