Colonial and Foreiga Patents

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 423, 2 June 1904, Page 5

Colonial and Foreiga Patents

Advice To Inventors

Mr R. W. Jones, an liivercargilHn-' ventor, at present in Birmingham plac ing his knife c}eaner, in a letter to a member of the staff of the " Southland Times " says : ■—" I have learned. a lot this last twelve months in connection with patent business, and have come to the conclusion that it is a mistake to take out a patent in the colonies at all, anle s it is for something in connection with the development of, the natural products of the country,; say, for the saving of gold, tne treat-1 merit of flax, the dyeiug of wool, etc. 1 You may as weii ; throw your money I into the deepest depths of the sea as spend it taking out a full patent in the colonies for an article designed for, or claimed to- be of world-wide utility. The first thing to do is to secure, the patent H America ani Germany—J inventors m>v simultaneously apply! for protection in New Zealand and the! other colonies —but should the patent I not pass in the two countries named it 1 may be abandoned as worthless, or as I having been anticipated, and the col- 1 onial patents need not thni be pro- I ceeJed with, unless the inventor has I plenty of money he wants to lose. A colonial patent is rarely of any value on this side. The American and German I Patent Offices look with disfavour on an invention that bar " 9eu previously patented in a minor ,te, and can easily find some excuse rejecting it, or for putting the inventor to a lot of trouble and expense. Further, you must make application for the foreign patents within a certain limit of time after your first application in the colonies. Then, agajto, it would be well for colonial inventors to compare the cost of patents in their respective co'onies with that of 'the United States, for instance, on a populations basis. The population of New Zeal-1 and is only about one-eightieth part of I that of the United States, yet the costs -f a patent in New Zealand is morel thin five times that in the United States. Add to this the fact that a New Zealand patent implies no title of commercial value (at any rate, outside the colony), while the United States patent does; it is the most valuable of "all. It will easily be seen how gro* tesque are the New Zealand patent laws A British patent isJ not worth the paper it is written on H To sum up, my advice to colonials isjg do not apply for a patent until you area quite ready, then apply for the Unitedl States and German Patents. Thel provisional protection of the colonies and England is all that is needed until it is seen whether or not the United States and Germany grant the application."