Star.
London, England, 1829-04-10 00:00:00

LAW GIP PATANT INMITIoNS.

Mr. LENNARD rose to n.. ve fns a Committee to
inquire into the present state tf the law and prat:ice al
granting patents lig ingenuous. He had no intention
of impugning the principle on which the law in regard
to patents was fu tided. nor ut encroaching on the
prerogative of the King to grant theta. The preroga

tire in that ;civet was as old as the Constitution; it
was cl.-ar that at common law the Crown had the powm
of granting to the inventor of any new and useful ma.
nufacture or art, theesclusive right of using or vending
it for a reasonable time. Such a
grant was no violation
of the rule laid down by Lord Coke, that no one is of
be restrained of any freedom or liberty he had before,
or hindered in his lawful ceiling ; such a grant. yo far
from being injurious to the public, was, on the.con-
trary, beneficial Cur it, by tending to encourage useful
discoveries. But this power having been greatly abused.
Particularly in the reigns of Queen Elisabeth and King
James, having been made the means sometimes of en
riching a favour ire at the expense of the public, some-
times of raisi g a revenue for the Prince, having. in
the words of Queen Elisabeth, when she :evoked >rime
monopolies which had been complained of by t'or-
li
it was at length found necessary to define amt
imerit, " been repeatedly mated to the hurt of the
p
limit it by statute, and to reduce it within its an. tent
and constitutional limit , which was done by the well
known Statute of hiJnopolies, passed in the 21st of
James the First. That Statute suppressed all mono
polies generally; but the sixth clause in it autho-
rised the Crown to grant letters patent, or giants'
of privilege, for fourteen years or mailer, of the sore,
working or making of any new manufacture within
the realm, to the true And first inventor of such marm•
lactate. It was upon that 'clause that the right now
exercised by tile Crown, of granting those letters, which
confer upon an inventor the right to the exclusive bent fit
of his own invention for 14 years, was wholly founded.
Whenever that power was exercised, the privilege or
protection thus granted was the result of what might
be called a compromise beta een the Crown, or rather,
he should say, the public on the one hand. and
ventor on the other. That clause, which ctid no more tiros)
&elate that it should be in the potter of the Crown to
make such grants if it should think fit, left it to the I
Crown to prescribe those terms on which it would make
the grant. Accordingly, in the reign of Queen Anne, a
condition was introduced into the ()steal, which had
always since been insisted
.on, that the itieentor should,
within a certain time, generally within one or two,'
sometimes six moLtbs after the grant of the patent,,
enrol in the Court of Chancery such a description of
his invention, that the public might, at the expiration of
the patent, have the use of it in as cheap and beneficial
a manner as the patentee himself used it. By obtaining
that statement, the public derived a benefit. and an
equivalent in return for the bei.efit the patentee derived
from his limi•ed monopoly. In louleng at the limited
and peculiar privilege granted by letters patent, which
he had spoken of as a monopoly, they must not con.
found it with the common no ion of a monopoly, which
it was not, being merely a bargain between the ii,-
ventor and t' e public; the public acquired s •mething
which it had not before, or acquired it in a better
form, or at a cheaper rate. Arid it was manife.t that
it was equally just, as it was p litic. tliot those %%I A.
had emplot ed their time and spent their money in the
production of some new thing, ifs hick was to be useful
to the community, ought to be rewarded; that he who
informed the public of a r.ew method of increasing their
wealth or their comforts, should obtain a compensation
or recompense fur his labours and ingenuity. The best
and most approi riote method of doing this seemed to
be that which was marked out by the statute—namely,
the giving an inventor a limited monopoly in his own
