any time within two months from the date of the advertisement in the Illustrated Official Journal of the acceptance of the complete specification, by any person; on the ground of the applicant having obtained the invention from him, or from a person of whom he is the legal representative; or on the ground that the invention has been patented in this country on an application of prior date; or on the ground that the complete specification describes or claims. an invention other than that described in the provisional specification and that such other invention forms the subject of an application made by the opponent in the interval between the leaving of the provisional specification and the leaving of the complete specification; but on no other ground. See par. 2, Form D, ante, p. 553.

4. Amendment of Specification.-Under section 18 of the Act, a complete specification may be amended by way of disclaimer, correction, or explanation, but no amendment will be allowed that would make the specification as amended claim an invention substantially larger than or substantially different from the invention claimed by the specification as it stood before amendment. A request for leave to amend must be made and signed by the applicant or the registered proprietor of the patent, and must be accompanied by a certified printed copy of the specification shewing clearly in red ink the proposed amendments. A printed copy of any published specification may be obtained from the Patent Office, 25, Southampton Buildings, W.C., price 8d., including inland postage (see par. 25, post, p. 598). The fee for certifying the printed copy is one shilling. Care should be taken to indicate clearly what part of the printed description it is proposed to omit, and at what point interlineations are to be inserted. Additional matter which cannot be written upon the printed copy should be written upon a separate sheet and attached to the print. See par. 2, Forms F and P, ante, PP. 555, 563, 588.

It should be remembered that the proposed amendments, whether allowable or not, are made public and advertised, and that this publication may be a bar to obtaining a valid patent for matter disallowed by way of amendment. No amendment of a provisional specification is allowed under section 18; but clerical errors therein may be corrected.

5. Payment of Renewal Fees for Continuance of Patent.—Every

patent is granted for the term of fourteen years from the date of application, subject to the payment, before the expiration of the fourth and each succeeding year during the term of the patent, of the prescribed fee. The patentee may pay all or any of such prescribed annual fees in advance.

Payment must be made by way of Form J duly stamped, which must be sent to the Patent Office for entry of the payment in the register. The production of Letters Patent at the Patent Office on payment of these fees is not required. See par 2, Form J, ante,

P. 557.

As the payment of these renewal fees is regulated by Act of Parliament, a fee cannot be received a single day after it is due; but if by accident, mistake, or inadvertence the payment has been omitted, application may be made to the Comptroller, on Patent Form K, for an enlargement of time to make such payment, but no enlargement can be allowed beyond three months. See par. 2, Form K, ante, p. 558, and par. 6.

TABLE SHOWING AMOUNT OF RENEWAL FEES PAYABLE YEAR BY YEAR.

!

6. Enlargement of Time.-- Applications for enlargement of time must state in detail in what circumstances and upon what grounds the enlargement is applied for. See par 2, Forms K, U, and V, ante, pp. 558, 567, 568.

7. Assignments, Licenses, &c.-Deeds of assignment of patents, and other documents affecting the proprietorship of patents, licenses to manufacture or use patented inventions, are required by section 23 of the Act to be entered in the Register at the Patent Office. No document can, however, be recorded until the patent affected has been actually sealed. Every document sent for registration must be duly stamped in accordance with the provisions of the Stamp Act, 1891, and must be accompanied by an attested copy written upon foolscap paper (on one side only) and bearing a shilling impressed stamp, and by the stamped Form of Request. See par. 2, Form L and Form M, ante, pp. 559, 560. Names of individual members of Firms should be set out on the Form of Request.

8. Exhibition of Unpatented Inventions.-Any person may exhibit an unpatented invention at an exhibition certified by the Board of Trade as industrial or international, without prejudice to his subsequent patent rights, provided (a) that he gives the prescribed notice to the Comptroller of his intention so to exhibit it, and (b) that the application for a patent be made within six months from the date of the opening of the exhibition. See par. 2, Form O, ante, p. 562. In the case of exhibitions held out of the United Kingdom, no notice of intention to exhibit is required to be given to the Comptroller.

9. Comptroller's Certificate.-Any one wishing to be informed as soon as a complete specification is accepted, or an application for amendment is entered, should forward a copy of Form Q with a request for such information. See par. 2, Form Q, ante, p. 564. An applicant for a patent, however, is duly notified of the acceptance of his complete specification at the address for service given with his application.

