Abstract
IN this little book the author has collected a number of papers that he has published dealing with certain philosophical aspects of patent law and practice. Each of the six papers is presented as an application of scientific method and reasoning to the solution of patent problems, or as an attempt at the correlation of patent law with other more systematised branches of learning. This being so, it is not easy to understand why the paper on language and style should have been included, or, for that matter, that discussing the logical problem of definition. Of the first paper, too, the most that can be said is that it affords an ingenious exercise in the use of mathematical symbols. It is when he comes to discuss prediction and invention in chemistry and the influence of patent law on the evolution of research that the author is most interesting and instructive, though his remarks in the latter connexion on the subject of generalisation must be regarded rather as the personal opinion of a well-known patent agent than as an exposition of the accepted practice in this matter. The remaining paper dealing with the principles of scientific method can be commended to inventor and practitioner alike.
Patents: Invention and Method.
By Harold E. Potts. Pp. viii + 160. (London: The Open Court Co., 1924.) 3s. 6d. net.
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J., E. Patents: Invention and Method . Nature 115, 673 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/115673c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/115673c0