manufacture; for, in propoit on as his inve..tion was
valuable to society, so would the amount of his profits
increase. He considered, therefore, that the principle
was a sound one on which our patent laws were founded,
and which were inten.:ed, on the one hand, to stimulate
industry and ingenuity by securing to inventors a
reward proportionate to the value of their inventions,
and, on the other, to secure to the public the per-
fect knowledge of such useful inventions or discove-
ries as might be made. His object was, to make the
law efficient for these purposes, which it was n. t at
present. He should not say any thing in iegard to ilk
expense of taking out a patent—he had heard it spoken
of as a grievance, but he was not prepared to say that the
law required any alteration in that respect. It was his
own .pinion at present, and he knew it war that of
many persons who had great experience in that part of
our laws, that it was not desirable to facilitate over-
much the obtaining of patents by any reduction of ex-
pense ; but what he did contend for was, that a hen a
patent was obtained, rit should be perfectly effectual
lot its purpose—naneely, the security of this limited
monopoly to the inventor, and of so perfect a know-
ledge of the invention to the public, that every one
might use it when the term of the patent was ex-
pired. Such being the case, lie would 1 r teed to
the consideration of those parts of tste law a hich he
thought the most important to bring under the attention
of tire House, in which he thought it possible some im-
provement, on mature deliberation, might be made.—
The patent, as lie had said, was granted on condition
that the invention should, in the specification, be accu-
rately and completely dent. ibed—that it should de .0-kg
he best and properest materials, and that the machine,
or thing, or sub tolice Cisco/tried, sir. It'd be accurately
and completely desceibed.- lie was aware of the neces-
sity of insisting on that; it was a part of the bargain.
and Wily made; but-the different interpretations that
had ten put on the law, the doubt what the law was,
the different and the fluctuating opinions of Judges as
to the ap, licatioa and best mode of construing the law,
bad made the property under letters patent very insectire,
and had tendtd manifestly to discourage inventors,who,
seeing others lose the benefit of their labours, were de-
terred from bringing for ward their own inventionsit was
a sort of proverb among inventors, that he who took out
a patent took out a law suit with it; and the issue.of a
law suit, in support of a patent, was so exceedingly un-
certain, that the patent tight was said to be of compa-
ratively little value, till confirmed by the verdict of a
Jury; so that where there was any probability of a dis-
covery being kept private without a patent, as in che-
mical discoveries, the secret was thought of far more
value than a patent. In mechanical inventions, the
machinery would, for the most part, betray the se-
cret; but in chemical inventions, where the secret
could be better concealed, it had been said that no
man in his senses would think of disclosing his secret
for such an imperfect protection as a patent gave
him. The consequence of this was. that many a
valuable discovely died with the inventor, and was lost
to the public, or was locked up, and formed a perpe-
tual monopoly in the hands of his representatives.—
The principal cause of the insecurity of the patent eon.
awed in the difficulty, not to say the impossibility often,
of framing a specification which should not be liable to
any of the manifold and often technical and formal ob-
jections which were allowed to prevail against them in
Courts of law. He would not weary the House With
attempting to enumerate the manifold imperfectionsin
specifications, which bad been held to be fatal to the
raght ut the patentee. It was sufficient that it was no-
torious that the drawing a specification was a matter of
the greatest possible nicety, and that most of the patents
which on judicial trial had been lost, bad been so from
mistakes in the framing of that docuasent....The his. ,

