think that his ode has not passed away with the pageant which called it forth, but that it will take an abiding place among the highest efforts of his muse. 66 We regret that the music of Italy was without a representative. Our first application, as we have said, was made to Signor Rossini, whose advanced age, however, obliged him to decline acceding to our request. We next, on the 3rd of July, 1861, applied to Signor Verdi, who after some hesitation, caused by his numerous previous engagements, undertook to write a march for the occasion, although he stated that there would be a difficulty as to its transmission to this country by the 1st of February, 1862,* the date which we had been advised to appoint for the purpose. Signor Verdi was thereupon informed that we were willing to leave it in his own hands to fix the time at which he would be able to send the music of the march, in the full confidence that it would reach us in ample time for all the requisite preliminary arrangements." This was in August, 1861. Nothing further was heard of the matter till the beginning of March, 1862, when Signor Verdi, in a letter addressed to Mr. Costa, who had undertaken at our request the direction of the musical arrangements for the 1st of May, proposed to contribute an overture instead of a march. To this change we agreed; but on the 19th of March, within six weeks of the day fixed for the opening of the Exhibition, we received a letter from Signor Verdi, in which he expressed his wish to substitute for the overture a cantata with Italian words, the solo part of which would be executed by Signor Tamberlik. This proposal we were advised to decline, not only on account of the size of the building, in which a solo must have been lost, but also on account of the nature and great scale of the musical arrangements which we had already made. It was necessary that the music should be engraved and distributed to all parts of England, as the chorus, consisting of 2,200 (English) voices, selected from every district of the country, could only arrive in London on the day before the opening, in time for one rehearsal, and the music had therefore to be sent to them some time beforehand for study. All of beauty, all of use, That one fair planet can produce, Blown from over every main, And mixt, as life is mixt with pain, The works of peace with works of war, And is the goal so far away? O ye, the wise who think, the wise who reign, And mix the seasons and the golden hours, And gathering all the fruits of peace and crown'd with all her flowers. * This date was named in order to secure that the music should be correctly engraved and distributed in sufficient time for its pertect mastery by the 400 performers who were chosen from all parts of the country, to form the most efficient orchestra which England could produce. This, as well as the necessity of our having the orchestral music engraved and circulated through the country, was explained to Signor Verdi, who finally proposed to come to England ten days before the Exhibition was opened, to compose the march which he had originally (in August, 1861) undertaken to furnish. To this proposal, we were, of course, unable to accede, as it would have been impossible, in the limited time that remained for the purpose, to secure that Signor Verdi's work should be performed in a manner worthy either of his high reputation, or of the efforts which had been made by Mr. Costa to organize a performance that would be creditable to this country, and to his own great skill as a musical director. Our endeavours to obtain a representation of the music of Italy in this international display thus failed. For the success of the musical part of the opening ceremony we desire specially to tender our thanks to Mr. Costa. The second ceremonial in the course of the Exhibition, on the occasion of the declaration of the awards that had been made by the international juries, took place on the 11th of July, and was held partly in the building itself, and partly in the Horticultural Gardens, which, by arrangements made with the Horticultural Society, were thrown open on that day to the visitors to the Exhibition. The order of the proceedings on that occasion is detailed in the official programme of the day, which we have appended to this report. In the unavoidable absence of her Majesty, the awards of the juries were presented to an international representative body of royal and distinguished personages, specially named by the various nations taking part in the Exhibition. These awards were subsequently delivered by H.R. H. the Duke of Cambridge, who represented her Majesty on this occasion, to the colonial commissioners, and to the various national, local, and trade committees, on behalf of the exhibitors of this country; and to each of the foreign commissions by the special representative named by its own Government. The readiness with which the Governments of foreign countries responded to the invitation to nominate representatives, which was addressed to them, at our request, by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, was highly appreciated not only by ourselves, but by all the people of this country. We proposed to hold a third ceremonial after the building was cleared of goods, at which his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales graciously undertook to distribute the medals and certificates of honourable mention to the successful exhibitors. Although circumstances led us to abandon this idea, our most grateful acknowledgments are not the less due to the Prince of Wales for the readiness with which he complied with our request, and for the interest which his Royal Highness thereby evinced in the success of an enterprise which owed its origin to his illustrious and distinguished father. On the occasion of the two ceremonials which did take place, and indeed throughout the whole course of our proceedings, we received the most efficient and zealous assistance from Mr. Henry Cole, C.B., and the officers of the South Kensington Museum, whose experience in similar undertakings rendered their services to the Exhibition of very great value, and call for our cordial thanks. With the exception of the two ceremonials the public life of the Exhibition flowed on uninterruptedly for a period of 159 days, i. e., till the 1st of November, when the Exhibition was virtually closed. The building, however, was kept open for the admission of the public for another fortnight after that date, during which period exhibitors were allowed to sell their goods, and purchasers to take away with them such of those goods as could be removed by hand.. This arrangement was regarded as a great concession, more especially by the foreign exhibitors; and was found materially to facilitate the eventual removal of the goods from the building, which was effected very rapidly. The total number of visits paid to the Exhibition was 6,211,103; the average number of visitors present on each day, 36,328; and the greatest number on any one day, viz., the 30th of October, 67,891. It is certain that but for the unfortunate absence of the Court, and the distress in the North of England, these numbers would in each case have been very considerably larger. Piracy of Inventions and Designs.