PATENTS; PATENT LAWS. The ob ject of patents is to encourage useful inven tions. Before applying for a patent for an invention, two considerations are necessary first, what is entitled to a patent ; and next, whether the invention has the requisite con ditions. In the first place, the machine, operation, or substance produced, for which a patent is solicited, must be new to public use, either the original invention of the patentee, or imported by him and first made public here. A patent may be obtained for England, Ire land, or Scotland, although the subject of it may have been publicly known and in use in either or in both of the other two countries. In the second place, the subject of the inven tion must be useful to the public, something applicable to the production of a vendible article. The discovery of a philosophical principle is not entitled to such protection: such principle must be applied, and the man ner of such application is a fit subject for a patent.
An invention entitled to patent may be a new combination of mechanical parts, whereby a new machine is produced, although each of the parts separately be old and well known; or an improvement on any machine, whereby such machine is rendered capable of per forming better or more beneficially ; or when the vendible substance is the thing produced either by chemical or other processes, such as medicines or fabrics ; or where an old substance is improved by some new working, the means of producing the improvement is in most cases patentable. If the inventor think that the machine, operation, or sub stance produced comes under any of these enumerations, and that it is new, and likely to be useful to the public, he must proceed in the form required by law to obtain the letters patent.
The chief clause in a patent grants the sole use of the invention to the inventor for foirteen years, whereby all other persons are restrained from using the invention with out a licence in writing from the patentee ; and persons are restricted from imitating the invention, or making any addition thereunto or subtraction therefrom, with intent to make themselves appear the inventors. Another clause declares that the patent shall be void, if contrary to law or prejudicial and inconvenient to the public in general, or not the invention of the patentee, or not first in . troduced by him into this country. A patent may be shared among any number of persons up to twelve. The specification of a patent must show exactly in what the invention con sists for which a patent has been granted, and it must give a detailed account of the manner of effecting the object set forth in the title ; it must describe exactly what is new and what is old, and must claim exclu sive right to the former; the introduction or any part that is old, or the omission of any part that is new, equally vitiates the patent.
The patent is granted on condition that such full and accurate information shall be given in the specification as will enable any work man or other qualified person to make or produce the object of the patent at the expi ration of that term, without any further in structions.
If a patentee finds that the time allowed him by the patent is not sufficient to remu nerate him for the trouble and expense of his invention and patent, he may apply for an extension of the term. Any person wish ing to oppose the extension, must enter a caveat at the Privy Council Office, and the petitioner and enterer of the caveat are heard by their counsel before the Judicial Com mittee, which reports to the crown ; and the crown is authorised, if it shall think fit, to grant new letters patent for the same inven tion for a term not exceeding seven years after the expiration of the first term.
The assemblage in London, in 1851, of a larger amount of manufactured articles than were ever before collected in one place, has led to anxious discussions concerning the patent laws. It has been long felt that these laws are clumsy, tedious, costly, and unjust : a constant source of vexation to those whose ingenuity has developed new machines or processes, and who wish to receive a fair commercial advantage from that ingenuity. Foreigners are still more anxious that any new combinations or inventions which they may exhibit in England should not be copied by dishonest persons in this country, without some recognized means of securing a right and property to the real inventors. The ' government, the legislature, the legal pro fession, and the Commissioners for the Indus trial Exhibition, have all felt that changes in the existing patent laws are necessary ; and committees have been appointed, by different bodies, to investigate the subject. SO far as relates to designs rather than to inventions, certain improvements have been introduced which are noticed under DEsinis. A bill is now before the legislature, intended to meet some of the evils of the system generally, and to apply specially in some clauses to the Great Exhibition ; but so much diversity of opinion prevails concerning the best mode of carrying out the improvements, that little can be said respecting the probable character of the future regulations on this important subject.