§ Sir WILLIAM BULLasked the Under-Secretary of State for War if any member of His Majesty's military or naval forces who seeks to obtain for an invention the protection of a patent is now required to sign an agreement by which he consents to assign, if required, the benefit of the invention and any patent that may be granted to him to the Secretary of State for War or the Admiralty, not only for the purposes or the duration of the War, but finally and wholly; if the remuneration, if any, for such assignment is to lie entirely in the discretion of the Army Council and the inventor is further required to consent to enter into agreements without limit of term if required to do so on behalf of the Government and its contractors; and, if so, whether, in view of the disadvantage thereby imposed on such 49W an inventor as compared with others, including those of foreign birth, who may reserve their inventions till they can apply for patent protection in normal conditions, he can give a guarantee that military or naval inventors will be relieved after the War from any disadvantage accruing from the fact that an invention submitted by them during their term of service has been utilised by the Government under the agreement at present prescribed in such cases?
§ Dr. ADDISONThe answer to the first and second parts of the question are in the Affirmative. The Regulations governing the taking out of patents by Service inventors are contained in Appendix XVIII. of the King's. Regulations, and similar rules exist for the naval forces. These have been in existence for many years. It is not considered that any advantage would accrue to inventors who withheld their inventions till after the War, as they would Tun grave risk of being anticipated and would loose the chance of reaping a benefit due to the use of their inventions in connection with the existing war conditions. Every consideration is given to the circumstances of each case, and, so long as the interests of the Government are fully safeguarded, Service inventors are given permission to dispose of their inventions as they think fit. It does not follow that the rights of the Government under the Regulations quoted are exercised. Even if they are, the inventor is not precluded from receiving a reward.