tory of the Courts of Lawaff
reotrbdeed. PelhP
one head of law abouthadalse% me
which
much difference of ()se ion amongst the Judges...,
lb was net contending that the patentee shoidi p t
be obliged to give a complete and accurate descrips
lion of his invention—far from ill he saw the per.
feet justice and the necessity of this; but when
man had made a discovery, and was willing to come 7
fotward, and boxer fide make the discovery know;
veiich was part of the condition of the gram, he hea
right to ask, when he gave the descriptionsioief
htandatvdiiis: !
covery, “ Are you satisfied with it?" " Is it cotnpleter
.7 Can you work by it?" and then,
fully coccealed some part of the process by which the
invention could he better or cheaper made, be rinse' es
be secure of that protection which was to him the bene.
fic:al part of the bargain which he had entered iota
with the public; and not, afer laying out van sums
money, be liable to have to maitstem his right before
two or three successive Jinies, and ultim.tt le, pedlar*,
alter a balanced opinion of two Jtities and the Coen,
t • lose the benefit of his invei.teo tin voile technical
paint, which might have been tote-een, in which per.
hips a as really of no importance. He thought that it
would be found r err mate mode f ensuring tl.e vale
di:y of the patent when the e!ecification was cum. LI
pieta*, or, if inc fliplete. et making the patentee to.
quainted with that tact, and of allowing 1„,,, boort n
was enrolled to make u c mp'ete, might laitly be te. •
quired. The history of the cars se° e.l that suite :
of the most meritorious scientifi± men, who bad de-
voted their time and their fortune to the perfect on of
inventions.—to. whim it seas that we owed the Dope.
alleled extension of our commerce. the increase cf
our manufactures, and the implies. ments in alp icultirre,
tho e resources of that est, widinary prosperity mud
p .wer to which this cnui try had atiivad—had
for sonic technical in •ccuracy iu 0 e .pecification, , early
risked the loss of their [supra/. lie need only icier
to the case of Butdroo and Wa.r, whose patent was all
lest lost, and that from some techeical rem in the
description; such as a description of a method rather
than a thing. It a as a fact well known that thineemi.
nent pet 'ens expended between SO 0001. and 40,000 e in
the defence of their patents, which never would have
been initinged if there bad been persons euthenist('
and competent to examine the specification on its en-
rollment, and to have said, You have taken a patent
for a principle rather than a thing, or for a *hole
machine, when yours is only an improvement of a
part.' If th .t power existe.7, the public would be 1
as well and better served tuan at pt sent, and inventors
would be saved all the cost and the tin :ertaintyas to their
i..veution and property. Wh. thet that mite.t be dote
by a commission composed of sc en.ific nen amid las.
yens, aipe' whether it might be found impracticable, he
knew not; but he thought the state of the law, and
more particuiatly the stare of optiiii.n which existed in
scientific men, mete at least goof grouirds for equity 1.
and consideration, and he asked for nothing more.
There were other points on which he might say a few
words, which was the shortness of the time allowed for
the specification. The hittnr y ref nearly all great Myer.
lions showed, that the first sketch of the machine, or pea
cess, was cumbrous and complex ; the operation of time
was to simplify and perfect it. A man made a di co-
very, he was in hourly danger of being forestalled, or
at least of losing his right to obtain a patent for it; Cr
any publication of his secret,. in any way, before the
patent was rendered safe by passing the Cleat Seal,
rendered his right to a patent void, whetter that pulo
lication was made malicianbly or accidentally, by a
friend to *dm he might have communicated his in-
vention, or by a servant, whom he might have eat.
played to assist him in the experiments nattier, to
perfect it ; and that such caution on' that account era
thought necessary, Lord Eldon once declared lions the
Bench, if he were maturing an invention, and solicit-
ing a patent, he would not entrost his own brother with
the secret until his patent was sealed. The consequence
of this' at as, that the moment the idea of some disco.
very bad occurred to a. mana.he was tempted to endea-
vour to secure it by patent, which he immediately
applied for, and probably obtained; but he was obliged
to specify, often within a time that was insufficient fur
the due perfection of his invention, and the result was,
he specified foe an imperfect machine. The machine was
improved, and he was from time to time compelled to
take out a fresh patent for every successive irnprole-
ment, and at the same Cost. It. in fact, often happened
that an inventor had only the alternative of incuraing
the expense of taking out seteral patents for one limn-
tien,ot of waiting before he took out his patent till he bad
completed his invention, at the has •ral of losing, through
the carelessness or treachery of his friends or servants,
his right to a patent at all. Now he thought the law of
Fiance might be found worthy of imitation on that head;
[bete, though the time for which a patent might be
grained, was fixed at fifteen years, jet a patent for five
years might be taken out at a third of the expense of
one fir fifteen p•ars, which might be renewed from
time to time, with all the successive improvements, foe
fifteen years.in,the 10914.40 at the cost of one patent;
,o that .there a nomad" ira,si Artabled. without the Costs
of many successive .patently-tar haves the fuel benefit
of his improvements at the. 'cost of. one, and *ab-
out the hurry
.attrodiug ole the shot tarts of time
allowed for specifying. .He was aware that there was
4 disc etiorr as to the •specificat;on in the Att nary
and Solicitor.GMeral, bist he alluded to the knows
and geneeal practice, and to what was- the known and
general evil. He thought that that or something of that
sort might be found very- beneficial in this countro-e
The only protection Which an inventor had, revioal
to his application for a patent, wac by a caveat, which
was nothing =mothers a request, lodged at the offsets of
the Anoint, or Solicitor General, that lie might have
notice of all applications for patents for the same or the
same sort of invention, in order that be might claieu"a
patent for it, if found to be really the first inventor. That
!was the whole virtue of the caveat, which some persons
had erroneously imagined to be a sort of minor patent,
capable by its own operation of staying the hands of alt
persons engaged in similar inventions. As a protection,
,t was a very hazardous, not to say uncertain one, to
resort to. Hazardous, because the mere circum-
stance of a caveat being entered, was likely to direct
Attention and the inquiries of others to the very point
which be who bad entered the caveat wasinvistigatiog ;
and uncertain, because any description that could be
given of an invention, before it was completed, most
be defective, and liable to be defeated, on the ground
of its being defective. He believed there was a very
general opinion, tbat'while a caveat afforded no entails
protection, it was a sure means of raisitag oppositions
and often of 'defeating its own ends. So muck for
the specification, in which the principal movements
of the law would be found to lie. He thought, if
the inventor really made a fair discovery of his in-
vention, or described it io a way prescribed to bins, he
ought to be guaranteed his property, as moth as the
public were guaranteed theirs. As to the priority of
diicovery I as to the perindi whether or not the patent
Was infringed; as to whether or not the patentee re
the true discoverer; as-to -the utility of the lowest"

