SOUTH AUSTRALIA. (Population, 263,000.) The law up to January, 1878, was the same as in New South Wales. It has now been altered and greatly improved. A caveat, similar to those described under the laws of the United States and of Canada, is granted for a small fee, to any applicant desiring to provisionally protect his invention. This caveat continues in force for one year, and is renewable. The first cost of a patent has been considerably reduced, but there is a tax to be paid before the end of the third and seventh year, or the patent becomes void. The actual inventors, their executors or assigns only, can obtain patents for inventions, and only for such as have not yet been publicly used or offered for sale in the colony. A patent lasts for fourteen years. Total cost of patent, if unopposed, £30 ($150). Cost of caveat, £10 ($50). Third and seventh year taxes, including agency, £9 ($45). SPAIN AND COLONIES. (Population, 25,000,000.) A Spanish patent covers the entire empire of Spain, that is, Spain, Balearic Isles, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands. Any person, subject or foreigner, can obtain a patent. The latter is granted without examination or guarantee as to novelty or utility. Patents are granted— 1st.--For hitherto unpublished inventions. These are granted to the inventors only, for twenty years. 2nd. For inventions not patented abroad more than two years, and not yet publicly worked in Spain. These are granted to their inventors for ten years. 3rd. For inventions not yet worked in Spain, though known at the Conservatory of Arts. These are granted to the person who will first start the manufacture in Spain, for five years. 4th. For additions or improvements on previously patented inventions. These cost about £1 ($5) more than other patents at start, but are free from subsequent taxes. They expire with the original patent to which they are attached. The law as regards what is a patentable invention under the first of the above classes, and except as regards novelty in any of said classes, is substantially the same as in England, except that medicinal preparations cannot be protected, and the practice is much stricter on the point that two inventions cannot be embraced in one application. The validity of the patent is dependent upon the punctual payment of an annual progressive fee of 20 pesetas before the end of the first year, 30 before the end of the second, 40 the third, and so on; thus, with agency charges, war office tax, &c., comes to £2 8s. ($12) the first year, £3 ($15) the second, £3 12s. ($18) the third, &c., the tax increasing 12s., or $3, each year. The patent, when granted, is dated back to the day and hour of application in Madrid; but it usually takes two months for the officials to get through the routine and deliver the actual documentary grant. A patentee applying for a patent of addition for an improvement on an invention for which he has an existing Spanish patent, takes precedence of any other applicant applying for the same improvement as an original patent. All assignments of patents must be registered at the Conservatory of Arts (Madrid) before they become valid against third parties. This register is always open to public inspection. As in most other countries, if it be found that the specification does not fully and correctly describe the invention and its objects, so that any one could work it who is conversant with the branch of art to which it is nearest related, or if there be clear evidence of deceit or of a reservation of valuable information on the part of the patentee in drawing up his specification, the patent will be declared void. All patented inventions must be worked somewhere in the Spanish dominions within two years of the date of the patent, or the patent becomes void; and this applies also to patents of addition, the working of which does not require to be proved in most other countries. This working must be proved at the expense of the patentee to the satisfaction of an official appointed by the director of the Conservatory of Arts, or, in other words, the Commissioner of Patents. The article must be actually manufactured in Spain, and the expense of proving, when done, by our agency, exclusive of cost of manufacture, is usually about £12 ($60). The patent can be annulled after this working if at any time it be shown that the working of the invention has been entirely interrupted for a period of one year and a day, unless the owner can show good cause for such interruption. Infringers of patents are liable to a fine of from £8 to £80 ($40 to $400) for the first offence; if, after being fined, the infringer again infringes within a period of five years, he is liable to a fine of from £80 to £800 ($400 to $4,000). Persons knowingly assisting in such infringement lay themselves open to a fine of from £2 to £8 ($10 to $40) for the first offence, and of from £8 to £80 ($40 to $400) for the second. All counterfeit products seized become the property of the patentee, and all damages made good; and if the fines and damages be not promptly paid, imprisonment for an equivalent period is the only alternative. In infringment trials, the infringer can plead invalidity of the patent, and get his conviction suspended till the validity of the patent has been tested by the public prosecutor before a jury of experts. The spirit of enterprise is rapidly rising again in Spain; and at the present time there is a great demand for manufactures requiring small capital to work them. Patents for small domestic articles, stationery, simple articles of husbandry or connected with the wine trade, mining, and guns and pistols, are especially sought after, and such can be sold for very large sums. W. P. Thompson & Co.'s agency in Madrid is the oldest in Spain, and has branches all over the country, not merely for obtaining, but for selling, patents on commission, and has been very successful in this line, having obtained as much as £30,000 ($150,000) for a single patent. Cost of Spanish patents, from £16 to £20. STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. These include Singapore, Penang, Province Wellesley, and Malacca. The patent law is very similar to the British; but any inventor possessed of a British patent can have the same registered at any time in the colony so as to be operative over the settlements. Cost of registration, £28. Cost of original patent, £35. SWEDEN. (Population, 4,600,000.) Duration fixed by the Chamber of Commerce, in each instance, never longer than fifteen years, and will be limited in any case by duration of prior foreign patent. All inventions which would be patentable in England are patentable here; but trifling and frivolous improvements, especially if relating to inventions already at full work in Sweden, are rigorously rejected. The invention must not have been worked in the kingdom. None but the inventor himself can validly obtain a patent. If a patent be not opposed within eight months of date of patent, no opposition can afterwards succeed in invalidating it. Within from one to four years (usually two), according to the discretion of the Chamber of Commerce, the owner of the patent must officially prove that the invention is fully at work.in the kingdom, and this proof must be reiterated yearly, during the continuance of the patent, on pain of forfeiture thereof. About three hundred and twentyfive patents are granted yearly, and the number per annum rapidly increases. Cost of patent varies greatly with the length of the specification, as a large part of the cost is caused by the official publication of the entire specification three times in the Gazette, which publication has to be defrayed by the patentee. For average specifications £18 ($90) may be reckoned a fair price for a Swedish patent. SWITZERLAND. (Population, 2,800,000.) No patents of any kind are granted at present in this republic, except by one or two of the smaller cantons. Several bills have lately been introduced into the federal legislature, however, one of which is likely to be passed, almost identical with the German law. The cost of application, should this act be passed, will be about the same as in Germany, but the annual taxes will be |