The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-02 00:00:00

PATENT LAW AMENDMENT BILL.

Earl GRANVILLE. in moving that the House resolve
itself into Committee on this Bill, thought it necessary,
in consequence of the desire of the Noble and Learned
Lord opposite, to make some statement with respect to
it, because very great errors prevailed in the public mind
with regard to it.--(Hear.) The Bill which he had now
the honour of submitting to their Lordships was an
amalgamation of the two Bills—the one introduced by
the Noble and Learned Lord opposite, and the other by
himself. It contained clauses to be found in one er other
of those Bills, and there was very little new matter in
it, and that was chiefly of a technical nature.—(Hear.)
The principal objections that were raised with respect
to patents were the delay and expense in procuring
them; the want of security to the true inventors; the
existence of numerous patents on the same subject; the
impossibility of knowing what had been previously done
with respect to patents; the objection to the taking out
three separate patents for the United Kingdom; and to
these were to be added serious complaints from the colo-
nies as to the existing law, and the injustice to them of
there being any patent restrictions whatever. There was
also another grievance which would be got rid of by
the Bill. At present it was nearly impossible for
manufacturers in other countries to obtain protection in
this country. This the Bill would afford. The second
and third clauses constituted certain high functionaries
as Commissioners, including the Lord Chancellor, the
Master of the Rolls, and the law officers of the Crown,
who would bo authorised to act under it in appointing
officers and framing rules. By this means, instead of
eight offices connected with patents which existed in
London at the present moment, there would be in fact
only two—via, one public, that of the Great Seal; and
one private, that appointed by the Commission. Any
objection that might exist to the combination of these
high functionaries, on the ground of the impossibility of
their action, would be obviated by the circumstance that
their office would not be Ministerial, but simply con-
nected with the appointment of officers—examiners and
scientific persons. The next four clauses regulated the
mode of application for patents. The present mode was
a petition, with a general specification of the scheme
proposed to be patented. The arrangement in these
clauses would obviate the evil that existed of people
putting in a vague and general idea, and then spending the
subsequent six months in running about seeking to
obtain a hint from one invention or another,
so that the invention patented at the end of
that period was often as different as could be
fancied from the general idea proposed in the first
instance. These clauses would also give greater advan-
tages to the poor mechanic than he at present possessed,
because by depositing in the first instance 51.—a com-
paratively small sum—he could work or exhibit his in-
vention for the six succeeding months, and by that means
arrive at something like a just knowledge of its utility,
so as to be in a better position to go to the further expense
of perfecting his patent or relinquishing it altogether.
The Bth clause abolished the present caveat system,
which, according to the evidence taken before the Select
Committee, was the source of great frauds. It was pro-
vided by the clause, that instead of a caveat, after an
application was made for a patent, the application should
be reported on the title of the patent by the examiners,
and publicly advertised for objections to it—to be made
in writing. The 9th clause gave a general right and
power of appeal to the law officers of the Crown, who
had large powers conceded to them for the revision of the
decisions arrived at by the examiners. The objection to
the interposition of the law officers of the Crown was in
his (Earl Granville's) opinion sufficiently met by the evi-
dence taken Wore the Select Committee, in which it
was proved that questions of law were so intimately
mixed up with questions of patents, that no scientific
man, unaided by a lawyer, could possibly decide them.
In referring to this point the Noble Earl bore the
fullest testimony to the perfect indifference of the pre-
sent law officers of the Crown to their own pecuniary
clauseth mattercon stituotfesdeathlieng lawpa o
Interests in presence of the public good. The next
competent authoritiesoing
swept
patents; and andby so d
away the several tedious and expensive stages of suing
out a patent—such as the sign manual, the proceeding
by bill, and the signature of the Privy Seal. The 11th
clause introduced into this country a system adopted in
foreign countries with great success—namely, the ex-
tension of the costs over a period of three years, in three
several payments—the first being the small sum of 251.
on a patent in the three kingdoms. The 12th clause
provided that the form of the patent should be copied
—not at the expense of the inventor—for enrolment in
Dublin and Edinburgh. Tho 13th gave the power of
extending the patent on payment of certain fees. The
14th prevented the claim for a patent on an invention in
use in foreign countries. In these days of travel, when
a few hours took a man to France and Germany, and a
few days to the United States—the countries where in-
vention was most active--it would bo a monstrous case
if a person could go over to those countries, and if he
found a particular invention likely to be useful in this
country, to have the power of taking out a patent for
it, and establishing a monopoly. The next nine clauses
related to specifications generally, and were intended
to give them publicity, which they did not possess at
present. The four following clauses contained the pro-
visions of what was commonly called Lord Brougham's
Bill, and the remainder might be struck out, as they
bad not power to go to the House of Commons. The
Noble Earl again recapitulated the remedies which it
was proposed to effect by this Bill—namely, the aboli-
tion of useless offices, the obtainment of scientific assis-
tance in the granting of patents, protection to inventors
from the date of their application, the abolition of the
system of caveats, provision for carrying patents further,
extension of patent rights, and cheapness of process.
lie proposed to omit the colonies from the effect of all