REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. APPENDIX II. Mii 



•which had led to the recommendations of the Royal Commission had heen found to 

 he capable of being met without any serious departure from the principles of a 

 more or less independent trust. 



I am, Gentlemen, 



Your obedient servant, 



R. R. W. LINGEN. 



APPENDIX II. 



EEPOET OF THE PATENT-LAW COMMITTEE. 



N.B. — All the Scottish Members of the Committee, and several others who were 

 not able to attend the meetings which took place in London, wish it to be 

 noted that while concurring in all the other resolutions of the Committee, they 

 do not agree in the propriety of suggesting the reduction of the term of twenty- 

 one years, proposed in the Bill, to seventeen years, as the duration of a patent. 



March 25, 1879. 



The Committee* of the British Association, appointed for watching and re- 

 porting to the Council on Patent_ Legislation, beg leave to report that "there are 

 now two Bills before Parliament in respect to Patent-law. The first Bill, brouo-ht 

 in by private members (Mr. Anderson, Mr. Mundella. and others), and the second, 

 a Government Bill, prepared and brought in by the Attorney-General, Mr. Secretary 

 Cross, and the Solicitor-General. 



The first Bill is very short, consisting of only five clauses. It has for its objects 

 the extension of the term of Patent-right, both for new patents and for those 

 existing at the time the Bill might become law, from fourteen years to twenty-one 

 years, on payment of certain sums, and a very considerable reduction in the amount 

 of the stamp duties payable in respect of the patent. 



As regards this Bill, the Committee have to report their opinion, that it should 

 not be proceeded with, looking at the comprehensive Government measure now 

 before the House of Commons. 



With respect to the second Bill, the Government measure, the Committee have 

 to report that it proposes to repeal the various Acts (seven in number) relating to 

 Patent Legislation, and to substitute for them this one Act of fifty-nine clauses. 



The principal novel provisions of this Bill may be summarised as follows : 



(1.) Clause 5.— In addition to the eight legal officials now acting as the Com- 

 missioners of Patents, all of whom, with the exception of the Master of the Rolls, 

 change with the Ministry, two persons recommended by the Lord Chancellor, and 

 three recommended by the Board of Trade, are to be appointed by her Majesty. 



(2.) Clauses 7 and 8.— The provisional protection is extended for twelve months, 

 but a_ complete specification must be filed, and rendered public, along with the 

 provisional specification, at least three months before the expiration of the provi- 

 sional protection. 



(3.) Clause 13.— The applicant for a patent is to have an appeal to the Lord 



* The Committee appointed by the British Association consisted of Dr. A. W. 

 Williamson, Professor Sir W. Thomson, Mr. Bramwell, Mr. St. John Vincent Day, 

 Dr. C. W. Siemens, Mr. C. W. Merrifield, Dr. Neilson Hancock, Professor Abel, Mr. 

 J. R. Napier, Captain Douglas Galton, Mr. Newmarch, Mr. E. H. Carbutt, Mr. 

 Macrory, and Mr. H. Trueman Wood, who, at their first meeting, passed a resolution 

 to add to their numbers Mr. W. H. Barlow and Mr. A. T. Atchison. 