•a; a •
.kstifMmthagh those. points gate much litigation, tney I
were incidental to the nature of the property and the
',nosily of the law; and he did not think any thing fur-
ther could be effected in this, or any protection granted.
There was a difference of opinion upon another point
...namely, as to the propriety of keeping the specifi•
taloa concealed during the existence of the patent.
According to the present pract'ce, the specification was
open to the public, and any one might obtain a copy
of. it. It was said, and he thought surely, that ope•
toed injuriously towards the patentre in two ways:
In the first place, it operated against him by serving as
'a guide to piracy at home, by enahling persons in
this country, before the expiration of the patent, to
obtain facilities for pirating it, and he believed it did
apes ate in that way to such a degree, that th,le
were few patents which had not been infringed soy
extensively. 'ln she next place, it enabled persons to
cat ry the invention abroad, where, of course, the patent
etude was made, the foreign market shut against the
teal inventor, and the euchre benefit given to foreignets,
of having the free use of the invention of fourteen
)ears, before the patentee's countrymen could enjoy
the same advantage. The only reasons is favour of
the publication of the specification were, first, that
the public should juige if the thing had been truly
de vibe l ; next, that a man might see fur what a
pa;ent had already been obtained, that he might not
waste his time in perfecting a similar invention.
As to the fist objection, it would be greatly removed
by the adoption or a *proposition he had alte.idf made,
na uely. that means sbould be taken to ascertain the
acluracy of the description before it was enrolled.—
riot to the second, which had been urged by Lord Eldon, he was
nos sane that there was any perfectly satisfactory answer to it ; but ,
it had been said that a description' far short of a minute specifica.
tioo, Would be publication enough, if made in the title of the parent,
to inform ingenious men of the nature of the inventions already
. protected by patents. The question, however, involved a balance of
evits,brut it was obvious that the point was one which deserved consi.
&ratio*. In France the specification might be concealed oh special ap-
pbeation, and if it was accessory to inspect it, in a case where a patent
had been borings-41, it was referred to persons to decide, but who
were not at liberty to disclose ha nature. How far that might be
thought adviseable in this country, be conceived no one could de-
cide without a detailed consideration of the point, and taking the
Amitaion of those who were at once interested in, and converrant with
the subject. He had not gone into particular review of the different
cares, aid the niceties of construction which bad arisen, for fear of
tiring the House. He had been the rather inclined to take the
case as one prime impression is, as one in which the difficulties and
niceties were generally known, and felt, and complained of. It
could not be denied, that intbt present state of the law, much diffi-
eulty did arise: that many patents for great and useful discoveries
had been lust ' • that there was a strong and prevalent opinion
that the laws did net -at present, for some reason or other,
afford such certainty of protection to inventors as they might ;
that a general opinion existed, particularly amongst scientific
men, and he believed also among lawyers, that something might
be done to improve these laws. AU he asked was, that'
the-House should consider how far that could be done;' only
that it should comply with the petition which be presented "iome
time ago, signed by some of the must eminent engineers and scien.
tale men, praying fur a review of those laws ; and be hoped he had
stated enough to induce the House.to comply with his motion, th 4
a Committee should be appointed to inquire and report on the pre.
