Patent

Patent, Patent Bight. A patent right is a privilege granted by the Crown to the first inventor of any new contrivance in the manufactures, that he alone shall be entitled during a limited period to benefit by his own invention. It is so called because the instrument by which it is bestowed is always in the form of letters patent. which is the established mode of royal grant. To confer on any individual the exclusive right of carrying on a particular trade or manufacture is in general beyond the lawful bounds of the royal prerogative, but an exception has always been made in favour of inventors of new manufactures, because with regard to them grants of exclusive privilege for a reasonable period, while they tended to encourage useful ingenuity, encroached on no right of which others were already in possession. In accordance with this principle the Statute of Monopolies, passed in the reign of James I., excepted from its general declaration against monopolies all letters patent for the term of fourteen years or under, by which the privilege of sole working or making any new manufactures within this realm, which others at the time of the grant shall not use, shall be granted to the true and first inventor thereof, "so as they be not contrary to law, nor mischievous to the State, nor to the hurt of trade, nor generally inconvenient." Since this statute no patent right can be valid unless it come within the terms of the above exception. Therefore'no patent right can be legally granted in the first instance for more than fourteen years, the subject must be "a new manufacture within this realm," and it must be an article fabricated by the hand of man, though a patent may be taken out not only for an entire article, but for an addition by way of improvement to one already existing, or even for a chemical process of production. The above statute has also added as a condition that it must be such as "others at the time of granting such letters patent shall not use." If a patent, therefore, be granted for an article already used or known or communicated to the public in this country, whether the prior use or discovery be known to the patentee or not, the grant will be void. But, on the other hand, it is sufficient that it be new within this realm at the time the patent is granted, and the previous notoriety of the article in a foreign country is no objection to the validity of the patent, and the grant also can be made only to the "true and first inventor," the word inventor implying some exertion of ingenuity and some difficulty surmounted, so that when the new manufacture is of an obvious character, requiring no skill or contrivance for its production, it is not the fit subject-matter of a. patent. As to being the true and first inventor, no one can claim this character if it appear that the novelty in question was first suggested to him by some other person in this country; yet where the secret is acquired abroad by one who afterwards introduces it into this realm, he is considered by law as the true inventor, for it is immaterial whether the benefit bestowed on the public be the result of a man's travel and observation or the fruit of his original genius. In the case of two simultaneous discoveries, he who first procures a patent before the matter is made public is entitled to the privileges it confers. As to obtaining a patent, the application is made by petition contained in and supported by a solemn declaration that the petitioner is the true and first inventor, and that the invention is not in use in this country by any other person, to the best of his knowledge and belief; and the application, which must be left at (or sent to) the Clerk of the Patents, must be accompanied by either a provisional or a complete specification, the provisional specification describing the nature of the invention and being accompanied in general by drawings illustrative thereof, and the complete specification particularly describing and ascertaining the nature of the invention and in what manner it is to be performed or put in use, and being accompanied in general by drawings illustrative thereof, or else referring to the drawings thereof which accompanied the provisional specification. The complete specification, if not left with the application, must be sent not later than nine months (extendable) from the date of the application, otherwise the application is taken to have been abandoned. The application is then referred to the Comptroller of Patents, who inquires and reports thereon.