PATENT MUSEUM. The Patent Museum at South Kensington is transferre by the forty-first section of the Act of 1883 to the Department of Science and Art, which is empowered by the fortysecond section to require any patentee to furnish them with a model of his invention on payment of the cost, the amount, in case of dispute, to be settled by the Board of Trade. CHAPTER XXIV. THE INSTITUTE OF PATENT AGENTS AND ITS REGISTER. In the year 1882 a number of Patent Agents practising in London, being of opinion that it was highly desirable on several grounds to form an association of Patent Agents, and to obtain incorporation for it under the statutes in force, the proper steps were taken, after the memorandum and articles of association had been prepared, to effect the object in view. The Institute, as the association was named, was established to form a representative body of the Patent Agents of the United Kingdom for the purpose of promoting improvements in the law relating to patents and in the regulations under which they are administered; also to frame rules for the observance of Patent Agents in all matters appertaining to their profession and practice. The Institute is composed of Fellows, Associates (who are not Patent Agents by profession), Foreign Members (who are Patent Agents in the colonies or in foreign countries), and Honorary Members. The affairs of the Institute are managed by a Council, consisting of a President, Vice-President, and Past Presidents, together with eight ordinary members selected. from amongst the Fellows. The offices of the Institute are at 19 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London. Here they keep a library, and at stated intervals meetings are held at which papers relating to patent matters are read and discussed. A volume of their Transactions is published annually. Since its incorporation the Institute has been of material assistance to the Board of Trade in shaping some of the provisions in the Acts of Parliament bearing upon patents and in framing rules for the regulation of the business of the Patent Office. By the first section of the Patents Act of 1888, it was enacted that after July 1st, 1889, a person shall not be entitled to describe himself as a Patent Agent by advertisement, by description on his place of business, by any document issued by him, or otherwise, unless he is registered as a Patent Agent in pursuance of that Act; and any person knowingly contravening this provision is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 201. But every person who proves to the Board of Trade that he had been bonâ fide practising in the United Kingdom as a Patent Agent prior to the passing of the Act is entitled to be registered. The Board of Trade is authorised to make general rules for giving effect to this enactment, and it has accordingly issued a set of Rules, a copy of which will be found in the Appendix to this work. A register is to be kept by the Institute for the registration of Patent Agents. A copy of the register is to be printed annually and placed on sale. The Institute is to appoint a Registrar to keep the register under the direction of the Board of Trade. A person who desires to be registered on the ground that, prior to the passing of the Act, he had been bonâ fide practising as a Patent Agent, must satisfy the Board of Trade that this was the fact before his name will be entered on the register. (Rule 5.) With the exception of persons registered on this ground, no person is to be registered unless he has passed and produced to the Registrar a certificate under the seal of the Institute that he had passed such final examination as to his knowledge of Patent Law and Practice and of the duties of a Patent Agent as the Institute shall from time to time prescribe. Before any person can present himself for the final qualifying examination of the Institute he must have passed one of the matriculation examinations of an English, Scottish, or Irish University, or the Oxford or Cambridge Middle Class Senior Local Examinations, or the Examinations of the Civil Service Commissioners, or such other examinations as the Institute shall, with the approval of the Board of Trade, by regulation prescribe. These preliminary examinations are, however, not required in the case of solicitors in England and Ireland and law agents in Scotland, or in the case of persons who have for seven consecutive years been continuously engaged as pupils or assistants to registered Patent Agents. In these cases the final qualifying examination only is required to be passed by candidates for registration. The Institute must hold, at least once in the year, a final qualifying examination, and it is to have the entire management and conduct of such examination, including the appointment of the examiners. The subjects of examination are (a) Patent Law; (b) Patent practice and procedure; (c) the preparation and interpretation of patent documents; (d) physical science and its applications to the arts and manufactures. Persons desiring to obtain further information as to the examination should apply to the Secretary of the Institute. The fees payable by a candidate, and those on registration and annually afterwards by Patent Agents are set forth in Appendix C. to the Rules. The names of persons convicted of crimes, or found guilty of disgraceful conduct, are to be removed from the register. Non-payment of fees is another cause for erasing the name of a Patent Agent from the register. APPENDIX PART I STATUTES, INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION, Statutes, Enternational Convention and Protocal 21 JAMES I. c. 3 [1623] 46 & 47 VICTORIA, c. 57 [1883] 48 & 49 VICTORIA, c. 63 [1885] 49 & 50 VICTORIA, C. 37 [1886] 51 & 52 VICTORIA, C. 50 [1888] INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION AND PROTOCOL Kules, Forms, and Fees PATENTS RULES OF 1890, WITH THE FORMS AND LIST OF FEES REGISTER OF PATENT AGENTS RULES PART II PATENT LAWS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES |