PATENT RIGHTS—PETITION OF C. BRODERIP, FOR BETTER SECURITY OF. (Hansard, 22 March 1826)

§ Lord Palmerston

presented a petition from Charles Broderip, esq. of the city of Westminster, setting forth,

"That the petitioner is the author of various inventions and improvements relative to the commercial and naval interests of the empire, the result of much study and expense, and from which he has hitherto derived no benefit, in consequence chiefly of the short duration of the exclusive privilege granted by letters patent, the limited number of persons who are permitted to embark as partners in an invention, and the publicity given to the descriptions thereof; the petitioner begs to state that his inventions are such as require a long period to mature and render profitable, and require a greater capital to bring into extensive operation, than the above limited number of individuals can be found to contribute; also, that the previous publicity of the descriptions might enable other persons to put his inventions into effect in foreign countries before, or 71 as soon as, the petitioner could bring them into operation in the British empire; that the great expense of obtaining letters patent, and the necessity of taking out many patents for any invention which combines several improvements, amount almost to a prohibition of the pursuit of any invention requiring long-continued study, with expensive and laborious experiment; that the French laws relative to inventions offer considerable inducement to their authors, in consequence of the trifling expense of obtaining patents, which amounts only to one-fifth part of the expense in England, and also from the greater security arising from the non-publication of the descriptions which can in no manner be communicated but by the author, or with his consent; great facility is also given in that country to the establishment of companies for the purpose of working such inventions; in the United States of America the property of inventors is also much more secure than in England, and the petitioner hopes that it will not be deemed irregular or improper that he should refer to the message of the president of the United States to Congress on the opening of its present session, in which it is recommended to pass a law for the purpose of giving still greater security and value to inventions in those states, the enacting of which law, the petitioner submits, will be the means of engaging many British authors to give the benefit of their inventions exclusively to the United States, if an alteration is not at the same time made in their favour by parliament, for, in consequence of the publication of inventions in this country, no such author will take out a patent here which might by such disclosure endanger his rights in America; the petitioner submits that an undue pre-Judice exists against patentees, from a notion that they are monopolists, the only legal provision in their favour having been made upwards of two hundred years since, in the act of king James the 1st against monopolies, and by which the Crown is enabled to grant patents for inventions, but only for the limited term of fourteen years; at the period in question little or no application had been made of science to manufactures in this country, and the inventions then in use were, for the most part, imported from foreign countries, where, having been brought to considerable perfection, they required only capital to render them immediately available and 72 profitable in this country, and the knowledge thereof was common to all British subjects, who, by travel or communication with foreigners, became possessed of it, without the necessity of study, invention, loss of time, or expense; when a few individuals were thus allowed the exclusive privilege of manufacturing such inventions, they might be considered as monopolists, although such monopolies might have been useful for a time; but the petitioner humbly submits, that the first authors of inventions or discoveries can in no case be considered as monopolists, inasmuch as their inventions would not have been discovered but for the peculiar talent and study of such authors, and would even then remain unknown, if not communicated by them to the public; the petitioner humbly submits, that no statute law protects inventors in the British empire, as it is entirely in the pleasure of the Crown to grant even the limited protection of a patent; while, on the contrary, in other countries, it is imperative on their governments so to do; but that ample security and protection is given in this country to every other kind of property, and particularly to that of literary authors and artists, by various acts of parliament passed in the course of the last one hundred and twenty years; also, that it is only within a century that any great application of scientific knowledge has been applied to commerce and manufactures, and that to some of those inventions this country is avowedly indebted for its great wealth and extensive commerce; that inventions of magnitude, such as Mr. Watt's steam-engine, the cotton machinery of Arkwright, and others, and Harrison's time-keeper, have never been brought to profitable use but after several years of labour, study, and expense, and not even then until the patents which had been granted were about to expire, thus leaving the authors of such inventions without remuneration or reward; such, in particular, would have been the case with the three distinguished inventors above named, had not the two first become themselves the manufacturers of their own inventions, and the last individual obtained a parliamentary reward; that the petitioner also submits that no invention of magnitude has ever been effected by persons in the trade or profession to which such invention applies, but always by those of a different profession or occupation; that 73 such inventions require, in general, extensive and various attainments, together with great study and leisure to bring to perfection, circumstances seldom compatible with the employments, education, and habits of practical men; those who possess the requisite qualifications can only be induced to devote themselves to such pursuits by the hope of deriving therefrom those honours and benefits which are attainable in the liberal professions, neither will capitalists furnish the requisite funds for carrying inventions into effect, but with the prospect of gains adequate to the risk; the petitioner humbly submits that scientific authors are not less entitled to consideration and reward than those of literature or the arts, and that their claims are often greater, inasmuch as considerable expense, and even many dangers, are frequently incurred, which the latter pursuits do not require; that the privileges enjoyed by literary authors and artists are principally, 1st, the entire property for twenty-eight years, and for life; 2nd, the right to register their works without material expense; 3rd, the division of such property among an unlimited number of partners; the petitioner therefore humbly prays, that the House will be pleased to take this subject into consideration, and to pass such law or laws as will give to him, in common with other authors of inventions and discoveries, the same rights and security as are now enjoyed by literary authors and artists, or such other relief as to the House shall seem meet."

