NA TURE 



129 



THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 1921. 



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Inventions and Grants in Aid. 



A NOT inconsiderable result of the Great 

 War and its long continuance was the 

 flood of invention which threatened to overwhelm 

 complacent bureaucracy. That procedure, admir- 

 ably adapted to a Crimean or a South African cam- 

 paign, was altogether inadequate for coping with 

 the necessities of a nation in arms ; and a people 

 "whose very existence as an independent State was 

 threatened became more and more apparent, and 

 at length penetrated the inner fastnesses of 

 ■officialdom. New weapons of offence, improved 

 systems of attack, and almost superhuman devices 

 for stemming murderous onslaughts were 

 •demanded. The exigencies of a situation which 

 had become grave, if not critical, compelled the 

 opening of the ranks of a hitherto jealously 

 guarded profession and the unstinted admission 

 of the efforts of the civilian to whom organisation, 

 the employment of scientific method, and the 

 adoption of the latest invention, through keen 

 competition in the open market, had become daily 

 routine. Thanks to the Press and to many 

 another non-official organisation which proclaimed 

 the advent of a new era in military and naval 

 operations, the inventive faculty of the com- 

 munity was aroused and stimulated to action. To 

 such a length did this proceed that it may not be 

 too much to assert that there was scarcely an 

 occasion when a problem definitely and precisely 

 |L NO. 2683, VOL. 107] 



formulated did not result in a solution through 

 well-thought-out invention. 



The knowing and the wary, before submitting 

 the product of their inventive genius in their 

 country's defence, obtained letters patent, and, 

 for good or for ill, invoked the aid of the law for 

 securinor remuneration proportional to their in- 

 genuity or to the proved ability of their inven- 

 tions. In this respect such a one was wise, for 

 from the First Report of the Royal Commission 

 on Awards to Inventors ^ it is seen that the Com- 

 missioners interpreted liberally the sections of 

 the Patent Acts of 1907 and 1919 which gave to 

 the inventor, as against the Crown and its De- 

 partments, rights comparable with those pre- 

 scribed where the mere subject was concerned. As 

 regards inventors who, possibly esteeming their 

 country's interests superior to their own, omitted 

 to exchange a five-pound note for a patent, the 

 Commissioners point out that the exercise of 

 bounty was wholly within the discretion of the 

 Crown, there being no statutory right to payment 

 or reward for the use of their inventions. Never- 

 theless, it would appear that according to the 

 terms of the Warrant under which the Com- 

 missioners were appointed, unpatented inventions 

 were to be investigated, and, where shown to have 

 been used in the service of the Crown, a just 

 measure of compensation was to be recommended. 

 In the instance of a lapsed or expired patent the 

 Commissioners were careful not to recognise any 

 right to compensation, as the invention was open 

 to the world, and, indeed, might have been used 

 by our enemies to our detriment. 



As regards subsisting patents, by section 29 of 

 the Patents Act of 1907, a section which inured 

 for some time after the appointment of the 

 Commission, the .final arbitrament in the 

 matter of compensation for the use of an inven- 

 tion lay solely with his Majesty's Treasury. By 

 the substituted section 8 of the Patents Act of 

 1 9 19, where a dispute as to user or as to terms 

 was present, the High Court was given juris- 

 diction. But, manifestly, it was to the interest of 

 the patentee — and, indeed, of all parties — that dis- 

 putes should be avoided so far as possible. This 

 desirability, amounting almost to a necessity, was 

 fully recognised by the Commissioners, who con- 

 sidered that an equitable basis for compensation 

 was to be found in the amount that a willing 

 licensor could obtain from a willing licensee bar- 

 gaining on equal terms. In private bargains the 



1 Royal Co'iimission on Awards to Inventors. First Report. Cmd. iiia. 

 Pp.13. (London: H.M. Siaiionery Office.) id. nv.. 



