The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-24 00:00:00

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1862.

Her Majesty's Commissioners, having had the
subject of Registration of Patents and Designs
under their consideration, have decided that, looking
to the alteration which hes been made in the law
since 1851, it will be unnecessary for them to apply
to Parliament for any alteration on this occasion.
The following is the report which her Majesty's
Commissioners received from Mr. P. Le Neve
Foster, who in 1851 was employed by the Royal
Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 to con-
sider the subject, and who had been asked to report
thereon : •

" Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce,
Adelphi, London, 'W.C., April 16, 1861.
" Sir,—ln reply to your letter of the 22d of
March I beg to hand in, for the information of the
Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1862, a short
report, as requested, on the condition and working
of the Patent and Registration Laws, as affecting
exhibitors of new inventions and designs.
" I. As regards the protection afforded by letters
patent for inventions :
" In and previous to 1851 the laws relating to
letters patent were in a very unsatisfctory state,
being cumbrous in their machinery and involving
the inventor in a heavy cost to obtain protection
for his invention before be could exhibit it to the
public. The cost of a patent for the United King-
dom and colonies then amounted in fees to about
£3OO. This was practically a prohibition to many
exhibitors, who could not exhibit without being
first protected by a patent, which they had neither
the means to pay for, nor perhaps did the article
warrant such an expenditure.
" To avoid this difficulty a special Act of Perlis"
ment was passed early is the session of 1851,
entitled ' The Protection of Inventions Act,' under
the provisions of which an inventor, by lodging
a short specification descriptive of his invention,
to the satisfaction of the Attorney-General, and
receiving a certificate which he registered at, the
Designs-office, received a protection which enabled
him to exhibit his invention in Hyde-park, with-
out such exhibition_ being deemed a publication
which would invalidate a subsequent patent if
applied for within a period limited by the Act.
" This privilege was obtained without payment_
of any fee whatever, and was taken advantage of
by upwards of 600 exhibitors.
In 1852 the rutont Laws were amended, and by
the law as it now stands the proceedings to be first
Olken by an intending patentee are very similar to
those under the Protection of Inventions Act. The
inventor lodges his petition at the Great Seal Patent
Office, Southampton-buildings, accompanied with
a declaration that he is the true and first inventor,
together with what is termed a provisional specifi-
cation—i e. a short statement of the nature of his
invention, without entering into details. If this be
satisfactory, the applicant receives a certificate to
that effect from the Attorney-General, and his
invention is protected from piracy for six months,
with liberty to him to proceed for his complete
patent during that period, if he thinks fit. This
provisional protection involves a fee to Government
of £5, collected in the form of stamp duty on the
petition.
"If the inventor desires to complete his patent
and extend his protection for a further period
beyond the six months, he must proceed within that
period (the first step being taken not later than at
the expiration of four months, and on paying a
further sum of £2O, and filing a complete
specification or full description of his in-
vention, he gets his patent for 14 years,
subject to its ceasing at the end of three
and seven years in default of his paying stamp
duties of £5O and £lOO at such respective periods.
" 2. Registration includes two branches—that for
articles of utility, and that for designs for ornament.
" The registration of designs for articles of utility
is limited in character and restricted in extent, And
is divided into provisional' and complete.'
"(A.) By provisional registration a copyright for
one year (which may be further extended for six
months by order of the Board of Trade) is given to
the author or proprietor of any new or original
design for the shape or configuration either of the
whole or of part of any article of manufacture, such
shape or configuration having reference to some
purpose of utility, whether such article be made in
metal or any other substance. During such terms
the proprietor of the design has the privilege only
of selling the right to apply the same to an article
of manufacture, but not (under the penalty of nul-
lifying the copyright) of selling any article with the
design applied thereto, until after complete regis-
tration, which must be effected prior to the expira-
tion of the provisional registration. The fee for
this registration is 10s.
" (B.) By complete registration a copyright of
three years is given to the author or proprietor of
