17. Sir N.GRATTAN - DOYLEasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that an order was recently issued by the Patent Office to the Rochdale Libraries Committee, instructing them to forward certain British patent specifications to the Government of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics; whether such instructions were complied with; and whether the specifications in question have been transmitted by the Patent Office to Russia?
§ Mr. W. GRAHAMNo such order was issued. The position is that the Patent Office offered to the Committee of Inventions of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics a set of printed specifications of the years 1852–1913 which were no longer required by the Rochdale Public Libraries. This was done in accordance with the established practice of exchanging official publications which obtains among the Patent Offices of all countries, and in order to facilitate the transmission of these specifications to Russia the representatives of the Soviet Governments were placed in direct communication with the Rochdale Libraries Committee. None of these specifications has yet been forwarded to the Soviet Union.
§ Sir N. GRATTAN-DOYLEWhereas these specifications appear to be no longer required, why was Soviet Russia singled out; and, if a decision has not yet been reached, will the right hon. Gentleman hold up the decision until further inquiries have been made?
§ Mr. GRAHAMI do not think that Russia was singled out, but, as I under- stand it, this is the ordinary process of exchange of documents, which are entirely public, and, in fact, could have been obtained in any other way. I will, however, bear in mind the last part of the question. As I indicated, the specifications have not yet been sent.
§ Mr. KELLYHas the right hon. Gentleman consulted with the Patent Office in order to ascertain whether Rochdale has taken this matter up and cleared it up?
§ Mr. GRAHAMYes, I will; it is necessary to make further inquiries.
§ Sir WILLIAM DAVISONAre royalties paid in Russia on British patents used there?
§ Mr. GRAHAMI should require notice of that question.
26. Sir N.GRATTAN-DOYLEasked the President of the Board of Trade whether the Government of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics has presented the British Government with Russian patent specifications in return for the in- formation as to patents recently communicated to them?
§ Mr. W. GRAHAMA set of the current official publications of the Committee of Inventions of the Union of Socialist Republics, together with a set of the official publications of the former Russian Patent Office which include specifications of patents granted by those offices is available for public reference in the Free Public Library of the Patent Office. This information is supplied in exchange for current official publications of the Patent Office sent to the Soviet Committee.