INVENTIVE GENIUS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 91, 14 October 1935, Page 10

INVENTIVE GENIUS

MECHANISED TALKING

QUESTION OF COPYRIGHT

PATENT OFFICE REPORT

The annual report of the Patent Office recently-presented to the House remarks on the phenomenal rise that has occurred in the number of inventions in the class relating .to telephony and telegraphy, which class includes radio, sound films, etc. The peak was reached in 1933, and the figures for 1934, the year that the report covers, shows that, this peak is being substantially maintained, the figures being 306 in 1934 as against 313 in 1933.

Commenting on this, the report says: "The policy of the law relating to industrial;, and intellectual property patents, designs, trade marks, copyright—is that the monopolies and other rights arising as a result of the operations of the Patent Office must be in the public interest. This fundamental aspect of the matter becomes of increasing practical importance in these days of industrial aggregation, and particularly so at the present time in regard to the radio industry, in which considerable inventive and commercial activity is manifest. In this connection it should be noted that in modern times there is an increasing tendency for certain phases of patents and copyright to become legally and industrially interlocked. Thus we f.nd that, although 'news' is ordinarily regarded as belonging to the domain of j copyright, a strong effort was made at the. International. Conference for the Protection of Industrial Property held in-London in ,1934 to have 'news' included in. the. convention as being a form of industrial, property. On the other hand, persons interested in radio, etc.,: inventions -are vitally concerned in aprbposal.that.maybe made to the International Copyright Conference, 1936, to limit; the right .of local legislatures to regulate 'the: conditions under which copyright material may be communicated to itlie.:public by radio. Further, we find that, inventors are giving great ■ attention to ■: radio,; sound films, etc., ■by ;means of which copyright material is ■ conveyed from the creator to the consumer. There is also a marked tendency for broadcasting, etc., inventions' to pass into the hands of large combines,1 and for the owners of inventions -to enhance the value of their monopolies •by becoming the owners of correlated copyright. There are'thus growing up various powerful groups whose interests in patents and copyright' are almost inseparably interwoven. ■ These interests, being purely commercial, do.not invariably harmonise witlt the publicinterest. It is therefore necessary, as occasion arises, for the international; conventions relating to patents - and.' copyright, and for the domestic legislation, to ensure that monopolies' granted to foster public well-being are: not allowed to defeat their own ends.by enriching private enterprise unduly at the expense of the State as a whole." DETAILS OF APPLICATIONS. A total of 2827. applications for the grant of letters patent and for the registration of designs and of trade marks was received- during the year, being an all-round increase in the patents, designs,, and trade marks divi-, sions, of 109 on the number for the preceding . year. Applications for patents received during the year numbered 1766 (1761), the figures in parentheses referring to the previous year. In addition to the already-noted telephony and-telegraphy figures, increases were recorded in the classes relating to building construction, 61 (52); cultivating and tilling, 41 (29); electricity and magnetism, 84 (66); furniture and uph"olstery, 35 (29); illuminating, 59 (42); printing and photography, 32 (20); ; and tobacco, 25 (12); while there has tieeh-a decrease recorded in the classes concerning coolIng and freezing, 19: (30); dairying, 47 (68); heating" and fuel manufacture, 33 (51); kitchen ■utensils and cooking appliances, 35 (48); and pipes, tubes, and hose, 21.(33). ; . .■" Of 1766 applications for patents, 921 came from persons resident in New Zealand, 367 from Great Britain, 112 from Germany, 97 from Victoria, 79 from' New South Wales and from the TJnitecl • States,. ,31 from Holland, and the remainder in smaller numbers from various; countries, including one from Mexico, v ■:

Trade mark applications and applications for. the ' registration of designs showed a somewhat similar \ geographical distribution. As .is generally the case, ,the' greatest number of applications for the registration of trade marks concerned foods, these numbering 176., Articles of clothing were the next class, with . 86, • closely followed by the; chemical class. '85. Then came instruments,, 60; toilet preparations (perfumery, soap, etc.), 58, and the class' under which candles, matches, oils,, starch, and laundry preparations are grouped, 35. '.'■'..