There is a patent-office in London, in Edinburgh, and in Dublin. All the business connected with patents is now transacted at the office in London, the Scotch and Irish offices being used only as places for inspecting copies of patents, specifications, and documents. The commissioners of patents are the lord chancellor, master of the rolls, attorney and solicitor general of England and Ireland, and the lord advocate and solici tor general of Scotland. The mode in which an inventor proceeds is, first to present a petition for a grant of letters-patent, accompanied by a statement in writing of tie spec ification, a copy of which 'mist be left at the patent-office. These papers, as also draw ings, must be in a certain prescribed form. The application is referred, as a matter of course, to one of the law officers of the crown, who may call to his aid a scientific person to be paid by the applicant. A provisional patent may be applied for in the first instance, and the complete patent deferred for six months—an arrangement which gives the benefit of priority to the applicant of time to prepare and test his specification, and of paying the expenses more gradually; but the effect is the same in the end, the patent dating from the first application. After a patent has been granted, and been in exist ence for three years, a fee of £50 must be paid; and, at the end of the seven years, h fee of £100. The letters-patent extend to the whole of the United Kingdom. The practice with reference to patents, especially as to the drawing of the specification, is too minute to justify an inventor to attempt to take out a patent without professional aid; and a class of persons called patent agents (a business for which no qualifications are at pres ent required by any constituted authority) devote themselves to this branch of business.
But great caution is required in selecting those only who are competent and honorable. Their charges are generally ascertained by estimate beforehand, and are usually made in a round sum. The fees payable to the law officers are as follows: On leaving petition for grant of letters-patent, £5; on notice of intention to proceed with application, £5; out warrant of law officer for letters-patent, £5; on sealing of letters-patent, g5; on filing specifications, £5: at or before expiration of third year, £50; at or before expiration of seventh year, £100.
Besides these fees, if opposition is entered to the grant, additional fees are incurred, both by the party applying and the party opposing.
A patent obtained in this country does not extend to the colonies, but several of the colonies have machinery for granting patents for a like period. In the United States, patents are also granted for a term of 14 years. In France, the term is 5, 10, or 15 years, at the option of the applicant; in Prussia, for 15 years; in Russia, for 3, 5, or 10 years; in Spain, for 5, 10, or 15 years; in Belgium, for 20 years; in llolland, for 5, 10, or 15 years; in Austria, not more than 15 years; in Sardinia, 15 years. In all cases, fees are exigible from the patentee. See PATENT LAWS and PATENT OFFICE.