—Shortly after the grant of our charter had been made known abroad, we received communications from the Governments of several Continental States, to the effect that many foreigners who were anxious to take part in the Exhibition were likely to be deterred from doing so, by the requirements of the laws of this country affecting the registration of designs and the issue of letters patent for inventions. These laws, though considerably modified of late years, still impose upon persons who desire to obtain protection against piracy the necessity of observing formalities of a troublesome, and in the case of patents, of a somewhat costly character, while no power of dispensing, even under exceptional circumstances, with the payment of the ordinary fees is vested in any department of the State. It was pointed out that on the occasion of the Exhibition of 1851, special facilities for obtaining, without any cost, protection against piracy, whether of invention or design, were conceded to exhibitors by Parliament, on the application of her Majesty's Government, and that similar privileges were granted by an Imperial decree to the exhibitors at Paris in 1855. The precedents of these two Exhibitions, were, accordingly, cited by foreign Governments as justifying the confident expectation that the same liberal policy would be followed in 1862; and the records of the first Exhibition were appealed to, as showing that the royal commissioners were of opinion that the experiment then tried in this matter was "beneficial, not only to the Exhibition itself, but also to invention and design generally." We were assisted in examining the question thus brought before us by Mr. Le Neve Foster, who had superintended the working of the Act passed in 1851, and he made a report to us on the subject of the present position of the patent and registration laws." SIR, * REPORT from Mr. PETER LE NEVE FOSTER upon the PATENT and REGISTRATION LAWS. Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, Adelphi, London, W.C., 16th April, 1861. In reply to your letter of the 22nd of March, 1 beg to hand in, for the information of the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1862, a short report, as requested, on the condition and working of the Patent and Registration Laws, as affecting exhibitors of new inventions and designs. 1. As regards the protection afforded by letters patent for inventions. In and previous to 1851 the laws relating to letters patent were in a very unsatisfactory state, being cumbrous in their machinery, and involving the inventor in a heavy cost to obtain protection for his invention, before he could exhibit it to the public. The cost of a patent for the United Kingdom and colonies then amounted in fees to about 300. This was practically a prohibition to many exhibitors, who could not exhibit without being first protected by a patent, which they had neither the means to pay for, nor perhaps did the article warrant such an expenditure. To avoid this difficulty a special Act of Parliament was passe! early in the session of 1851, Mr. Foster's opinion was, that there was "no such need of any special legislation in favour of exhibitors of new inventions in 1862 as there was in 1851;" but the announcement of a decision to that effect was followed by renewed remonstrances from foreign powers. We, therefore, put ourselves intituled "The Protection of Inventions Act," under the provisions of which an inventor, by lodging a short specification descriptive of his invention to the satisfaction of the AttorneyGeneral, and receiving a certificate which he registered at the Designs Office, received a protection which enabled him to exhibit his invention in Hyde Park, without such exhibition being deemed a publication which would invalidate a subsequent patent if applied for within a period limited by the Act. This privilege was obtained without payment of any fee whatever, and was taken advantage of by upwards of 600 exhibitors. In 1852, the patent laws were amended, and by the law as it now stands the proceedings to be first taken by an intending patentee are very similar to those under the Protection of Inventions Act. The inventor lodges his petition at the Great Seal Patent Office. Southampton Buildings, accompanied with a declaration that he is the true and first inventor, together with what is termed a provisional specification-i. e., a short statement of the nature of his invention without entering into details; if this be satisfactory, the applicant receives a certificate to that effect from the Attorney-General, and his invention is protected from piracy for six months, with liberty to him to proceed for his complete patent during that period if he thinks fit. This provisional protection involves a fee to Government of 54, collected in the form of stamp duty on the petition. If the inventor desires to complete his patent and extend his protection for a further period beyond the six months, he must proceed within that period (the first step being taken not later than the expiration of four months), and on paying a further sum of 201. and filing a complete specification or full description of his invention, he gets his patent for fourteen years, subject its ceasing at the end of three and seven years in default of his paying stamp duties of 50l., and 100/. at such respective periods. 