by the Patent Office, but must be made by the person requiring information, or by his solicitor or agent. See par. 25, post, p. 598. The following fees are charged:

For inspection of original documents
For office copies

...

...

every 100 words (but never less than Is.) o 4 For certifying office copies, MS. or printed each O I O 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 No information with reference to unpublished applications can be given to others than the applicant or applicants.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.—Specifications are 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 specification, i.e. about ten days after the expiration of the period allowed for opposition. See par. 3, ante, p. 590.

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.

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 granted 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 goods with the word "patent" after the complete specification had been accepted. See sect. 105 of the Act, and Reports of Patent Cases, vol. 13, p. 265.1

1 The cases decided in Police Courts are not in agreement. Representing goods to be the subject of an existing patent when they are not is also an offence against the Merchandise Marks Act, 1887. The two enactments are not identical. The points are fully discussed in Kerly on Trade Marks, pp. 570, 579.

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 an application which passes the prescribed stages and is unopposed, whether the invention be novel or not.

(d) The Patent Office cannot recommend any particular patent agent 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

by registration as designs, it may be stated that improvements in the construction, arrangement, or application of machinery can only be protected by a patent.

19. Patent Medicines.-Communications with respect to the preparation and supply of medicine stamps appropriated to a particular medicine, or as to the liability to stamp duty of so-called “patent medicines," should be addressed to the Secretary (Stamps and Taxes), Inland Revenue, Somerset House, W.C.

The use of medicine stamps does not have the effect of Letters Patent.

20. Full-size Copies of Drawings.-Full-size copies of drawings printed by photolithography may be obtained at the undermentioned rates:

If a satisfactory photograph cannot be obtained from the original drawing, an extra charge will be made to cover the expense of making a tracing.

When the original drawings are coloured there will also be an extra charge for colouring the copies.

21. Patents, &c., in the British Colonies and Foreign States.Applications for colonial or foreign patents, &c., must be made to the Government of the colony or foreign State in which protection is desired. A collection of colonial and foreign patent, design, and trade-mark laws and rules may be seen in the Free Library of the Patent Office.

22. International and Colonial Arrangements.-An International Convention for the protection of industrial property exists between the following States :

1 Will join from January 1, 1904.

Germany.

Great Britain with New
Zealand and Queens-

land.

2 Has announced adhesion from May 1, 1902, but Order in Council not yet issued.

A copy of the text of the Convention, published by Messrs. Eyre & Spottiswoode, may be purchased for 2d. through any bookseller. (See ante, p. 576.)

Under this Convention, an applicant for a patent in any one of the contracting States may obtain priority in any of the other States.

Similar arrangements, for the mutual protection of inventions, designs, and trade-marks, have been made between Great Britain on the one side, and each of the following States and Colonies on the other:

Ecuador (designs and trade-marks only). Greece (designs and trade-marks only). Honduras. Mexico. Paraguay. Roumania (designs and trademarks only). Tasmania. Uruguay. Western Australia.

An application in the United Kingdom for a patent having priority of date under the international and colonial arrangements must be made within twelve months from the date of the first foreign application, and must be accompanied by a complete specification and signed by the person or persons by whom the first foreign application was made. It must be made upon Form A2 (see ante, p. 549), and in addition to the specification must be accompanied by—

(1) A copy or copies of the specification and drawings as filed in the Patent Office of the foreign State or British possession in respect of the first foreign application duly certified by the official chief of such Patent Office, or otherwise verified to the satisfaction of the Comptroller ; and (2) If the specification be in a foreign language, by a translation thereof, verified by statutory declaration or otherwise to the satisfaction of the Comptroller.

An International Office, in connection with the Convention, has been established at Berne, Switzerland, which publishes a monthly periodical, entitled La Propriété Industrielle. The yearly subscription (including postage) for all countries within the Postal Union

12 These Governments have not yet agreed to the Convention, as amended September 14, 1902, but adhere to it in the original form.

is 5 francs 60 centimes, and should be forwarded by money order to L'Imprimerie Co-opérative, Berne.

23. Patent Museum, South Kensington.-This museum was in 1883 placed under the management of the Department of Science and Art. It no longer forms a separate section, but has been incorporated with the general Science Collections of the South Kensington Museum. All communications relating thereto should be addressed to the Secretary, Science and Art Department, South Kensington, London, S.W. The Science Collections are open to the public free daily, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays; and from 10 am to 4, 5, or 6 p.m. on other days of the week according to the season. A number of the models may be seen in motion from II a.m. to the hour of closing. EntranceExhibition Road.

24. Patent Office Library.-The reading-rooms of the Free Public Library of the Patent Office are open daily, from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m., except on Sundays, Christmas Day, Good Friday, and Bank Holidays. On the day observed as His Majesty's birthday, Christmas Eve, Easter Eve, and Whitsun Eve, the library is closed at 4 p.m.

In addition to the printed specifications, indexes, and other publications of the Patent Office, the library contains a collection of the leading British and Foreign Scientific Journals, Transactions of Learned Societies, and text-books of Science and Art, and the full or abridged Patent Specifications of the following countries :— Argentine Republic, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, Cape Colony, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Grenada, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mauritius, Natal, New South Wales, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Queensland, Russia, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Straits Settlements, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad, United States of America, Victoria, Western Australia.

25. Patent Office Publications.—These may be consulted daily at the Free Public Library of the Patent Office; at the Science and Art Department, South Kensington; and at the Free Libraries, &c., named post, pp. 600-603. They are also on sale at the Patent Office, 25, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C., and

1 The list of these is not inserted in this work. It may be seen at most of the places mentioned below, or can be obtained by writing to the Patent Office.