The noble lord said, that he thought the subject was one which was fairly entitled to the consideration of the House, and hoped that his learned friend, the attorney-general, would adopt the views of the petitioner, and afford some further advantage to the meritorious class of persons to whose interests the petition related.

The Attorney-General

allowed, that it was of great importance that any defects in the law relating to patent rights should be remedied, and that it was the duty of the House, as far as was consistent with policy and sound reason, to afford every protection and facility of operation to those who devoted their time, their fortune, and their talents, to improvements which were likely to become useful to their country, and beneficial to mankind. He did not, however, agree that all the 74 complaints of the petitioner, in the present instance, could be borne out by the facts, or that patentees laboured under any peculiar disadvantages, as compared with the possessor of copy-rights. One ground of complaint, that relating to the provision against more than six persons being the holders of a patent, had arisen out of the provisions of the 6th Geo. 1., called the Bubble act, and might be removed immediately. The second ground of complaint—that patentees had not a sufficient protection or reward from the present term of fourteen years, to which the exclusive right extended; that they were not in so good a situation as the holders of copy-rights; and that other countries, particularly France, had adopted a better and more equitable system with regard to patentees—seemed to him not supported by the real state of the facts. He had looked into the state of the law with regard to patents in France, and found that patents were granted for five, ten, but never longer than for fifteen years. Now, as the patentee in this country held his exclusive right for fourteen years, it could not be said that there was any great difference upon that point. He could, however, very well understand that there were particular cases in which the term of fourteen years might be found insufficient; such as inventions in which the machinery to be employed was so complicated, the capital required to bring it to perfection so extensive and so much beyond the ordinary calculations of cost, that the time afforded by law might be found scarcely sufficient to bring the work to any kind of perfection; leaving out of the question all views to an adequate remuneration. He admitted that it might be a matter of right and justice to extend the time usually allowed for the protection of patentees in that situation; and he believed that in several instances, parties had actually applied to the House, and obtained by bill such an extension of their exclusive right, as was deemed necessary to afford them that time for remuneration to which the ordinary state of the law was considered inadequate. Now, he preferred that parties should be still left to make these applications in extraordinary cases, and that it should be left to the discretion of the Crown and the legislature, to determine how far they were entitled to any unusual protection. Upon the next point, the expense of obtaining a patent, he allowed 75 that it was matter of proper consideration how far all unnecessary expenses, connected with new inventions, should be so reduced as to form no impediment to the obtaining that reward which they merited; but it was a mistake to suppose that the expense attendant upon taking out a patent was so much more in this country than in others. In France it was about 70l., and here it was about 100l.; so that the difference could not be considered as producing any very injurious effect. The petitioner complained that copy-rights were in a better condition than patents. In copy-rights, it should be recollected, that the protection was granted to the individual work, and not to the ideas, inventions, or principles contained in it; but in patents there was a protection for several years, during which they were not called upon to give such a particular description of their invention, as would enable other persons to avail themselves of it for the purpose of imitation. But it was totally different with respect to copy-rights, where any man might pirate the whole or part of a work the very day after it issued from the press, and that, too, with very little difficulty or danger of detection; whereas, if he violated the substance of a patent in any particular, he would be liable to an immediate prosecution. The assertion, therefore, that patentees were not placed on as favourable grounds as authors, seemed to be totally unfounded. He did not, however, mean to say that every protection which might be necessary, ought not to be afforded to works of complicated labour, expensive machinery, or extraordinary outlay of capital; and he agreed with the noble lord, that the subject was of the grreatest importance, and deserved the most earnest consideration of the House.