FOREIGN PATENTS.

SYNOPSIS OF LAWS AND OTHER DATA.

THE following items of information are given for the benefit of those who may have in contemplation the procurement of foreign patents:·

Canada. The Dominion of Canada comprises the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia, and Manitoba. The population, as given by the latest census, is 3,537,887, and the area of the country 622,990 square miles. By a patent act, taking effect September 1, 1872, foreign inventors are permitted to take patents for five, ten, or fifteen years, as the applicant may elect. Patents granted for five or ten years can be readily extended for the full term. The law provides for caveats, disclaimers, assignments, and re-issues. The Government fee for a patent for five years is $20 gold, for ten years $40, and for fifteen years $60. A Canadian patent expires at earliest date at which any foreign patent for the same invention expires. An invention, to be patentable, must not have been in public use or on sale in Canada, with the consent and allowance of the inventor for more than one year prior to the application, and it must not have been patented elsewhere more than a year prior to the application.

A patentee must, within two years from date of patent, commence and thereafter continuously carry on, in Canada, the construction or manufacture of the patented thing, and he must not after one year from and after the date of the patent import the patented device from another country. In other respects the Canadian patent law is much like the law of the United States. Canada is a moderately good and rapidly improving field for inventors. The usual charge of American solicitors for Canadian patents for five years is from $65 to $75 gold, including Government fees and all other charges, for a patent for ten years $85 to $100, and for a patent for fifteen years from $105 to $120. A model, within eighteen inches square, required. There is no examination made as to novelty; patent issues as a matter of course.

Great Britain. A patent from the crown only covers England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Wight, it does not extend to any of the colonies. The population, by census taken in 1871, is 31,187,108, and the area 122,511 British square miles. This is the greatest manufacturing country in the world. Almost all of the prominent American inventions, as hard rubber, the sewing-machine, and Pullman cars, have been successfully introduced there, and a really good American invention can always be handsomely disposed of there. The British law allows no publicity of the invention within the realm by use or publication prior to application, and patents are granted to the first comer whether the real inventor or not, the first introducer being held to be the first inventor within the realm.

No examination is made as to novelty or utility, and the patent issues as a matter of course, unless some private per

son enters an opposition and shows good reason why a patent should not be granted, which thing rarely happens. The duration of the patent is fourteen years, but expires with foreign patent for the same thing expiring previously.

The Government fees are £25 sterling all told, or about $125 gold, which can be paid in two installments. No model required. The patent must be produced at the Patent Office at the end of the third year and a duty of £50 or about $250 paid, and there is a similar duty at the end of the seventh year of £100 or about $500. There is no limit within which manufacture under the patent must be commenced, and no restriction on the importation of the patented article by the patentee.

The legal status of patents in Great Britain is substantially the same as in the United States. The usual charge of solicitors for these patents is, including all charges, from $300 to $350 gold. The British patent reports are splendid books, the binding alone of all the volumes now issued, some hundreds in number, costing some thousands of dollars. There are some six or seven sets in the United States. The Astor Library of New York city and the Patent Office at Washington each have a set.

France. The population, by census of 1871, is 36,583,559, and the area 203,738 square miles. Medicines and chemical compounds are not patentable. The duration of the patent is fifteen years, but expires with any previous foreign patent on the same thing expiring previously. The grant is valid only to the inventor, but if another person procures the patent, only the inventor can dispossess him. No examination as to novelty or utility, and the patent issues as a matter of course. No publicity of the invention in France permitted prior to application.

Actual working of the invention abroad prior to the French application renders the patent void. It is yet a mooted question what other previous foreign publicity will render a French patent void. No model required. Government fee for patent 100 francs, or about $20. There is a yearly tax of $20. Patents of addition-improvements on the original-Government fee, 20 francs, or about $5. The patent must be "worked" within two years from date of patent and must not cease for two consecutive years. Importations of the patented thing by the patentee not permitted. France carries its manufactures, especially of metals and textile fabrics, to a high state of perfection, and real improvements are quickly appreciated. The usual fees of solicitors for a patent, including all charges, is about $125.

Belgium. Population, by census of 1866, 4,839,094; area, 11,366 Briitsh square miles. Duration of patent, twenty years, but expires with previous foreign patent expiring previously; so that this application, if made at all, should be made before other applications. Patent valid only to inventor or his assigns. Invention must not have received, prior to application in Belgium or elsewhere, publicity sufficient to enable it to be put in practice. Patents of addition allowed, the same as in France. The Government fee upon the grant is a tax of ten francs, or about $2, and the taxes increase regularly each year, — $4 for the second year, $6 for the third, and so on. There is no examination as to novelty or utility, and the patent issues as a matter of course. No model required. Patents can be extended for good and substantial reasons. The patent must be worked within one year from the time that it is commercially worked elsewhere, and the working must

not thereafter cease for one year. Importation of the patented article by patentee permitted. The publication of a patent in an official patent report prior to the Belgian application, is no bar to a Belgian patent. Usual charge of solicitors for Belgian patent, including all charges, $100.

Prussia. Population, by census of 1867, 24,043,902; area, 135,778 square miles. Patent granted to first applicant, whether inventor or not. Foreigners must apply through a Prussian subject. Duration, at the pleasure of the Government, from six months to fifteen years, — usually six years. Applications are submitted to a very severe examination by a special commission of professors in the Royal Polytechnic College at Berlin, and it very rarely happens that objections more or less serious, and oftentimes frivolous, are not made. Models are sometimes required, and always in sewing-machine cases. Six months only is usually allowed for commencing the working of the patent, and it must not cease for a whole year. Importation of the patented article by the patentee is generally tolerated by the Government, but not always. The invention must not have been published or worked anywhere prior to application. There are no special taxes on patents; but the applicant must pay for stamping and registration of the papers, amounting generally to about $15, and he may have to pay other charges, sometimes borne by the Government, amounting to about $98. Usual charge of solicitor, including all charges, from $150 upward.

Austria and Hungary. Population, by census of 1870, 35,943,592; area, 241,123 British square miles. Patents granted only to inventors or their assigns, native