NEW ZEALAND.

(Population, 460,000.)

Letters patent are only given to residents in the colony, but letters of registration equivalent to letters patent are obtainable by an alien (if he be the actual inventor or his assignee). A duly certified copy of the British or other patent, on which the application is founded, together with a certificate that the applicant is still owner of said patent, must be presented. The invention has to pass an official examination before being allowed, and, in case of a chemical patent, specimens of the compound and of its ingredients must be deposited. A notice of the application is advertised for four months, when, if the examiner is satisfied, and all has gone smoothly, the documents can be filed, and letters of registration obtained, expiring with the original patent.

There are no taxes after the grant of the patent. In all other respects English law and practice is strictly followed, and decisions of English courts are held binding in colonial ones. Patents of addition can be obtained by the patentee without forwarding a foreign patent. About forty of all kinds are taken out yearly, and the numbers increase in at least equal ratio with the population and wealth of the colony. Cost of letters of registration, or of patent of improvement, £33 ($165).

NORWAY.

(Population, 1,800,000.)

Duration, ten years or under, at discretion of the government. The invention must be worked in the kingdom within the first two years of grant. After half the period of duration has expired, the invention

must be officially published at a cost to the owner of ten specie dollars. If the invention be worked by the grantee or his licensee in any market town, the person so working it must become a citizen of the said town. About sixty patents are secured per annum. Usual cost of Norwegian patent, £13 ($65).

PARAGUAY.

(Population, 300,000.)

Has a good patent law, but it is little used, and the country is very unsettled. Cost uncertain.

PERU.

Peruvian patents are very cheap to a resident, but almost unobtainable by a non-resident. At present the Provisional government have too much fighting on hand to think of granting patents.

PORTUGAL.

(Population, 4,800,000.)

The inventor or first importer, as in England, can secure a patent for an invention new in the realm. By new, means not described in any book, print, drawing, model, or other object in the possession of any person in the realm not being of the household of the applicant.

Maximum duration of patents, fifteen years; cannot be prolonged; and imported patents also expire with original foreign patent. No patent for improvements on an article already patented will be granted, except to the original patentee, during the first year after the original patent is granted. Applications, however, can

be made by others, and their dates will be noted, when, if their ground has not been covered by the patentee himself during the first year aforesaid, patents of improvement will be granted to the applicants in order of priority of date. Patents of addition are granted as in France. Medicines, food, simple changes in the form of objects already patented, and ornaments, cannot be patented. Patentees must work their inventions during the first half of their term, and must allow the public free inspection on two stated days in each month. In the case of chemical patents, £200 ($1,000) has to be deposited with the state, and three times during the duration of the patent the entire process must be publicly exhibited; the occasions being duly advertised beforehand. Heavy fine, imprisonment, or forfeiture of the £200 being penalty of neglect of these provisions. Books, music, designs, sculpture, as well as inventions properly so called, come under this law with slight modifications. All infringements are decided before arbitration judges, and their decisions are final. Knowingly infringing a valid patent is a criminal offence. After a quiet possession of a patent for half its duration the validity of that patent cannot be impugned. No annual taxes. About twenty-five patents are granted yearly. Cost, £35 ($175).

QUEENSLAND.
(Population, 300,000.)

The law and costs are exactly the same as those of New South Wales.

RUSSIAN EMPIRE.

(Population, 84,000,000, exclusive of Finland.) Duration of patents, three, five, or ten years. portation patents limited by duration of prior foreign

Im

patents. Any inventor can obtain a patent in Russia, It must be for some new and useful art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. By new is meant not in actual use in the empire, or to be found in any printed paper or book in any library in the country, or in any production printed or publicly distributed in the realm. Russian patents must therefore be applied for in Russia before the English blue book or copy of the American or German patent reaches the patent office library in St. Petersburgh. The patentee enjoys the same rights in the empire that a British patent gives in the United Kingdom. Patents are not granted for trifling and unimportant inventions, or for abstract principles without their practical application, as for instance," for distilling brandy by steam."

As in the United States, a model is by law required where the case admits of one, but is frequently dispensed with. The novelty and utility of the invention are rigidly but fairly investigated by the committee of manufactures before letters patent are granted. Inventions already patented in other countries, and merely "communicated from abroad," are granted for only six years, limited also by duration of prior foreign patents; their cost, too, is greater than that of other patents. Applications in the name of the inventor himself (unless becoming void by failure of a prior foreign patent) are granted at the option of the grantee for three, five, or ten years. No patent can ever be

renewed.

If, while an application be pending (and it requires about eighteen months to get a patent through the Russian office), another person applies for the same invention, both applicants are refused, unless one agrees to withdraw. This rule, singularly enough, has never been known to be abused, though it apparently lays the field open to wholesale confiscation of patent rights by unscrupulous opponents. Except for this danger,

the long delay is an actual advantage to the inventor, as his right to sue infringers dates from the day of application, while the duration of his patent dates from that of grant. Thus, virtually, a ten years' patent lasts eleven and a half years.

About one-half of all applications are refused, but this is owing to two circumstances-1st, That large numbers of very foolish patents are applied for; and 2nd, Many patent agents abroad are ignorant of the fact that an invention already published abroad, and consequently to be seen in the Russian Imperial Library, cannot be validly patented. Our correspondents in St. Petersburgh, who do a larger business in "international" work than any other Russian patent agents, have succeeded in obtaining patents in at least 90 per cent. of all applications made through them.

If a patent be refused, a large part of the sum paid on application is returned.

The invention must be worked at least once in the empire during the first quarter of the period for which the patent has been granted. Public companies cannot obtain, licence, or purchase patents without special permission from the department. About 160 "ten-year patents, 90 "five-year," and 25 "three-year" patents are secured yearly.

Cost of Russian patent, Three years, £32 ($160).

Five years,

Ten years,

£40 ($200). £84 ($420).

Cost of changing a three-year to ten-year patent any time within six months of application-a change is rarely allowed after that period-£55 ($275).

Separate patent for Finland, twelve years, £85 ($175).