Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Volume 10 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1851 Excerpt: ... government, a patent should in nowise be recognized, as the question of novelty, (which involves the validity or invalidity of a patent, ) would be thereby indefinitely extended. VII. The duration of patent grants is a point upon which very adverse opinions exist, and without, as it would seem, any adequate reason. British patents have been hitherto granted for a fixed term of fourteen years, and all other countries have approximated the duration of their patents to this term; but it is now proposed, in some influential quarters, to grant all patents for twenty-one years. In an early part of this Paper, it was shown, that a limited protection was all that an inventor could in fairness demand. In determining the limit for the duration of patents of invention, it would seem to be merely necessary, to examine what length of protection would, in general, suffice to induce ingenious men to give the result of their labours to the world, and when ascertained, to adopt that period, as the term for patent grants; for so long as a means exists, of meeting special cases, by effecting the prolongation of patents, through an application to the Privy Council, or other analogous tribunal, no injustice could be said to follow, from the adoption of an arbitrary term for all patents alike. Now if the exclusive enjoyment of an invention for fourteen years, is not sufficient inducement for its author to disclose his secret to the public, the burden of proof of this insufficiency, rests upon those who raise the question. But the Author contends, that this is a matter which never, for an instant, disquiets inventors, who are desirous of patenting their discoveries, for, in general, they are far too sanguine of immediate success; nor does he think, that a single case could be add..