The patent law is contained in the Indus trial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act 1927. The pro visions of the Act, so far as regards patents, are, in the main, on the same lines as the British Patents and Designs Act 1907 as amended by the Act of 1919, including the provisions as to the abuse of monopoly. The term of a patent is 16 years. A British patent, existing at the date of the Act (Oct. 1, 1927) is to be deemed to be a patent granted under the Act as of the date the patent actually bears, but, to be effective, must be validated. The fees are : on application, £3 ; on sealing, LI ; before and after the fourth year, £3.15.0, increasing, by 15s. annually, to L12.
The Acts in force are the Patents, Designs and Trade Marks Act, 1921 (No. 18 of 1921) and an amending Act (No. 4o of 1924) containing provisions for patents, en dorsed "licences of right" and for prevention of abuse of monopo lies, similar to those in the British Act of 1919. Generally speak ing, the statutory law now corresponds closely to that of British Acts. The term of a patent is 16 years. The fee, on application with provisional specification, is f i or, with complete specifica tion, £2; on sealing, Li, and before the expiration of third year, £3 ; before that of the sixth year, 16.
The law is contained in an Act passed on Sept. 6, 1927. The term of a patent is 14 years.
The law as to patents is gov erned by the Patents, Designs, Trade Marks and Copyrights Act 1916. The term of a patent is 14 years. Compulsory licences may be granted if the reasonable requirements of the public are not satisfied, or the patent may be revoked, but not until three years from the date of the patent have expired. "Inventor," as defined, does not include a person importing an invention from outside the Union, but an assignee of an inventor may apply for a patent. By s. 41(2) the grant of a patent for an invention to an inventor or his assignee or legal representative outside the Union is not a bar to a grant of a patent for the same invention within the Union to the same person, provided that an application is made within i2 months of the date of application for the foreign patent; but the subsection only applies to a foreign country as to which a proclamation has been made. Such a proclamation was made as to the United Kingdom on July 1, 1918, on which date an Order in Council was made applying s. 91 of the British Act of 1907 to the Union. At present the provision is only applicable to the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, Irish Free State and the United States of America. The
fees are: on application, £4; on sealing, LI ; before commencement of third year, £4; seventh year, L6; and tenth year, LI°.
Article I, sec. 8 of the Constitution of the United States pro vides that Congress shall have power "to promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writ ings and discoveries." The first act of Congress, passed April 10, 1790, placed the granting of patents in the hands of the secretary of State, the secretary of War and the attorney general. Thomas Jefferson, as secretary of State, personally examined many peti tions for patent. By act of July 4, 1836, the Patent Office was established under a commissioner of patents and the present general outline of the patent law fixed. When the Department of the Interior was established by act of March 3, 1849, the Patent Office was transferred to its jurisdiction. On April 1, 1925, it was, by executive order of President Coolidge, transferred to the De partment of Commerce under Secretary Hoover.
A patent is in substance a contract between the Government, representing the public, and the in ventor, under which the inventor discloses to the public by an adequate specification an invention, which he might otherwise have kept secret, so that the public may benefit by the disclosure and freely use the invention after the patent has expired. In con sideration of this disclosure the Government grants a 17-year monopoly to the inventor, whose invention would otherwise have become public property, under the common law, immediately on its disclosure.
The patent grant creates a right to exclude others from making, using or selling any embodiment of the patented invention during the life of the patent. "A patent secures to the patentee the right to debar others from making the thing patented, but it does not confer upon him the right to make it. That he could do (though not exclusively) without a patent." (Pegram v. American Alkali Co., 122 Fed. 1,00o-1,005.) To Whom Granted.—Patents are granted to the first inventor, or to his executor or administrator in trust for his heirs or de visees, or, if he he insane, to his guardian, conservator or repre sentative in trust for his estate. If one employs another to develop the details of his invention the patent still belongs to the employer.