any new or original design for shape or configura-
tion either of the whole or of part of any article of
manufacture, such shape or configuration having
reference to some purpose of utility, whether such
article be made in metal or in any other substance.
The fee for this registration is £lO.
" In each case the protection is obtained by sim-
ply depositing a drawing and short descriptien'of
the object in respect of which protection is sought.
"It must be borne in mind that registration
differs from letters patent, inasmuch as it gives
protection only to the shape or configuration' of
articles of utility, and not to any mechanical action,
principle, contrivance, application, or adaptation
(except so far as these are dependent upon and
insparable from shape or configuration), or to the
material of which the article is composed.
" 3. As regards copyright in designs for orna-
menting articles of manufacture, the registration
for this purpose is, like the former, divided into
provisional.' and complete.'
" (A) By 'provisional' registration a copyright
of one year (which may be further extended for six
gora
npyr o
aprrti
iectloer
ooff
manufactureoriginal des i gonr s
months by order of the Board of Trade) is given to
othrneamauetnhtoinr
twat
stance. During such terms the proprietor of the
design may sell the right to apply the same to an
article of manufacture, but must not (under the
penalty of nullifying the copyright) sell any
article with the design applied thereto until after
complete registration, which must be effected prior
to the expiration of the provisional registration.
" 'Provisional ' registration is obtained for all
classes of manufactures and fabrics at a fee of one
shilling for each design.
" (B.) By ' complete' registration a copyright,
or property, is given to the author or proprietor of
any new or original design for ornamenting any
article of manufacture or substance for terms vary-
ing from nine months to three years, according to
the different classes of manufactures to which the
design is to be applied. The fees vary, according
to the classes, from is. to £1 each class, and for
certain groups of classes from £3 to £7, according
to circumstances.
"4. As to Sculpture.
" By registration, a protection of a nature similar
to that granted for designs for ornamenting articles
of manufacture is granted to sculptures, model,
copies, or casts of the whole or part of the human
figure, or of animals, for the term, or unexpired
part of the term, during which copyright in such
sculpture, models, copies, or casts may or shall ex-
exist under the Sculpture Copyright Act, and the
fee for registering the same is £5.
" 5. I have not entered into the details as to the
manner in which the protection under these various
heads is obtained, considering that that is not the
object for which this report is required. Such
details can be readily obtained by any person gra-
tuitously, on application either at the Patent-office,
or at the Designs'-office, No. 1, Whitehall.
"At the present time inventors intending to ex-
hibit have all the facilities for protecting their in-
ventions which they possessed in 1851 under the
laws then in force, as well as under the temporary
Act of Parliament then passed specially on their
behalf, save that there is now a stamp duty of £5
payable for the protection under the amended
patent law.
" All these modes of protection are available
equally to foreigners as well as to British subjects.
" Looking at the large number of patents which
are annually applied for, and for which provisional
protection is allowed—between 2,000 and 3,000 in
number—and the very trivial objects for which
they are frequently sought, it is clear that the £5
stamp duty is practically no hindrance or bar to the
inventor; and under these circumstances I am led
to the conclusion, and beg to suggest to her Ma-
jesty's Commissioners that there is no need sow of
any special legislation in favour of exhibitors of
new inventions in 1862, as there was in 1851.-1
have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant,
" P. LE NEVE FOSTER.
" F. R. Sandford, Esq., Secretary to her
Majesty's Commissioners for the
Exhibition of 1862."

TIIE WEATHER.—It has been a splendid week,
though the warm sunAine has bean toned down by
easterly winds, and the clear moonlight and starlight nights
have been accompanied by frosts. Vegetation has made
marked advance, and a few April showers would render
verdant the whole face of nature. The farmers have had a
magnificent time of it, and they have:turned every hour t•
good account. We have now been almost entirely with-
out rain for three weeks, and the surface soil has infi-
nitely benefited by the change. In fact the whole aspect •
of the country has an altered appearance. The absence of
moisture has been very favourable for the lambs, and will
also tend to atop the spread of those diseases from which
both sheep and cattle have lately suffered in consequence
of the condoned wet and saturated state of the land for co
10111Puti"411410,4 ottiveigr.