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(c.) The designation of the officer administering the Act has been changed from Patent Officer to Begistrar of Patents, Designs, and Trade-marks. Under the previous Patent Acts there was no appeal from the decision of the Patent Officer in any matter coming before him. Now there is a power of appeal on several points to the Supreme Court. While I am glad that there is power to appeal, and think it quite right that there should be, it is nevertheless a source of satisfaction to me that not one appeal has as yet been made from any decision given by me. (d.) Under the repealed Acts Letters of Eegistration were issued for patents granted elsewhere. There were disadvantages connected with that system, which was not in force anywhere else, and to secure uniformity it has not been continued in the new Act. (c.) Eegistration of designs is a new feature of the present law; but as yet only four designs have been registered. These are under classes 1, 10, 12. (/.) Trade-marks are not now registered until two months after the application has been gazetted, during which time objections may be lodged, and then for only fourteen years. 8. The Judges of the Supreme Court have been invited to make rules, under section 117 of the Act, for regulating proceedings in Court on applications, and proceedings in appeals; but no such rules have as yet been published. 9. Application having been made to the Home Government, Her Majesty has been pleased, by Order in Council, to apply section 103 of the Imperial Batents, Designs, and Trade-marks Act to New Zealand, thus giving to any application in this colony for Letters Batent, or for registration of a design or trade-mark, a priority, in Great Britain over other applications of a later date. Similar provision is given in the colony to persons first applying in England for protection. It would be well if the other colonies would make a similar arrangement between themselves and this colony for the mutual protection of inventors and others. 10. The growing business of the department will soon necessitate more ample office-accom-modation, the present room being indeed already inadequate for the proper discharge of the duties of the staff and the suitable convenience of the public in making searches and transacting business. The large and increasing Batent Office library is away from the office, being at present stored in an upper room in the Colonial Museum. It would be a boon to both the public and the department if sufficient and adjacent rooms could be provided to accommodate the officers, the public, and the library, and with space for models. The library contains 2,052 volumes of specifications and other publications received from England, the colonies, the United States, &c, and is of great value for reference by those who desire to avoid applying for.protection for inventions which have been already patented. From two hundred to two hundred and fifty persons have made use of the library during the last twelve months. 11. Cpto 1879, inclusive, specifications and plans accompanying applications for Letters Patent were printed in yearly volumes, and published at comparatively low prices ; but, as the sales were few, and retrenchment was the order of the day, the practice was discontinued, and since then only an annual list of applications has been published. Persons requiring to study the specifications, &c, have thus been compelled to do so at the Patent Office, or to pay for manuscript copies specially made for them. If authority were given for the publication, at a small price, separately, of every specification as soon as lodged (as is done in England), the demand would he greater, and the benefit to the public would be considerable. On this subject the Commissioner of Patents in the United States says in one of his reports, " The inventive genius of one is stimulated and encouraged by seeing the results of the ingenuity of others. One man makes an important invention, and obtains Letters Patent therefor. If a correct knowledge of this patent can soon be placed in the possession of five hundred, other ingenious men many valuable improvements will be suggested and patented, and the public will obtain a comparatively perfect machine in place of the crude and less perfect production that may have come from the hands of the first inventor." Commenting on this, the Begistrar of Batents, &c, in Queensland, says, " This is no doubt true, and consequently the publication of the records leads to large increase in the business and receipts of the office, and in this way makes up for the expense which such publication entails on the Government." I venture to agree -with them. 12. It cannot be too widely known that the Patent Office takes no responsibility as to the novelty of an alleged invention, but leaves the applicant for a patent to search and judge for himself. The Act empowers the Begistrar to refuse to receive an application if he knows that the alleged invention is not new, but it does not require him to ascertain, that fact. To make the search necessary for such a purpose would involve a costly staff' of examiners, far beyond what the colony is prepared to pay, and would necessitate the examination, of not only the specifications lodged in the New Zealand office, but also of copies of those deposited in the English, American, Canadian, Australian, and other Patent Offices. The examination systemin vogue in the United States, &c., does not and cannot guarantee inventors against taking out useless patents, or the validity of patents when granted, and is therefore only a partial protection. There appears to be a growing feeling that the system is worse than useless, and should be abolished. The English Mechanic, the New York World, and the Scientific American all urge reform in this direction. In the United States 48 per cent, of the applications are refused, and in Queensland, where the system exists, but only imperfectly, owing to the lack of a proper library, only 12 per cent, are refused, causing complaint of perfunctory examination. In short, either such an examination by the office should be most thorough and complete, or it should be left severely alone. At present the duty in this respect of the Begistrar here is confined to ascertaining thai the application and other documents comply with the requirements of the Act and Begulations.

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