Lord Broughamstated that his noble and learned Friend and himself had, two years ago, objected to a Bill which was brought up from the House of Commons upon the Law of Patents for Inventions. The evils of the Law of Patents, as that law now stood, were admitted by all. No protection was given to an inventor even of the most meritorious kind; but while this was the case, the public were left without any adequate security against monopolies. The Bill formerly introduced had afforded but insufficient remedies for these evils, and had introduced faults of its own. His noble and learned Friend had, therefore, considered the subject, and he had framed a Bill which met with the approbation of his noble and learned Friend. It had been presented to their Lordships, who had read it a first and second time, and it was then referred to a Committee up stairs. His noble and learned Friend had attended that Committee, and some changes and improvements had been introduced into the Bill, which had then been passed by their Lordships. It was then sent to the other House of Parliament, and improvements were made in it in one or two minor particulars—it was extended to Scotland and Ireland, which was very proper, and some 1187 technical expressions, less distinct than could have been wished, were amended. He acceded to all these Amendments, and should recommend them to their Lordships' adoption. But there was a change in the Bill, which, in his opinion, was most unfortunate. It took from the Bill one of its best provisions, and for the reasons on which it had been introduced he was utterly unable to account. The difficulty under which the patentee chiefly laboured was this, that if the invention was of value, he was scarcely ever secure of a remuneration for his labour and his skill, for the pirates, the men who pirated his invention and pirated it the more in proportion to its greater value, formed a stock purse and harassed him for years with disputes as to the validity of his patent in Courts of Law. If the validity of the patent was in every instance established it must be at an immense cost to the patentee, who might be employed perhaps during the whole of the fourteen years in expensive law-suits and might derive but little advantage from his patent. In this way Watt, the great improver of the steam-engine, the man to whom society was so much indebted, had been almost ruined. To remedy this mischief the patentee generally applied for an Act in cases where the patent was applicable to a subject of great value, in order to renew the patent for seven or fourteen years. This application was, in the first instance, generally made to their Lordships' House, but in cases which warranted it they might easily imagine that the parties opposing the Act would use all possible influence against its adoption. It was proposed in the present Bill that instead of coming to Parliament, where the parties might be put to the great expense of attending with counsel and witnesses for the space of sixty days, at the end of which time twelve noble Lords, who had not heard a word of the evidence, might come down and vote upon it, a circumstance which might happen in a patent case as well as in any other, a circumstance which might happen in a patent case though he hoped that it could not happen in any other, and the party might thus be defeated in obtaining what he was fairly entitled to. It was proposed, therefore, to transfer the adjudication of a claim of this sort for a renewal of the patent from their Lordships' House to the tribunal of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, where no such influence could, ever prevail. This tribunal was admitted to be well-contrived 1188 for the purpose, yet the proposition had been removed from the Bill by the Commons. Now the public looked upon this as one of the best parts of the Bill, and on its removal as a jewel torn out of a crown. He should, therefore, recommend that, with respect to this alteration, their Lordships should take the only proper course without negativing the Amendment, which would, in fact, amount to throwing out the Bill, and that they should at once adopt the other Amendments.
The other Amendments were agreed to; and on the subject of the one objected to, it was agreed that their Lordships should desire a conference with the House of Commons.