^90 REPORT — 1861. 



2. That such tribunal shall have power to decide on the granting of 

 patents, but it shall be open to inventors to renew their applications notwith- 

 standing previous refusal. 



3. That the said tribunal should be formed by a permanent and salaried 

 judge, assisted when necessary by the advice of scientific assessors, and that 

 its sittings should be public. 



4. That the same tribunal should have exclusive jurisdiction to try patent 

 causes, subject to a right of appeal. 



5. That the jurisdiction of such tribunal should be extended to the trial 

 of all questions of copyright and registration of design. 



6. That the scientific assessors for the trial of patent causes should be 

 five in number (to be chosen from a panel of thirty to be nominated by the 

 Commissioners of Patents), for the adjudication of facts, when deemed neces- 

 sary by the judge or demanded by either of the parties. 



7. That the right of appeal should be to a Court of the Exchequer Cham- 

 ber, with a final appeal to the House of Lords. 



8. That for the preliminary examination, the assessors (if the judge re- 

 quires their assistance) should be two in number, named by the Commis- 

 sioners of Patents from the existing panel ; the decision to rest with the 

 judge. 



9. That the Committee approve of the principle of compelling patentees 

 to grant licenses on terms to be fixed by arbitration, or in case the parties 

 shall not agree to such arbitration, then by the proposed tribunal or by ^n 

 arbitrator or arbitrators appointed by the said tribunal. 



It would be seen, Mr. Hey wood said, that the recommendations of the Com- 

 mittee were very important, as they proposed the appointment of a special 

 tribunal. He presumed the cost would be defrayed out of the £70,000 which 

 was annually realized by the granting of patents, after the law officers of the 

 Crown and other officials had received their fees ; but at the present time a 

 large proportion of this sum was, he believed, applied to the reduction of 

 the taxation of the country. 



Resolutions passed at a meeting of the Committee of the Manchester Patent 

 Law Reform Association, held on the 30th of August, 1861, the Mayor 

 of Manchester in the chair. Communicated by N. S. Hughes. 



" That in consequence of very peculiar views propounded by certain per- 

 sons, that inventors have no claim to remuneration for their inventions, how- 

 ever good and useful ; that the value of an invention must not be considered 

 in reference to the benefit of the inventor, but its utility to the public; and 

 that the inventive genius of man does not require any stimulus nor deserve 

 any reward. These novel doctrines, in connexion with the Meeting of the 

 British Association and the Great Exhibition of next year, have caused the 

 Committee of the Manchester Patent Law Reform Association to reconsider 

 the views and resolutions they have so often discussed and adopted at their 

 numerous meetings since 1850. Without intending to justify the present 

 laws in all their details, knowing the many defects which this Committee 

 advocated previous to the alteration in the Patent Laws in 1852, but which, 

 owing to the mischievous opinions of misdirected parties, were overthrown, 

 and consequently remain to be remedied, they consider it their duty to record 

 a few of the Resolutions extracted from the minutes of their proceedings, 

 which have been discussed and considered in every shape and form, both in 

 committee and in public meetings assembled frequently in the Town Hall in 

 this city : — 



<' 1. That it is universally acknowledged that discoveries, inventions, and 



