74. Infringement of rights conferred by publication of application

Where an application for a patent for an invention is published, then, subject to this section, the applicant shall have, as from the publication and until the grant of the patent, the same right as he would have had, if the patent had been granted on the date of the publication of the application, to bring proceedings in the court or before the Registrar for damages in respect of any act which would have infringed the patent.

References in sections 64 to 67 and 71 to 73 to a patent and the proprietor of a patent shall be respectively construed as including references to any such application and the applicant, and references to a patent being in force, being granted, being valid or existing shall be construed accordingly.

The applicant shall be entitled to bring proceedings by virtue of this section in respect of any act only —

Section 67(3) and (4) does not apply to an infringement of the rights conferred by this section but in considering the amount of any damages for such an infringement, the court or the Registrar shall consider whether or not it would have been reasonable to expect, from a consideration of the application as published under section 27, that a patent would be granted conferring on the proprietor of the patent protection from an act of the same description as that found to infringe those rights, and if the court or the Registrar finds that it would not have been reasonable, it or he shall reduce the damages to such an amount as it or he thinks just.