Journal of the Society of Arts : Volume XLIX, No. 2527 [‎700r] (25/36)

April 26, 1901.]
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
437
pointing out to him how and where he can find
information about the particular branch of
industry to which his invention refers. A
search among complete specifications only, as
contemplated by the Minute of the Board of
Trade appointing the Committee, is not satis
factory An East India Company trading post. , as a negative result would tend to
mislead the public and the inventor by in
spiring a sense of security as to the validity
of the patent; and the experience of other
countries has abundantly shown that even the
strictest preliminary examination fails to make
a patent secure.
Instead of making a search, after the
application for a patent has been drawn up,
an inventor should be induced to study what
has been done before at the time when he
first thinks of a new device, and every
assistance should be given him to make him
self thoroughly acquainted with his subject.
In most cases he is sure to find anticipations,
which will modify his views, shorten the ex
periments necessary for developing his ideas,
or possibly induce him to abandon his intention
of filing an application. Making information
accessible to the public would therefore con
tribute to the desirable result of lessening the
number of invalid patents.
To a certain extent the other requirements,
to give facilities for obtaining licenses and for
overcoming obstruction, are not neglected in
the existing procedure, but they have not the
consideration they deserve, nor is sufficient
stress laid on introducing a new manufacture
as distinguished from inventing the same.
Some alterations of the law would have
to be effected to give these considerations their
due weight, and the following suggestions will
explain what changes might be introduced.
The procedure for obtaining patents would re
main exactly as it is now according to the
English law, so that both the public and the
patentee fully understand that the validity of a
patent is not established by the mere fact of
its having been granted. In this way the in
ventor would be saved the immense worry and
expense inseparable from a strict examination,
while the preliminary examination would secure
a moderate restriction in the number of ap
plications as it does at present.
For the purpose of further diminishing the
number of patents and of preventing patentees
■delaying the introduction of the patented
manufacture, it should not be possible to keep
up a patent for more than four years, unless it
can be shewn to the satisfaction of the
examiner that the invention, as set out in the
claims, has been worked for more than one
year on a commercial scale before the fifth
year’s tax becomes payable Such a rule would
be beneficial in many ways, and among other
things, give effect to the opinion expressed by
Chief Baron Pollock* “ a
patent, the object of which is not to benefit the
world by its communication, but to obstruct by
the very general character of its claims, made
for conferring peculiar priviliges on the
patentee ; such a patent as that, in my judg
ment, cannot be supported.” If several
methods of carrying out the same manufacture
are described in one patent, the satisfactory
working of one modification should be sufficient
to keep up the whole patent; for it would not
be fair to the inventor, either to expect him to
work all possible modifications of his invention
on a commercial scale, or to allow the public
the free use of the modifications described in
the specification, but not worked by the inventor
or his licensees.
The examiner should, however, be careful to
distinguish between the cases referred to by
Chief Baron Pollock in which the claims are
too wide, and the cases in which various means
are set forth for obtaining the same result.
The procedure would be similar to that of the
examination when the patent is first applied
for, the examiner reporting to the Comptroller,
from whom an appeal would be allowed to the
law officer, whose decision would be final.
With the object of facilitating the intro
duction of new manufactures, the system of
compulsory licenses should be extended so
that anybody who is prepared to carry out an
invention or adopt a novel device, but has been
refused a license by the patentee, should be
able to obtain one from the Patent-office.
This is the second point on which the Com
mittee reports, and they are of opinionf that
“ the machinery as to the actual grant of the
license is needlessly complicated.”
They therefore recommendf that the juris
diction be transferred to the High Court,
“ subject to the same rights of appeal and to
the same regulation as to general orders as
are in force in respect of its existing business,
except that no appeal to the House of Lords
shall be brought without the leave of the Court
of Appeal or of the House of Lords.”
Further, “that the respondents in any pro
ceedings under this jurisdiction shall include
(1) the patentee and (2) any person claiming
* W. and W., page 56.
t Report: Section 22.
* Report: Section 26.