816 Filing date First to file rule Fresh application to be antedated No. 40 of 2016] Patents (3) The granting of a patent on an application that did not comply with the requirements of unity of invention shall not be a ground for the invalidation or revocation of the patent. 37. (1) An application for the grant of a patent for an invention shall be assigned a filing date by the Registrar. (2) The Registrar shall assign, as the filing date of an application, the date on which the applicant has satisfied the requirements of this Act. (3) Where the Registrar finds that, on the face of it, the application for the grant of a patent does not fully comply with the requirements of this Act at the time of filing, the Registrar shall request the applicant to file the necessary correction, within a prescribed period, before the application is assigned a filing date. (4) Where the applicant complies with the request referred to in subsection (3) the Registrar shall assign, as the filing date of an application for the grant of a patent, the date on which the corrections are lodged. (5) Where the applicant does not comply with the request referred to in subsection (3) within the prescribed period, the Registrar shall consider the application for the grant of a patent not to have been filed and the invention shall form part of the prior art. (6) Where an applicant complies with the request referred to in section thirty-four (2), the Registrar shall assign, as the filing date for the application, the date the applicant lodges the drawings. (7) Where an applicant for the grant of a patent does not comply with the request referred to in section thirty-four (2), within the prescribed period, the Registrar shall assign, as the filing date, the date immediately after the lapse of the prescribed period and shall consider the omitted drawings as non-existent. (8) Where an applicant for the grant of a patent makes a request to make corrections to the application, the Registrar shall assign, as the filing date of the application, the date on which an applicant lodges the corrections, provided such corrections are lodged not later than three months after the filing of the application. 38. Where two or more persons, separately and independently, make the same invention and each of them separately files an application for the grant of a patent, the right to the patent for such invention shall belong to the person whose application has the earliest filing date, or if priority is claimed, the earliest priority date. 39. (1) Where an application for the grant of a patent has been lodged with the Registrar, and before it is accepted, a fresh application is made, in a prescribed manner, by the same applicant