accompanied by a provisional or a complete specification, will be referred, under s. 6, by the comptroller of the Patent Office to an examiner, who will ascertain and report to the comptroller whether the nature of the invention has been fairly described, and the application, specification and drawings, if any, have been prepared in the prescribed manner, and whether the title sufficiently indicates the subject-matter of the invention.

If the examiner reports that the nature of the invention is not fairly described, or that the application, specification and drawings, has not, or have not been prepared in the prescribed manner, or that the title does not sufficiently indicate the subject-matter of the invention, the comptroller may, under s. 7 (1), require that the application, specification or drawings may be amended before he proceeds with the application.

The applicant may appeal from the decision of the comptroller to the law officer, who, if required, must hear the applicant and the comptroller, and may make an order determining whether and subject to what conditions, if any, the application shall be accepted (s. 7, sub-secs. 2 and 3).

Comparison of

complete and

Where a complete specification is left after a provisional specification, the comptroller will provisional refer both specifications to an examiner, for

specifications.

complete

be advertised.

the purpose of ascertaining whether the complete specification has been prepared in the prescribed manner, and whether the invention particularly described in the complete specification is substantially the same as that which is described in the provisional specification (s. 9, sub-sec. 1).

If the examiner reports that the conditions in the Act before contained (see s. 5) have not been complied with, the comptroller may refuse to accept the complete specification, unless and until the same shall have been amended to his satisfaction, but any such refusal is subject to an appeal to the law officer, and the law officer will, if required, hear both applicant and the comptroller, and may make an order determining whether and subject to what conditions (if any) the complete specifications shall be accepted (s. 9, sub-secs. 2 and 3).

Acceptance of On the acceptance of the complete specifispecification to cation, the comptroller will advertise the acceptance; and the application and specification or specifications, with the drawings, if any, will then be open to public inspection (s. 10).

Opposition to grant of patent.

Any person may, at any time within two months from the date of the advertisement of the acceptance of a complete specification, give notice at the Patent Office of opposition to the grant of the patent, on the ground of the

applicant having obtained the invention from him, or from a person of whom he is the legal personal representative, or on the ground that the invention has been patented in this country, on an application of prior date, or on the ground of an examiner having reported to the comptroller that the specification appears to him to comprise the same invention as is comprised in a specification having the same or a similar title, and accompanying a previous application, but on no other ground (s. 11, sub-sec. 1).

When such notice or notices are given, the comptroller will give notice of the opposition or oppositions to the applicant, and will on the expiration of the two months allowed under the last-mentioned sub-section, after hearing the applicant and the person or persons who have given notice of opposition, if desirous of being heard, decide on the case, but subject to appeal to the law officer (s. 11, sub-sec. 2).

The law officer will, if required, hear the applicant and any person or persons who have given notice of opposition, and being, in the opinion of the law officer, entitled to be heard in opposition to the grant; and the law officer will determine whether the grant ought or ought not to be made; and the law officer may, if he thinks fit, obtain the assistance of an expert, who will be paid such remuneration as

the law officer, with the consent of the Treasury, shall appoint (s. 11, sub-secs. 3 and 4).

The above provisions, as to the complete specification, have been gone through thus carefully for the reason that an important question will no doubt arise as to their effect after they have been completed. What do they lead up to and what is to be gained by them by the inventor or the public? Do they alter the conditions on which a patent is to be granted, as to the complete specification required under the old Acts, so that the inventor's complete specification having passed through the above ordeal satisfactorily, he may be said to have "by and in his complete specification particularly described the nature of his invention," and may be relieved from the express condition always contained under the previous Acts in the patent, that the patent shall be void if the complete specification to be filed under the patent, or already filed before the patent is granted, "does not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed?"

A series of new operations as to the complete specification having been gone through under the new Act, is not the best exponent of the result of these operations to be found in the form of the patent giving effect to the

result of the operations, and stating that the inventor has "by and in his complete specification particularly described the nature of his invention," and omitting altogether the old express condition that the patent should be void if the complete specification did not particularly describe the invention, &c.

And secondly, if the operations to be gone through are considered, do they not point to the same result? A complete specification under the old Acts was filed in any form the inventor chose to frame it.

And in the new Act many alterations are made, and provision is made that the complete specification must particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and must be accompanied by drawings, if required, and must end with a distinct statement of the invention claimed; and whether these requirements have or have not been fulfilled has to be decided upon by an examiner and the comptroller, and the law officer on appeal, and the complete specification may possibly go before the law officer again, with the assistance of an expert, on a further appeal by one of the public after publication; and though the insufficiency of the specification is not a ground on which the public can oppose the grant, yet it is very possible that it may come