from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
PATENT LAWS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. The patent laws of Great Britain
and Ireland will be briefly considered by taking a view of the persons to
whom patents will be granted; the different kinds of patents; the time for
which they are granted; and the expenses attending them.
2.-Sec. 1. To whom patents are granted. Both foreigners and subjects
may obtain letters-patent; but inasmuch as the applicant must accompany his
petition by a declaration made before a master in chancery, or a master
extraordinary in chancery, that he has made such an invention; that he is
the true and first inventor thereof; or that it is new in the kingdom,
according to the special circumstances of the case, the applicant must be
present in Great Britain.
3.-Sec. 2 The different kinds of patents. This will be considered by
taking a view, first, of the object of a patent, and secondly, the territory
over which a patent extends.
4.-1. The thing patented must be, 1. A discovery or invention made by
the applicant himself, in the United Kingdom. 2. The introduction or
importation of an invention known abroad, and in this case, the introducer
is the true and first inventor, within the realm. 3. Though not absolutely
the true and first inventor, by reason of some one else having made the same
invention and kept it secret, yet the invention must have been made public
by the applicant, and as the first publisher, the applicant will be entitled
to letters-patent. Novelty and utility are essential conditions of the
grant, but it is of no consequence whether the discovery was known or not,
in a country foreign to the United Kingdom. Webst. on Pat. 11 and 70, note
w. A recent act of parliament, passed July 1, 1852, (15 & 16 Viet. cap. 83,)
amended the English patent' system in several important particulars. The
cardinal features of the new system are: 1, protection from the day of the
application 2, one patent for the United Kingdom; 3, moderate cost and
periodical payment; 4, printing and publishing of specifications; 5, one
office of patents and specifications. Webster's New Patent Law, p. 41. By
the 18th sec. of said act, letters patent are sealed with the great seal of
the United Kingdom, and extend to the whole of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of man; also, to the
colonies or plantations, or such of them as the applicant may designate in
his petition for the letters patent and the law officer of the crown shall
insert, in his warrant for the sealing of the patent. The patent may bear
date as of the, day of the application, or of the sealing, or of any
intermediate day. The patent is granted for fourteen years, subject however
to the condition that it shall be void at the expiration of three years and
of seven years respectively from the date thereof, unless before the
expiration of the said three years and seven years, stamps of the value of
X50 and X100 respectively, be affixed to the letters patent. The cost of
obtaining letters patent is, in the first instance, X20 if the patent is
unopposed; if opposed, there are additional fees amounting to nearly X5.
By sec. 26, letters patent obtained in the United Kingdom for patented
foreign inventions are not to continue in force after the expiration of the
foreign patent.