substituted new provisions for those contained in the Act of 1907 as to compulsory licences and the revocation of patents worked outside the United Kingdom, such matters being now treated under the heading of provisions being for the pre vention of abuse of monopoly rights. (S. 1 enacting a new s. 27.) Those rights are to be deemed to have been abused in any of five sets of circumstances which may be shortly stated as f ollows :—(a) After the fourth year of the patent, non-working of the invention in the United Kingdom on a commercial scale and without a satisfactory reason for such non-working. (b) Working of the invention within the United Kingdom on a com mercial scale prevented or hindered by importation from abroad of the patented article by the patentee or persons claiming under or through him or by other persons against whom he is not taking proceedings for infringement. (c) If the demand for the patented article in the United Kingdom is not being met to an adequate extent or on reasonable terms. (d) If by refusal of a licence or licences the trade or industry of the United Kingdom or the trade of any person or class of persons in the United Kingdom, or the establishment of any new trade or industry in the United Kingdom is prejudiced and it is in the public interest that a licence or licences should be granted. (e) If any trade or industry in the United Kingdom, or any person or class of persons engaged therein, is unfairly prejudiced by conditions attached by the patentee before or after the Act, to the purchase, hire, licence or use of the patented article or the using or working of the patented process.
Any person interested may at any time apply to the comp troller for relief under the section, alleging in the case of any patent an abuse of the monopoly rights. Under (a), which does not apply to an invention not capable of being worked in the United Kingdom, power is given to the comptroller to adjourn the application if he is of opinion that the time which has elapsed since the date of the patent has been insufficient to enable the in vention to be worked within the United Kingdom on a commercial scale. The section contains the important statement that for the purpose of determining whether there has been any abuse of monopoly rights, it shall be taken that patents for new inventions are granted not only to encourage invention but to secure that new inventions shall so far as possible be worked on a commercial scale in the United Kingdom without undue delay. "Working on a commercial scale" means the manufacture of the article or the carrying on of the process described and claimed in a specification of a patent in or by means of a definite and substantial establish ment or organization, and on a scale which is adequate and rea sonable under all the circumstances. Relief may be given under the section by the exercise by the comptroller of any of the follow ing powers, stating them shortly:—(a) He may order the patent to be endorsed "licences of right" (see above) ; (b) he may order the grant to the applicant of a licence on such terms as he may think expedient ; (c) he may, if he is satisfied that the invention is not being worked on a commercial scale within the United King dom, and under specified circumstances, requiring capital, order the grant of an exclusive licence to the applicant or a person able and willing to provide such capital subject as provided in the sec tion; (d) he may, if satisfied that the objects of the section cannot be attained by any of the foregoing methods, order the patent to be revoked either forthwith or after an interval unless conditions prescribed in the order are fulfilled, but no such order is to be made which would be at variance with any treaty, convention, ar rangement or engagement with any foreign country or British possession ; (e) if he is of opinion that the objects of the section will be best attained by making no order, he may refuse the appli cation. Under (a) an existing licensee may apply for an order
entitling him to surrender his licence in exchange for one to be settled by the comptroller. Under (b) a licensee may call on the patentee to take proceedings to prevent infringement and in de fault by the patentee may himself institute such proceedings.
The course to be taken by the comptroller if he is satisfied that the applicant has a bona fide interest and the procedure is laid down by the section. There is a right of appeal from the comptroller to the court. By consent, or under specified circumstances, the comp troller can order the proceedings or any question or issue of fact to be referred to an arbitrator, with a similar right of appeal. "Patented article" includes articles made by a patented process.
A patentee's remedy for an infringement of his rights is by civil suit, there being no criminal proceedings in such a case. No proceedings can be taken in respect of an infringe ment committed before the acceptance of the complete specifica tion (s. 13 of Act of 1907 as amended by Act of 1919). In prose cuting such a suit the patentee subjects those rights to a searching examination, for the alleged infringer is at liberty to show that the invention is not new, that the patentee is not the true and first inventor, etc., as well as to prove that the alleged infringement is not really an infringement. But it may here be remarked that a patentee is not bound down (unless he has chosen so to be) to the precise mode of carrying the invention into effect described in the specification. If the principle is new, it is not to be expected that he can describe every mode of working it ; he will sufficiently secure the principle by giving some illustrations of it ; and no per son will be permitted to adopt some mode of carrying the same principle into effect on the ground that such mode has not been described by the patentee. On the other hand, when the principle is not new, a patentee can only secure the particular method which he has invented, and other persons may safely use other methods of effecting the same object. Again, where the invention patented consists of a combination of parts, some old and some new, the whole constituting a new machine or a new process, it is not open to the world to copy the new part using other old parts. A man is not permitted to allege that the patent is for a combination and that, the identical combination not having been used, there has been no infringement. If he has taken the substance of the inven tion, it will be held that he has infringed the patent (Clark v. Adie, 2 App. Cas. 315).