Joos v Commissioner of Patents [1972] HCA 38

High Court of Australia Barwick C.J. Joos v Commissioner of Patents [1972] HCA 38

ORDER Appeal allowed. Decision of the Deputy Commissioner of Patents reversed. Direct that appellant's application proceed.

Cur. adv. vult.

1972, July 25 Barwick C.J. delivered the following written judgment:—

On 15th June, 1964, Bernhard Joos of Zurich, Switzerland, lodged with the Commissioner for Patents of the Commonwealth, pursuant to s. 34 of the Patents Act 1952-1966 Cth (the Act), an application for the grant of letters patent for an invention entitled "Process for improving strength and elasticity of keratinous material". With the application he lodged a complete specification. The process there described is one for the treatment of keratinous material, such as hair and nails, with a solution or a suspension of a reaction product of thiourea and formaldehyde. It is said in the specification that human hair treated by the process has improved elasticity and is better "dressable", that the loss of original properties of the hair, especially those related to elasticity, caused by former treatments such as bleaching, permanent waving, dyeing or the like, is partially compensated, and that naturally weak hair may be strengthened. It is further said that the process makes use of compositions which are free of substances which may produce undesirable side effects.

Having regard to the issue raised before me in this appeal, I have no need to go into the chemistry of the described process. All the claims of the original complete specification were for a process claimed to improve the strength and elasticity of keratinous material, especially human hair and nails, which process involved wetting the surface of the keratinous material with a slightly acidic fluid composition containing dimethylol thiourea in a liquid diluent. It is clear that the principal application of the process is for use on human hair on the head and human nails, both finger nails and toe nails.