New-York daily tribune., 1851-07-17
Reform of the Patent Laws.

Nj Brgh; pald well-merIted compliment me
other night in the House OF Commons 10 Lora
Granville the Vice PreSdent OF the Board of race,
who. ne said, had done more work, ana dohe I"eti,
during the present session OF Parliament thdh any
other member OF the Ministry. The compheht va v "a
Just one for no member OF el'her house ld All, III ~
more ability more working earnestness, or deat IN
an equally crectable manner Win such q Fdilev
of important questions. HIS speech on luesday
night, in introducing the faleht La" AinehoIlen' % @
Bill 10 the House OF Lords was an excellent specl-
men OF his clear and Statesman-llke mode OF deal
ing with important subjects. The dlfhculty ana
expense Of patentng inventions mas long peeh
fell as a most disgraceful and oppressive aouse-
The measure brought forward by Lord Granville Is
intended obyIate some OF the chlei oOectohs tldl
make the present system not only no protecton Dut
a direct obstruction to scientific discovery ana me
chancal Improvements. II Is an open question,
whether or not patent laws. OF any deScrptoil die
real advantage TO inventors. LOrd GrdnNlllc cG-
pressed ms own belief that patent rights were ad-
yanageOus neither TO the public nor 10 tc ingenious
men TO whom society l. indebted for important DIS
coveries The arguments he urged IN support oil
this opinion were perhaps oi somewhat question:
able kind and derived their strength rather from the
extensive and complicated process by which the
right of any TO an exclusive property IN the re-
suits OF his ingenuity, can at present De secured
than from nfercnces fairly deducble from such facts
as he alleged. Into tins controversy. however. We
shall enter but proceed to lay before our readers
a bref reCaDuua,lOn OF The main improvements en-
bodied in his bill.
There are at present eight different Offices, and a
great number Of stages, through which every lnVen-
tor must pass IN the process OF taking out patent
The object of Lord Granvlllcs bill IS 10 diminish ex-
penSe and DELAY to give greater security 10 the m
VenOr and To prevent fraud. HIS purpose, he sald
was "to abolish useless Offices and stages. and 10
substitute public and one private oihce - great
number a. he had before Stated-to prevent many ol
the frauds now IrdclSed by requiring the specllca
tons 10 be much more accurate and not merely
vague genCraltIcs for The purpose OF mySiiyng the
pubc-to afford useful assistance 10 the law officers
of the Crown-to give protection from the date OF
application. by provisional reglstTatOn-tO abolish
the system Of caveats, and TO make all patented IN
NentlOns easy of access to the public
With this view, the bill provides TOR the reduction
of the eight Offices to two, and whereas the cost IN
the first instance now amounts TO between t30o ana
I4O0 he proposes that for the sum OF IL iull sec-
tcatlOn NAV be deposited al the Great sea- fdlent
Office, and complete protection thus secured for SIX
months, during which time the invention may be
used or exhibited without the inventor running any
risk of other parties taking advantage OF the
knowledge OF ms discovery. The cost OF securing
patent for three years VIII be reduced to fees OF I@U
and IS for stamps al the end OF which term dnoihef
payment of Gao for fees and Go iOf stamps VIII
secure It's extension TO the end of seven years when
an additional payment of $50 for fees and L2O for
stamps Will be required This mode of arranging the
payment Of fees viii. 1t Is presumed, enable the IN
ycnlCr TO discover whether his patent Is likely 10
prove profitable not before he ncurs the heavy ex-
penSe of securing n. The plan has the advantage AZ
least of most seriously diminishing the existing eX-
travagant cost of patentng an invention before lts
merits be practically tested and though the fees
are st unnecessarily heavy. they need not be PAID
al any rate, III lull, ulll ucftlS dl prospect VI 't
patent realizing something for the inventor
The other clauses of the bill intended to obVi-
ale the chances OF litigation, by providing more SIM
pie means for testing the validity OF prior claims or
other objections. Lord BTougham who has, perhaps,
devoted aS much attention 10 tins subject as any man
living gave his testimony 20 the mastery manner III
which Lord Granville had dealt with the question,
and pronounced the measure 10 be an immense I'M.
proyemCnt on the present patent laws. ms Dl
viii. unique stonaby, place The poor inventor IN a
much better position, and enable enterprslng inge-
nully 10 secure al comparatively small cost the
means ofpraccally testing whether or not the profit
of patent I'LL prove prOpotlonate to the expense
necessary 10 obtain or extend II.
Manchester Examine