"2 Litelligence and Miscellaneous Jriicles. 



patent, he slioukl give the details, to be transcribed into the patent 

 itself? — Yes; the knowledge of those details does not aln'ays exist 

 at the time most proper for applying for the patent, and therefore 

 it is impossible that they should be described, nor will they come 

 into existence, until the thing has been put into practice ; as it is 

 now, the two months which elapse between the time of applying 

 for the patent, and the time when the patent is granted, are lost, 

 as to any such creation of the means of putting the invention into 

 practice. 



Would there not be a difficulty in securing to any one, a property 

 in what was not distinctly defined? — For a permanency it would be 

 an excessive difficulty ; but for the short term of two or three months, 

 it would not be any inconvenience to give a right, that is completely 

 defined by the outline of a specification. Every patent now granted, 

 is in force for two, four, six, and some for eighteen months, before 

 there is any definition whatever, of the right it confers ; for no re- 

 cord at all is now given in the first instance, nor is any writing 

 usually preserved, in case it is explained to the Attorney General, 

 upon hearing of opposition. 



You would require this greater precision in the meaning of 

 the first application, not for the benefit of the applicant, but for 

 the benefit of other inventors ? — For the benefit of all inventors 

 who are occupied at the same time, on the same subject ; it is an 

 intolerable nuisance to persons who are engaged in speculations, 

 that they are perpetually in danger of having their inventions or 

 improvements stolen from them, and put into the specifications of 

 some existing patents, not yet specified, but which have titles that 

 will cover their inventions. 



Are the inventors whose ideas have been so appropriated by pre- 

 vious patentees, called upon to prove the negative, that the patentee 

 did not invent what he specifies? — Yes ; or they must prove that 

 they had the invention in use before the date of the patent; be- 

 cause the invention became the property of the patentee from that 

 date, although he is not called upon to declare what it was for a 

 long time after. 



Is there any limiting law to the time which is allowed for the spe- 

 cification after the issue of the patent ? — None by law ; by custom 

 it is two months for a patent for England ; for England and Scot- 

 land, four months ; and for England, Scotland and Ireland, six 

 months; of late years, on declaring in the first instance that they 

 mean to proceed with patents for England, Scotland, and Ireland, 

 they obtain six months at once in the English patent. It is quite 

 discretionary in the Crown how long time should be allowed, and on 

 special showing, longei^ terms are occasionally granted. 



Do you see any inconvenience in allowing a long time for the spe- 

 cification ? — It is essential to getting sufficient specifications made of 

 important inventions, to allow a long time ; and on the other hand, 

 it is an excessive grievance to persons engaged in like pursuits, un- 

 less some provisionary definition of the legal right that is conferred 

 by the patent, were to be made public. 



Does 



