Abstract
VARIOUS Acts of Parliament and statutory rules control the issue of patents. They lay down definite time limits within which certain things must be done by an inventor who is applying for a grant. For example, the complete specification must be filed not later than twelve months after the provisional, and the application as a whole must have reached the stage of being “in order for acceptance” not later than eighteen months after the earliest filing date. In the same way renewal fees must be paid promptly as they fall due, or the patent will lapse. Extensions of time varying from one to three months can be obtained on payment of stipulated fees, but after that no extensions are allowed. In the Electrical Review of September 22, a “Legal Correspondent” writes an instructive article on the effects of the new patent legislation. The ‘intellectual property’ which is created by the operation of the patent system, as well as the artistic property which is called copyright, both stand in a class apart from the ordinary trade and business of mankind. It is therefore for the benefit of all that they should be safeguarded even when they come from an enemy source.
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Patents in War Time. Nature 144, 580 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144580a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144580a0