§ MR. LONSDALE (Armagh, Mid)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will give the exact terms of the declaration which has been made by His Majesty's Government in respect of Section 27 of the Patents and Designs Act, 1907, and which the German Imperial Secretary of State for the Interior states has placed the situation for German patentees in a somewhat better light.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. J. A. PEASE,; for Sir Edward Grey) Essex, Saffron WaldenThe terms were as follows:—"Section 27 does not require that every patent should be worked in this country. It merely provides that if it can be shown that after the liberal interval allowed by the Act, a British patent is worked mainly or exclusively abroad, any person can call on the patentee to show why his patent is not worked to an adequate extent in this country. If the patentee can give an explanation satisfactory to the Comptroller and the Court, his patent will not be revoked. If he can show that further time is required to enable him to work his patent to an adequate extent, the necessary time may be allowed by the Comptroller, or, if the Comptroller refuses it, by the Court."