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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

c.o.

Reference :-

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2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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it is only necessary that i should express my entire concurrence in the answers returned by him to the queries propounded for our consideration.

The

Executive Council.-His Excellency the

· Lieutenant-Governor remarks, that it appears to him to be but right that an inventor should have the benefit of his invention secured to him in the Colonies as well as in England.

The Senior Military Officer commanding the troops

is of opinion, that an invention which has probably taken of labour to mature is as much the private

years

and property of the inventor as anything he j possesses, therefore it is but fair that his rights should be pro- tected in a British Colony as well as in England.

The Colonial Treasurer and Chief Police Magis-

trate concur.

The Colonial Secretary concurs with the Senior Military Officer and other members as to the right of property of an individual in his invention, but is of opinion that an English patentee, by being allowed to have the benefit of his Patent in this Colony as proposed, will be placed, under the existing state of the Law of Patents here, in a better position than a resident in the Colony, who, to avail himself of the exclusive right of his invention, must take out a Patent in England, and then have it registered in this Colony, which cannot be done in less than eight mouths. And if an English patentee is to

be allowed to extend his Patent to this Colony by registering here, Colonial inventors should also be allowed to register their inventions in the Colony, without reference to England, and have the exclusive benefit of them at once.

With regard to the second point, the Council are of opinion, that the measure proposed by the Law Officers of the Crown would be both simple and effective, viz. :-To enact that upon the applica- tion of the patentee or his assignee within a certain time, the Commissioners of Patents for Inventions (under the "Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852,′′) shall transmit or cause to be transmitted to the Lieu- tenant-Governor, to be by him sent to the Registrar to be filed in the Supreme Court (or the transmis- sion might be to the Registrar direct), and that such Letters-Patent and specification produced by the Registrar shall be evidence in the Colonial Courts without further proof.

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

Lieutenant-Governor, No. 155. July 5, 1853.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA,

Lieutenant-Governor. No. 28. July 12, 1853.

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SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Mr. Crown Solicitor Mann.-1. The present state of the law in the Colony in respect to Patents.

Patent-rights, within South Australia, are created by Private Acts of the Governor and Legislative Council of the province, which being bye-laws have of course no efficacy beyond the boundaries of the province. The practice is for the inventor to prefer a petition to his Excellency that the rights sought should be conceded, and this petition is accompanied with such specifications and proofs as may be neces- sary to support it.

This petition and the other papers are submitted to the Law Officers of the Crown, and, in the absence of objection, the inventor is allowed to bring a private Bill before the Legislative Council. If it is deemed necessary, proof is laid before a Committee of the Council, upon whose report or upon their own knowledge, the private Bill passes the Council, and upon receiving his Excellency's assent, becomes law in the Colony.

2. The mode of proving Patents in the Colonial Courts.

Colonial Patents being, as suggested, by private Act, the Colonial Courts would take cognizance of

the private Act, upon receiving the usual proof. English Patents, where the warrant directs such Letters-Patent shall be made applicable to the Colonies, would be proveable upon producing the exemplification or constat of the roll, or the Letters- Patent, or under Section 9, Act No. 2 of 1852, by a copy or extract thereof, signed and certified as a true copy or extract by the officer to whose custody the original is entrusted.

3. As to the facilities it would be requisite for the Legislature to give for rendering au English - Patent available in the Colony.

As already suggested, the introduction of the Act

to amend the law of evidence, No. 2 of 1852, seems to me to have given the requisite facility for the proof of English Patents, if the province is included in the warrant of the Commissioners under 15 & 16 Vict., cap. 83.

As to the expediency of extending Patents to the

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