sent 'tat and operation of the laws relating to granting letters
parent for inventions.
Mr. D. G I LUERT seconded the motion, and said great caution
would be necessary in making any alterations in the existing system.
Mr. Secretary PEEL did not see the utility of the cheapness of
Patents, and he was convinced it would hi no degree tend to the
improvement of mechanical skill in this country. He therefore
hoped the Committee would exercise great caution on this subject.
- Sir C. WETHERELL considered that no substantial improve-
ment would be likely to take place, with respect to Patents, from
the proposed Committee. Too much caution could not be used on
so very important a topic.
Mr. WARBURTON thought the present Law of Patents was
by no meats, as perfect as it ought to isf....ami was therefore in tattoos
at 4be appointment of the proposed Chnintitite. He did not think
it was good policy to *save Patents so expensive as they were at
present. It was too much to pay £3OO for any Pewit, which was
the case in tins country. •
Sir J. Al ORELA ND supported the !outlast for a Committee.
Mr. MA BERLY said it was very doubtful whether the caist.
tag law of Patents was or was not injurious to the impeovemetit of
mechanical .kilt. If a monopoly was to be granted, the price must
-be paid for it, and that rendered a public speculation of each Patent
abalutely necessary.
After stew words front Mr. Luisa RD, the motion was agreed to.
seise 1411C11.1.411110US £STIUA taus
Lord F. L. GOWER moved for the appointment of a Select
Committee to inquire into certain Miscellaneous Estimates not
agreed to in the committee oo the Stl of April.--. Motion agreed to.
Sit G. COCKBURN moved for leave to bring in a Bill for the
.better regulation of Greenwich Hospital.
Sir JOSEPH YORKE said be saw no reason for the introduce
-lion of this Bill. It was tending to throw the whole patronage of
the Hospital into the hands of the Admiralty, which was highly
exceptionable.
Lord LOWTIIER supported the motion, and observed, that
with respect to the patronage, it was at this moment in the hands
•of the Admiralty ; so tar, therefore, there warn novelty In the
proposition. •
Mr. &I A EMILY considered that a limited and responsible
• Body would be much more efficient in the management of the
affairs of Greenwich Hospital, than in the present mode of its
'over omen.
bir G. COCKBURN said, that the management of the Hospital
was so very bail and disorderly, that it became absolutely necessary
to bring' In a Bill tor its speedy and effectual alteration.
Alr. Able' man WOO U supported tb.e.motion.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill..
The CHA NCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER morel a fie solu-
lionthat the Chairman be directed to move the House for leave to
bring in a Bill to continue the operation of the Assessed Tax Com-
posaion Artier a turther term.
The douse resumed, and Sir A. GseaarO-alotained lease to bring
in rho utb,r Orders of ,tkin:P.sy were Ellen ditrocd of,
and the Howie adjourned at Kic11t4144614.

.14,V 14:Ni i4TA

LOS ih,N.

-~..

FRIDAY, APRIL 10. 1529 •
• PRICE OP STOCKS AT. TWO O'CLOCK.
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ty per Cent. 1816. 951 4 ex die New Ditto
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AND ktOKKI6N SHARES, TWO O'CLOCK.

IllfA iilt. PA 11).
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MI. EYLER last night in the House of Commons.
agreed to postpone his motion for the appointment of
a Select Committee to inq.►ire into de time of the Silk
Trad-, unit!) stood for this eveninr, till Monday, in,
conscgoerce ►•f Mr. VSSZT FITZGZSALD having slid
that he should on that day be able to state expl►citly
the 'fleas of Government on the whole subject of the
laws and duties affecting the Silk trade.
Whether any change of system for the *chef of this
suffeliog branch of our manufactures is intended, did
not transpire; but the general impression is That a re-
duction of the duty oo thrown silk will be submitted