The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-01 00:00:00

THE PATENT LAW.

A meeting (under the presidency of Lord Richard
Grosvenor, M.P.) of the delegates of various industrial
associations was held in the metropolis on Monday, 4o
consider the patent law. Lord Grosvenor said there
existed among all classes, and especially among working
men, a strong feeling that the patent laws needed
simplification and modification. In the new Parliament
there could be no doubt that the Legislature would interest
itself much more deeply in social questions than hereto.
fore. Education would, no doubt, form a subject of much
discussion in the new Parliament, and education was
so closely allied to the objects of the institute
that such discussion must affect the present patent
laws.—Mr. Hume Williams spoke of the expediency
and justice of the patent laws, and said that even in these
days of free trade there was little ground for apprehend.
ing that capital and intellect would be placed in antago-
nism by any attempt to abolish the protection which
satisfied the just requirements of each. In this age of
progress it became a matter of the utmost importance
that the inventive genius of the country should be
fostered and protected. To new inventions in machinery
they should look for additional progress ; but still not
neglect the old ones. Agreed upon the broad principle of
protection to invention, it appeared to the council of the
institute that the education of artisans in mechanical
knowledge and their guidance in scientific study were
matters not unworthy their attention, and accordingly
steps had been taken to advance these objects. He con-
cluded by stating that it was intended to inaugurate a
benevolent fund for men of science.—Mr. Savage said he
had been all his life in contact with intelligent working
men, and from his knowledge of the manner in which the
patent laws worked, he could say that their action was
tantamount to putting 50 per cent. of the intellectual
power of the country into the grave. Some of the
best inventions had never been patented because of
the expense. The steel pen had never been patented on
that account. Since 1861 very few new inventions had
been exhibited lest they might be copied. It was said that
the inventor of the sewing machine had derived no
benefit from his invention in this country, because he was
too poor to take out a patent.—Captain Selwyn, R.N.,
thought that a working man's patent should be solid
and reliable, because the patent law was nothing
but a permission to go to law. They must first
of all have cheap protective law ; next, such an
investigation as would assure the poor man he was not
paying fur a sham ; and, thirdly, such publicity and
encouragement as could on'y be given by an institute.
Hitherto inventors had been pulling one way and manu-
facturers another ; but a better time for both parties was
arriving.—Mr. Patterson, of the Working Men's Club and
Institute Union, asked why a man should pay a tax for
having his brain-property protected. Why should a
working man be called on to pay anything beyond a
registration fee? It was not right to complain that
working men did not invent, when they were actually
fined for doing so.— Mr. Siemens thought that where there
was an allegation of an infringement of a patent, commis-
sioners should be appointed, who, without stopping a
manufacturer's business, could ascertain the truth of the
allegation.—Mr. Webster believed that brains should be
as much protected as property in matter. The state of
the present patent laws was a disgrace to a civilised
country.—After further discussion, a vote of thanks to the
chairman closed the sitting.