§ MR. BROADHURSTI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the following circular, which has been issued by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company:—
The Directors have ordered that, in the event of patents being taken out by officers or servants of the company, the company is to be at liberty to use the inventions free of charge, unless the Directors should in any special case decide otherwise.Please sign and return to me the attached orm, stating that you agree to these terms.And whether railway companies are legally empowered to compel their servants to surrender to them such rights as those set forth in the circular; and, if not, whether he will take steps to inform the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company of the fact?
§ * THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Sir M. HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.I have communicated with the company, and learn that it has been for many years the rule of the company to make it a condition in the engagement of officers that any patents which 532 they may take out while in the service shall be free for the company's use if the company so desire; the motive of the directors being to control, if possible, the use by officers in workshops of the company's plant and time in experimenting for their own benefit. The condition is a condition of employment, and is the subject of contract, with which I have no power to interfere.