September 30, 1922] 



NA TURE 



439 



Scheme," a scheme which the conference recommended 

 for adoption in the future, local patent offices are to 

 be retained, each performing its present functions. 

 There is also to be a fully organised central office for 

 the detailed examination of applications for patents, 

 the examination to include an extended search for 

 novelty, the office eventually issuing the Empire 

 Patents. But to make a patent operative in any 

 country, registration in that country is compulsory, 

 the registration being open to opposition if the local 

 law provides for opposition to the granting of a patent. 



By a " Provisional Scheme," which is recommended 

 for immediate adoption and for continuation until the 

 " Preferred Scheme " can be introduced, the grant of 

 a patent in the United Kingdom carries with it the 

 right to registration in any desired country of the 

 Empire, the act of registration extending the grant 

 to that country. But here, again, before the registra- 

 tion is made, it is open to opposition, if opposition to 

 local grants is permitted by the local law. 



Manifestly, whatever scheme came to be adopted by 

 the separate legislatures or law-making bodies, much 

 mutual adjustment of substantive and adjective law 

 would be required. Some of these necessary adjust- 

 ments were discussed at the conference, and suggestions 

 emanating therefrom appear in the report. None 

 appears to be of such a character as to be outside the 

 bounds of practicability. But to review those sub- 

 jects which call for adjustment, and to discuss the 

 opinions on these and other points expressed at the 

 conference, would require for each a monograph. 

 From the report it is clear that an extremely small 

 portion of the necessary amendments which the re- 

 spective authorities would be called upon to make 

 could have been discussed, bearing in mind that the 

 conference held ten meetings only, and that it refused 

 to admit oral evidence from outside, deciding that 

 " no useful purpose would be served by hearing such 

 evidence." There was, therefore, excluded from 

 consideration the oral evidence that could have been 

 given, for example, by the Chartered Institute of 

 Patent Agents, a body which is continually in touch 

 with the needs of inventors and conversant with the 

 working and details of the various patent laws. Of 

 necessity must the conference be looked upon as 

 merely preliminary to attacking at close quarters the 

 problem which it set out to solve. 



On the unanimous selection of a scheme by each of 

 the governing authorities, the next step will be for each 

 to submit for general consideration the law, rules, and 

 regulations which must be formulated in order that the 

 selected scheme may be successfully put into operation. 

 Moreover, it will be necessary to distinguish between 

 the law to be applied when the patent is granted and 

 NO. 2761, VOL. I IO] 



the procedure for obtaining the patent. It will also be 

 found that, in endeavouring to secure a basis for action, 

 the task will be the easier by reason of the large majority 

 of the patent laws of the Dominions having copied the 

 law of the United Kingdom, and of the ultimate Court 

 of Appeal for the Empire being the Judicial Committee 

 of the Privy Council. 



In the preparation of a scheme for general adoption 

 it is to be hoped that the authorities will not continue 

 to ignore oral evidence from outside bodies ; to do so 

 will be to court failure. Procedure for obtaining a 

 patent and the law and rules relating to patents are 

 so intricate that none but those who are in daily contact 

 with such matters and have learned in the hard school 

 of experience the needs of inventors on one hand and 

 the reasonable requirements of the public on the other, 

 can be expected to produce a scheme which, satis- 

 factory to all parties, can be put into operation without 

 friction, much change in procedure, or extensive amend- 

 ment of existing laws. 



There is no reason to suppose that, if all parties are 

 determined to produce an Empire Patent, the adjust- 

 ment of conflicting opinions cannot be made nor suit- 

 able machinery devised. The result undoubtedly 

 would be to the advantage of all inhabitants of the 

 Homeland and of His Majesty's Dominions beyond 

 the Seas, whether as inventors, manufacturers, or 

 users. It remains, therefore, for the public to urge 

 expedition upon the authorities, or it will be met with 

 the charge of apathy, a plea which so often saves the 

 situation where officials are concerned. 



A word or two is to be said in respect of the charge 

 for a copy of the report. In pre-war days, each copy 

 of this small octavo would have been sold for 3d. or 4</., 

 and the edition promptly exhausted with a consequent 

 wide-spread dissemination of its information. For 

 each copy of this edition of five hundred, however, 

 one shilling is required, a charge which scarcely makes 

 for extensive circulation. The wider the public that 

 the report reaches, the greater chance of a definite 

 outcome of its suggestions, while, at the same time, by 

 the lowering of the price the probability of the recovery 

 of the cost of the edition would not be appreciably 

 lessened. 



Industrial Physics. 



A Dictionary of Applied Physics. Edited by Sir 

 Richard Glazebrook. (In 5 volumes.) Vol. 1 : 

 Mechanics, Engineering, Heat. Pp. ix + 1067. 

 (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1922.) 3Z. 35. net. 



IN years to come the publication of this monumental 

 work will rank as one of the milestones in British 

 applied science. If argument were needed, none more 



