§ MR. HANBURYI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether licences to manufacture cordite under the patent assigned to the War Office have been granted to any, and, if any, what private firms; whether this patent was assigned to the War Office as being the invention of a Government official; and whether Government officials who take out and assign patents for warlike inventions under such circumstances are permitted to make profit by the use of such patents in foreign countries?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANA licence to manufacture cordite has been granted to Messrs-Pigou, Wilkes, and Co. The patent in this case was assigned to the War Office as being the invention of a Government official. Government officials are not debarred from making a profit by the use of such patents in foreign countries. The object of the War Office in obtaining the assignment of a patent is to secure the power to manufacture untrammelled by the claims of the patentee. To prevent an inventor from patenting his invention abroad would not benefit the War Department, which has no desire to gain a profit. It would only result in preventing an inventor from obtaining a legitimate advantage.
§ MR. HANBURYDo I understand that Government officials are entitled in Government time to patent inventions, and then to make money abroad?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThey do not patent them in Government time, although perhaps the experience gained while serving the Government is of assistance to them. I do not see it would be of any advantage to this country to prevent them having the right to sell the invention abroad.