66 2. Registration" includes two branches-that for articles of utility and that for designs for ornament. The registration of designs for articles of utility is limited in character and restricted in extent, and is divided into "provisional" and "complete." (A.) By provisional registration a copyright for one year (which may be further extended for six months by order of the Board of Trade) is given to the author or proprietor of any new or original design for the shape or configuration either of the whole or of part of any article of manufacture, such shape or configuration having reference to some purpose of utility, whether such article be made in metal or any other substance. During such terms the proprietor of the design has the privilege only of selling the right to apply the same to an article of manufacture, but not (under the penalty of nullifying the copyright) of selling any article with the design applied thereto until after complete registration, which must be effected prior to the expiration of the provisional registration. The fee for this registration is 10s. (B.) By complete registration a copyright of three years is given to the author or proprietor of any new or original design for the shape or configuration either of the whole or of part of any article of manufacture, such shape or configuration having reference to some purpose of utility, whether such article be made in metal or any other substance. The fee for this registration is 107. In each case the protection is obtained by simply depositing a drawing and short description of the object in respect of which protection is sought. It must be borne in mind that registration differs from letters patent, inasmuch as it gives protection only to the "shape or configuration" of articles of utility, and not to any mechanical action, principle, contrivance, application, or adaptation (except so far as these are dependent upon, and inseparable from, shape or configuration), or to the material of which the article is composed. 3. As regards copyright in designs for ornamenting articles of manufacture. The registration for this purpose is, like the former, divided into "provisional” and “complete." (A.) By "provisional" registration a copyright of one year (which may be further extended for six months by order of the Board of Trade) is given to the author or proprietor of original designs for ornamenting any article of manufacture or substance. During such terms the proprietor of the design may sell the right to apply the same to an article of manufacture, but must not (under the penalty of nullifying the copyright) sell any article with the design applied thereto until after complete registration, which must be effected prior to the expiration of the provisional registration. "Provisional" registration is obtained for all classes of manufactures and fabrics at a fee of 1s. for each design. (B.) By "complete" registration a copyright or property is given to the author or proprietor of any new or orignal design for ornamenting any article of manufacture or sub in communication with the Board of Trade, and through their kind intervention an Act of Parliament (25 Vict. c. 12) was passed, the purport of which we will briefly explain. By the law of England the right of an inventor to obtain letters patent is defeated by proof being given that the invention is already known to the public. It is clear, therefore, that, in the absence of a special enactment, an inventor by showing an article at an international exhibition, would publish his discovery to the world, and preclude himself from the benefits of the patent law. With the view of preventing this hardship, the Act in question declares that the circumstance of exhibiting an article at the International Exhibition shall not be deemed a "publication" within the meaning of the patent laws. The Act, however, is limited to this object. It gives no protection against secret piracy, and confers no powers of punishing persons who may use the invention. To obtain these further advantages, the invention must be placed under the protection of the patent law, which may be done on payment of a moderate sum for what is termed "provisional protection." An inventor thus provisionally privileged acquires an inchoate right to a patent, and is enabled to prevent, for a limited period, any infringement of his invention, without going to the expense of becoming a complete patentee. Similar protection, at a nominal cost, is afforded to inventors of designs. JURIES. The subject of juries engaged our anxious attention at an early stage of our proceedings. Various competent authorities were of opinion that it would be desirable either not to award prizes at all, or to allow each country to appoint its own jury, and adjudge medals according to rules which might be found most suitable to the country in question. Both of these suggestions were open to objections. Foreign countries have been so much accustomed stance for terms varying from nine months to three years, according to the different classes of manufactures to which the design is to be applied. The fees vary, according to the classes, from 18. to 17. each class, and for certain groups of classes from 31. to 71. according to the circumstances. 4. As to sculpture. By registration a protection of a nature similar to that granted for designs for ornamenting articles of manufacture is granted to sculptures, models, copies, or casts of the whole or part of the human figure, or of animals, for the term, or unexpired part of the term, during which copyright in such sculpture, models, copies, or casts, may or shall exist under the Sculpture Copyright Acts, and the fee for registering the same is 57. 5. I have not entered into the details as to the manner in which the protection under these various heads is obtained, considering that that is not the object for which this report is required. Such details can be readily obtained by any person gratuitously on application either at the Patent Office or at the Designs Office, No. 1, Whitehall, S. W. At the present time inventors intending to exhibit have all the facilities for protecting their inventions which they possessed in 1851 under the laws then in force, as well as under the temporary Act of Parliament then passed specially on their behalf, save that there is now a stamp duty of 5l., payable for the protection under the amended Patent Law. All these modes of protection are available equally to foreigners as well as to British subjects. Looking at the large number of patents which are annually applied for, and for which provisional protection is allowed, between 2000 and 3000 in number, and the very trivial objects for which they are frequently sought, it is clear that the 51. stamp duty is practically no hindrance or bar to the inventor; and under these circumstances I am led to the conclusion, and beg to suggest to her Majesty's commissioners, that there is no need now of any special legislation in favour of exhibitors of new inventions in 1862 as there was in 1851. F. R. Sandford, Esq., Secretary to H.M.'s Commissioners, &c. &c. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant, P. LE NEVE FOSTER. |