Patents and Designs Acts

This UK law of 1907 and 1916 replaced earlier laws about British patents.

The legal text is here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Edw7/7/29/contents It's a straightforward system in which it is pretty easy to learn where the legal text is and just plain read it. For this historic legal text, it's important to see the version as originally passed and perhaps

It had a Section 30 which enabled ministers to keep some patents secret during wartime, analogous to laws in other countries. We have seen Section 30 applied in one case: Patent GB-1916-281735.

We also have a reference to said section being applied, with the Acts being associated with 1907 and 1919.

1907 text sections

• • Part I [1] has sections 1-58
  • Part II [2] has sections 49-61
  • Part III [3] has sections 62-99
  • Schedule 1: The fees for obtaining and renewing patents
  • Schedule 2: References to portions of previous Patent Acts which are continued or repealed by this legislation

Notes from the text of the Act

• Much of it is clearly written.
• The Act applies to three similar areas: Patents for Inventions; Registration of Designs; and Trade Marks (intro)
• At least one of the applicants must be making the claim to be the "true and first inventor" of the invention (section 1)
• A provisional specification must describe the nature of the invention. The patent is not considered by the patent office based on its provisional specification, but rather the complete specification which must describe the nature of the invention AND the manner in which it is performed (accomplished). (S2) The complete specification is due within six months, and an additional month may be granted upon request and payment of a fee. (S5) (It seems clear that the inventor could still file the complete specification after that, only having lost the earlier priority date and thus a place in line, and thus be too late if another inventor filed for a similar patent.)
• The "Comptroller General of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks" shall refer each such application to an examiner for evaluation. (S3) This comptroller is presumably the top official of the patent office, which has not been referred to yet.
• The comptroller (or in practice the examiner) may require that suitable drawings be included with the specification and published. (S2) The examiner may reject an application or require changes to it based on the clarity or appropriateness of its title, specification, or drawings. If an application is thus rejected the applicant may appeal the decision to "the law officer", England's Attorney General or Solicitor General. (S3 and S93)
• The terms "date of the application" and "date of sealing" are used, presumably equivalent to what are called "filing date" and "grant date" elsewhere. (S4)
• An examiner may find that the complete specification is too different from the provisional one, and either reject it, insist on changes, or cancel the provisional application. In that process they get more time, up to 12 months overall, to agree on a complete specification. (S6)
• The examiner must evaluate whether the application was preempted by earlier patent applications. If so, the comptroller can ask the examiner to amend the submission. The comptroller can reject it if it is not different enough from earlier ones. There are references to role and imagined liability of a Board of Trade, whose role is not made clear. (S7-8) (There's more here, not fully processed.)
• If a specification is accepted, it should then be "advertised" and made available to public inspection. Note that the text does not say the patent specification should be published. Presumably that issue was debated at the time, and certainly afterward. (S9)
• S10 implied that after "acceptance", the patent is not yet sealed -- I guess there is another fee or conditions the applicant must sign before the patent is granted.
• S11 says that after the advertisement, of the intent to grant, two months shall pass when any person may express opposition, on several grounds that would make the patent ineligible. It seems then that the grant occurs after the two month period. Do we have examples of a patent that was opposed at all?

• Future: Let's add the Patents and Designs Act 1907 to en.wp here: [4]
• the new article can look like simpler version of this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright,_Designs_and_Patents_Act_1988

Rodgers' Patent Act, 1901

An Act was passed regarding Patent GB-1901-10580, and it may be a useful example. James Godman Rodgers of Springfield, Ohio, got a British patent in 1901 for improvements in rubber tyres for vehicles. He assigned it to the Whitman and Barnes Manufacturing Company of Akron, Ohio. The manager of the Britsh office of W&B, Theodore Barnes, was supposed to pay ongoing fees to keep the patent active. After the Paris Exhibition, Barnes left for Russia, and didn't make the payments. The entire purpose of the law seems to be to keep the patent active/applying/current since now these folks have paid. This special Act may have required a lot of lobbying and effort. Do we care? There doesn't seem to be an aero application of these tires. Was this sort of legislative effort used for other patents? Not that I know of. Anyway let's keep these notes around in case any of it is relevant to interpreting early aero evidence. The text of the law is here: [5]