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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

8

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

New

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WHAT INVENTIONS ARE PAtentable.

(a) Definition of "Invention."

The differences as regards the definition of "invention" are not very material. Most of the Colonies, by a reference to the Statute of Monopolies. adopt the principles of the law of the United Kingdom.

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In the Patent Acts of New Zealand, Queensland, Tasmania, and Victoria, Zealand,

the definition of "invention" is the same as in the British Act, i.e., "invention Queens- land,

means any manner of new manufacture the subject of letters patent and grant Tasmania, of privilege within section 6 of the Statute of Monopolies, and includes an alleged invention. In Victoria no patent is granted for any invention the use of which would be dangerous or prejudicial to the public interest.

Victoria.

Canada.

New-

In the Canadian Patent Act "invention " is defined as meaning "any new "and useful art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and "useful improvement in any art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter." No Canadian patent may issue which has an illicit object in view, or for any mere scientific principle or abstract theorem.

Similar provisions to those in the Canadian definition are to be found in foundland, the Newfoundland and South Australian Patent Acts. In South Australia South the patent becomes void if it appears that the grant was prejudicial or

inconvenient to the general public.

Australia.

Cape Colony, Natal.

New South Wales.

Western Anstralia.

Canada.

New-

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In the Patent Acts of Cape Colony and Natal "invention" has the same meaning as in the old British Act of 1852 (15 & 16 Vict., c. 83). The definition of "invention" in that Act was any manner of new manufacture "the subject of Letters Patent and grant of privilege within the meaning of the "Act of the 21st year of the Reign of King James I., chapter 3," (commonly known as the Statute of Monopolies).

In New South Wales "invention " is construed as meaning any "invention or improvement in the arts or manufactures

unless

"such invention or improvement appears to be detrimental to the public health, "public welfare, morality, or the interest of the State. Scientific principles or "theories can not be patented, but the practical application of them to industrial "ends

form the subject of a patent." may

The Patent Act of Western Australia does not apparently contain any express definition of “invention."

(b) Qualifying provisions as to novelty.

The above definitions of "invention" are in some cases explained or qualified by further provisions.

1

Under the Canadian Patent Act the invention must not have been in public use or on sale with the consent or allowance of the inventor, for more than one year previously to his application for a patent, and any inventor who elects to obtain a patent for his invention in any foreign country before obtaining a T patent for the same invention in Canada, can only obtain a patent in Canada, if the same be applied for within one year from the date of the issue of the first foreign patent for the invention. d (1)

The applicant for a patent in Newfoundland is required to "make oath in foundland, "writing" that the invention "hath not to the best of his knowledge or belief, “been known or used in this colony, or in any other country," but he will not be deprived of his right to a patent by reason of his having previously taken ont Letters Patent for the invention in another country, if "such invention shall #not have been introduced into public and common use in this colony prior "to the application for a patent therein.”

New South

Wales.A

South

Australia.

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In New South Wales prior exhibition without any limit as to period does not préjudice patent rights.

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In South Australia the invention must not have been “publicly used or "offered for male within the Province prior to the date of the patent for the same,”

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but the fact of an exhibitor having exhibited or tested his invention, either publicly or privately within a limited period, does not prejudice his right to a patent. An expired foreign patent is a bar to the grant of a patent in this Colony.

Provisions as to the exhibition of unpatented inventions within a limited Victoria, period exist also in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania, and Queens- New Zealand. In Victorin patents tor foreign inventions may be granted land,

Western within one year of the late of the foreign patent, notwithstanding prior use or Australia, publication in Victoria.

EXAMINATION FOR NOVELTY.

Tasmania, New Zealand.

In Canada, on every application for a patent, a thorough and reliable Canada. examination is required by law to be made by competent examiners employed in the Patent Office for that purpose.

The Commissioner may object to grant a patent in any of the following

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(a) When he is of opinion that the alleged invention is not patentable

in law;

(b) When it appears to him that the invention is already in the possession of the public, with the consent or allowance of the inventor;

(c) When it appears to him that there is no novelty in the invention;

(d) When it appears to him that the invention has been described in a book or other printed publication before the date of the application, or is otherwise in the possession of the public;

(e) When it appears to him that the invention has already been patented in Canada or elsewhere, unless the Commissioner has doubts as to whether the patentee or the applicant is the first

inventor.

Whenever the Commissioner objects to grant a patent in any of the above cases, he must notify to the applicant the ground or reason therefor with sufficient detail to enable him to answer the objection if he can. An appeal lies from the Commissioner's decision to the Governor in Council.

In New Zealand and Tasmania the Registrar of Patents may refuse to New grant a patent for any alleged invention which he knows is not new, after Zealand, giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard personally or by his agent.

Tasmania

In Queensland it is the duty of every examiner to whom an application for Queens-

a patent is referred, to report whether, to the best of his knowledge, any of the land.

following conditions exists with respect to the invention, that is to say:-

(a) That it is not novel;

(b) That the invention is already in the possession of the public, with

the consent or allowance of the inventor;

(c) That the invention has been described in a book or other printed publication, published in Queensland before the date of the application, or is otherwise in the possession of the public;

(d) That the invention has already been patented in Queensland, Where an examiner reports that any of these conditions exists with respect to the alleged invention, the Registrar may refuse to proceed with the application, unless the case is one which falls within the provisions of the Act relating to Industrial or International Exhibitions and International Arrangements, or unless, in the case of a prior patent having been granted, he has doubts whether the patentee or the applicant is the first inventor. An appeal lies from the Registrar's decision to the Law Officer.

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