10. Provisional Protection.-Provisional protection, which is conferred by the acceptance of an application, entitles an applicant to use and publish his invention without thereby prejudicing his patentrights, but it does not protect him from infringement. The right to sue for infringement does not arise until a patent is sealed, and then only in respect of such infringements as have been committed after the acceptance and publication of the complete specification. The certificate of receipt issued when an application is lodged does not confer provisional protection.

11. Searches, Office Copies, &c.-Searches cannot be undertaken

594

by the Patent Office, but must be made by the person requiring See par. 25, post, p. 598. information, or by his solicitor or agent.

The following fees are charged:

...

·

...

£ s. d.

each O I O O

4

I O

For inspection of original documents
every 100 words (but never less than Is.)
each O
For office copies
For certifying office copies, MS. or printed
An additional stamp duty of one shilling is also charged under the Stamp
Act upon certified copies of Registers, or of stamped legal documents.
For office copies of drawings, Cost according to size and character of drawings.

12. Information by Post.-Any person wishing to know whether a particular patent is still in force, the name of the present proprietor of a patent, or any similar details, may obtain an extract from the Register of Patents upon stating the number and year of the patent and forwarding the fee of one shilling by postal order. No information with reference to unpublished applications can be given to others than the applicant

or applicants.

13. Date of printing Specification and sealing Patent.-Specifiare printed fifteen days after the advertisement of the acceptance of the complete specification. The patent is usually sealed about ten weeks after the acceptance of the complete specifiabout ten days after the expiration of the period allowed for opposition. See par. 3, ante, p. 590.

cation, i.e.

14. Documents not Open to Inspection.-The provisional specification (if any) and the complete specification are not open to public inspection, for searches or for copying, until after the acceptance of the complete specification. The specifications of abandoned or void applications are not printed or open to inspection.

gran

15. Use of the Word" Patent."-Any person who represents that an article sold by him is a patented article when no patent has been ted for it is liable for every offence on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds. In a case decided by a police magistrate it was held, however, that a person was entitled to mark with the word "patent" after the complete specification had accepted. See sect. 105 of the Act, and Reports of Patent vol. 13, P. 265.1

goods

been

Cases,

the

of an

The cases decided in Police Courts are not in agreement. Representing goods to be existing patent when they are not is also an offence against the Merchandise enactments are not identical. The points are fully discussed in

subject

Marks Act, 1887.

Kerly

on

The

Trade Marks,

16. Advice on Patent Matters, Opinions as to the Merit or Novelty of Inventions, the Infringement or Fraudulent Appropriation of Inventions, &c.-(a) The Patent Office does not undertake to give legal advice or opinions on any subject connected with Patent Law, which, like other laws, is left to the interpretation of professional men; nor does the Patent Office examine specifications or other documents before they are filed.

(b) No official search is at present made as regards novelty, sect. I of the Patents Act, 1902 (ante, p. 523), which provides for an examination of prior British specifications, being not yet (October, 1903) in operation, consequently, British patents are taken out at the risk of applicants, who are expected to cause a search to be made as to the novelty of their inventions either before they make, or before they complete, their applications. Nor does the Patent Office report as to the patentability of an alleged invention unless its use is contrary to law or morality, or unless it is of a frivolous nature or does not relate to a manner of manufacture.

(c) It is left to every person to protect his rights by opposition or otherwise. See par. 3, ante, p. 590. A patent is granted upon n application which passes the prescribed stages and is unopposed, hether the invention be novel or not.

(d) The Patent Office cannot recommend any particular patent gent for employment by applicants, but a List of Registered Patent Agents may be obtained from Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C., and 32, Abingdon Street, Westminster, S.W., or through any bookseller. Price (including postage), Is. Id.

17. Application for Assistance, Reduction of Fees, &c.—It is not within the power of the Comptroller to comply with any of the following requests:—

For pecuniary assistance to obtain patents.

reduction or remission of any of the fees required by the Patent Law. purchase or acquirement of any interest in patented or other inventions recommendation of any invention for purchase or use by a Government Department or by the public.

18. Mechanical Inventions not protected by Registration.-As many inventors imagine that mechanical inventions can be protected