PATENT LAW

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 81, 2 October 1924, Page 9

PATENT LAW

THE AMENDING BILL.

The Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Amendment Bill was discussed briefly in tho House of Representatives last night.

: Moving the second reading of the Bill, the Hon. C..'J. Parr said that it brought the law of New Zealand into conformity with that of the Old Country in tho respect that if a patentee h^cl not the necessary capital, or-did' not desire to work a patent of whioh he had a monopoly right, ho might apply to the Registrar of Patents and have the patent endorsed as' a " license of right." The Bill also prevented-the abuse of monopoly rights. The patentee must be allowed every reasonable chanco of working his patent, but if it appeared that he was merely a speculator sitting down upon his patent, the public had power to step in and apply for the right to use it. The measure was almost in strict conformity with the latest English patent law.

Mr. T. K. Sidey (Dunedin South) said the Bill contained- just what he had urged.the House to do in 1921, when the principal Act was under consideration: (Laughter.)" The Minister did not mention that on having a license endorsed a patentee in-England was relieved of the payment of half his fees, which was a big tiling in the Old Country, where the fees were very much higher than they were in New Zealand. He believed applicants in New Zealand would be prepared to pay a higher fee if more complete examination of patented articles was made. He also suggested to the Minister that, as. a means of saving ■ expense, appeals from the decision of the Registrar should^, be made in the first instance to a law officer, instead of to the Sup4june Court. The Minister had not stated that clause 4, which provided a remedy where there was inadvertent omission to take certain steps within a certain time, and where by reason of that the complete specification had not been accepted, was not included in the English Act.

The Minister stated-, in reply, that strong reasons could be adduced in support of the clause. He did not see the necessity for the appeal suggested. The examination of applications and specifica-. tions in New Zealand was fairly good, and the expense of employing 'extra clerks for examining specifications was hot warranted.

The Bill was read a second time and referred to the Statutes Revision Comsr&ljgl^_^---' * -"' "'