Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-26
WILL Be LIKE OURS
Changes to Be Made in the
British Patent Office.
ANTIQUATED METHODS
MANY OBSTACLES PLACED IN
WAY OF INVENTORS.
Americans Have Been Among the
Chief Sufferers-The Terrible
Trade Mark Office.
ANTIQUATED METHODS

The British patent office, that branch OF
his majesty's government which Dickens
named 1.-The Circumlocution Office" and at
which he poked all manner of fun, Is to be
made more like an up-to-date business In
stitution and less like place guaranteed
to drive to drink any one who tries to get
anything done through it. by being remodel
ed on the lines Of the patent Office in Wash
ington.
The leaders of parliament are pushing
through a bill which will bring about this
result. This bill Is the outcome Of the de-
alterations of a committee which was ap-
pointed by the government nearly two
years ago to decide what the faults in the
present patent system were, and to make
recommendations" And their chief rec
ommendation was:
Make this office like the Washington bu-
reau Amend the present law so that In
ventors will be able to do business with the
British patent Office and get almost as sat
isfactory results as they do now when
dealing with the office in Washington.
Once the reform is begun, an end will be
put TO system that is relic Of the Of
fees anted!luvian days. and that has
aroused more complaint among American
inventors, to say nothing Of English ones.
than any other. That is the system OF TAX
ing an inventors money and giving him in
exchange a patent that doesn't guarantee
anything.
Patents Issued on Patents.
At present the British patent Office will
issue patent to any one who will pay the
fees and furnish a description of the object
he wants to protect. 1t will issue ten pat
ents if they are applied for, on exactly the
same thing leaving the unfortunate pat
entees to decide in the courts which one has
the real claim to the invention.
OF course, no inventor. American or
otherwise, would pay money to the British
patent office for a patent on anything II
he knew that the office had already given
| several other people patents on the same
invention. That, however, Is exactly what
the British patent office doesn't let him
know. Unlike it's American counterpart.
the English office now doesn't give itself
the trouble of looking over its record and
telling an applicant for a patent whether
any one is before him or not. Instead. for
all these years 1t has gone laundering
along, giving out patents to all who Apply,
but declining, as it's officials put 1t, ITO
guarantee the novelty of any invention"
Consequently, the American inventor has
not known whether the patent issued to
him in England was going to protect him
there or whether 1t wasn't.
Cost Much Greater
The present patent laws amendment bill.
HO"eNeI, 1871 SoiHe u uo any lliHS Low III
lowering the cost of getting an English
patent, which is another Of the American
inventors causes Of complaint.
At present, to take out a patent in Eng
land costs lot more than it does in the
United States. The preliminary cost it Is
true is less for an English patent the
registration and subsequent grant amount
Ing to only $50 as compared with $35 in the
| United States When this amount is paid
in America, there is no more to be spent
upon the patent until the end Of the seven
teen years for which 1t is issued
The English patent. however, runs only
fourteen years, and after the first four
years have passed sliding scale Of further
fees, at the rate So for each year, begins
that is to say, $25 payable at the beginning
sixth. etc, SO that by the end Of the four
teenth year the holders patent has cost him
just 1896, as compared with the American
patentee's $35 for seventeen years.
The Patent SHARK"
Another thorn in the path Of the Ameri-
| can inventor in England is the British
| patent shark" Hundreds Of Americans
| are buncoed by him every year.
The game upon which this slippery indi-
vidual depends for his bread and butter
consists in making Americans believe that
| they can obtain an English patent on their
| inventions after the time when 1t Is posi-
BILE to do SO has actually gone by. Aided
| by the official list, which the American
| patent Office issues every month, these Eng
| lish sharpers mail to each inventor to
| whom a patent has been awarded a piquant
| and inviting little circular, stating that they
| stand ready, upon receipt of the necessary
| fees, to attend to his English patent busi-
| ness for him.
Occasionally this merry little plan fails
| completely, the intended victims American
acuteness causing him to send his drawings
| and cash to the agent" in care Of the
directions to turn them over to the par
| ties should they be found responsible.
| Then the sharpers are hoist with their own
| petard. Unfortunately, 1t Ia comparatively
| seldom that the American inventor takes
| such precautions, and these sharks reap a
| rich harvest from their gudgeon- cat ching
| They generally really make application for
the patentee's English grant. renting,
| however, only fraction of the fees sent
| them. and then forward the American the
| British Offices refusal to issue.
| The firm that has been foremost in this
sort Of business fell into the clutches of
| the law month or SO ago, at which time
| it's operations were thoroughly aired. Sur
| prising evidence was given as to the
amount Of money taken in by the sharpers
| from American clients. AS result of this
| trial the new bill will make 1t compulsory
| on the part OF the patent office to annul
| these operators power for future mischief
| by refusing to accept business from one of
| them when once he has been weighed In
| the balance and found wanting. This course
is rigidly followed by the Washington pat
| ent office.
The Terrible Trade Mark Office.
An American who has invented novelty
| which he wants to introduce in England
| may be inclined to swear over the ways Of
the British patent office. He must not,
| however. He must save his breath to use
in expressing his opinion Of the British
| trademark Office when eventually he goes
| up against it,
| To begin with, the officials in charge at
| this Office seem to suffer from even more
| than ordinary British conservatism and
| distrust Of original ideas and methods of
| procedure. In the second place, the rules
governing the granting of advertising de-
| vices are as stern and unbending as the
| homely building which houses this cum
bersome section Of the patent office ma
chinery. Oddly enough, American manu-
facturers have been probably the greatest
| sufferers from this state of things.
/ British trademark rules are a good deal
| more arbitrary than those prevailing in
| America, where, practically speaking, any
device can be registered. In England, to
| use the stiff wording Of the law, the trade
| mark must be divorced from any mean
ing In respect to the goods advertised" and
| he. Oft hor init a.