PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 631 



Patents and Patent Laws. 



This subject is well worthy of the consideration of the proposed committee 

 since progress in Engineering, certainly on the mechanical and electrical sides, 

 is largely dependent upon invention, which is not likely to be seriously under- 

 taken without adequate protection, not entirely for the inventor, but also 

 for those who really make the invention practical by means of capital and 

 business support. A great deal of nonsense is talked and written about 

 inventors, as if they were a special class of being, generally mad and always 

 impossible. Some inventors are both, but the fact is, most engineers spend 

 their lives seeking new ideas and devising new methods of carrying them out — 

 in short, in inventing. It is of the greatest importance that every step should 

 be taken to encourage sound invention and to see that anything of value is 

 secured for this country. Of course, every invention worth anything is 

 immediately known in other countries, but I need not argue to this Section 

 that the country which actually produces the inventions is at a great advantage 

 quite apart from the royalties payable on foreign patents. The foundation of 

 the Munitions Invention Panel is a step in the right direction, and will 

 doubtless be followed later on by Government Committees for peace inven- 

 tions. Such Committees or Government Departments dealing with various 

 industries will be assisted by suggestions from a body like this. Take, for 

 instance, the present state of Colonial patents : within the last few years one 

 Commonwealth patent has been made to cover the whole of Australia, instead 

 of there being, as of old, separate patents with different regulations and fees 

 for each separate Colony. South Africa has not yet conferred a similar boon 

 upon inventors, and we might do something to expedite this desirable 

 innovation. But this touches the much wider question of Colonial Patent 

 Laws as a whole. These are all different and differ from those of the Mother 

 Country. It would be a splendid thing if we could bring about a conference 

 leading to unification of these diverse Patent Laws and have one comprehensive 

 Patent Law for the whole Empire. 



There are many other matters — for instance, the question of extending the 

 time of secrecy iii the provisional patent. The ' close ' time in patents was 

 the act of Chamberlain, and is a splendid legacy of that great man, but for 

 really many important patents the close time allowed is not enough. 



Another is one in which the German system has certain advantages, _ viz., 

 in having two classes of patents. One of these is the patent 'proper,' which is 

 only granted after the most severe search and criticism, and holds the usual 

 period when granted. The other is a secondary patent granted for the shorter 

 term of five years, and is given for one of the hundred and one minor improve- 

 ments and devices which, though of real value, only constitute small modifica- 

 tions in detail and not new applications of principle. 



Having previously spoken of German ways pretty plainly I should like 

 to say here that I believe the suspicion of injustice to the British and other 

 foreign applicants by the German Patent Oflice is to a great extent if not 

 altogether unfounded. It is doubtless true that German manufacturers in 

 common with most of us would like to avoid paying royalties, and it is moreover 

 a common belief in this country that there is an advisory committee of manu- 

 facturers associated with the German Patent Office. This view is supported by 

 such statements as in the prospectus of the Deutsche Maschinenfabrik, which 

 runs as follows : ' With the present-day competition every firm is compelled to 

 protect its new designs by means of patents, and wntrh that no other patentx are 

 f/rnnted Avhich would seriously effect (sic, affect) it.' Notwithstanding an utter- 

 ance like this, my own experience and that of others is, that if the stringent 

 rules of the German system are observed any valid application is granted, the 

 motto which appears to guide the officials being, ' We will be just, but we 

 cannot afford to be generous.' 



There are other matters, such as the question of giving wider powers to our 

 Comptroller to refuse a grant where novelty is less than microscopic. Here 

 again the German system of demanding that some definite principle is applied 

 to produce some definitely neiv effect, might to some extent be followed, 

 especially in view of the constant accumulation of published devices, some 

 patented and others not. 



