The short period covered by this book is extremely important in the history of patent protection. Prior to the 1852 Act obtaining a patent was a complex and expensive process. A patent was a royal grant of privilege. Under the Commissioners the details were administered in one office and the sealing was done by a small group of law officials who were the Commissioners. In addition to simplifying the obtaining of patents, the new system had built into it the wide distribution of patent information in the form of published lists and abridgements. Also, an examination for patentability was introduced. Two people dominate the early story: Edmunds, who was the chief officer and administrator, and Woodcroft, who was in charge of abridgements, dissemination and examination. The new organisation found premises at 25 Southampton Buildings. Initially rooms were rented, but in time a purpose‐built building was designed by Pennington, who also designed so much of official London. Beyond the current story, this was replaced by the building so many of us know as SRIS; it is now a university library.
As one would expect, there were problems with the running of the organisation, culminating in a public row between Edmunds and Woodcroft which led to an official investigation. This found something more important than arguments over running the office: Edmunds had been much less than scrupulous in his handling of public money. In the end Edmunds and the Lord Chancellor resigned.
Woodcroft was a man with a mission. He exchanged patents with foreign countries; he had foreign patents translated. He encouraged industrial towns to ask for sets of patent information for their free library: in at least one case a town opened a free library just so that they could obtain a set of patents. He collected models of machinery and some notable examples of older inventions. After various arguments these ended up as part of the collection of the Science Museum. He collected pictures of inventors which in the end became part of the National Portrait Gallery. And, most importantly, he started the Patent Office Library, which is now part of the collection of the British Library.
The Patent Office was set up around the time of the development of the modern civil service, so there is much in the story about the development of proper administrative procedures. The patenting procedure was also developing, and the story has much about the comments and complaints of the industrial press, some of which led to the registration procedures for trademarks and designs. In 1883 Commissioners were removed and the Patent Office, and the process of patenting as we know it, with minor changes until 1977, was set up. The most significant change that occurred over the period covered by this book is that of patents changing from being a privilege to being a right.
I have outlined the story, but John Hewish has given us the details. He has separated various strands, such as the origins of the reforms and the distribution of patent information. The Edmunds affair gets a chapter. Separate chapters cover the Library (where the story is extended to 1902) and the museum. All the information is supported by detailed notes. The book is well designed and produced. Most of the Patent Office left for South Wales in 1991, but the last patent staff left in 1999 when SRIS moved to St Pancras. Thus it is fitting that a former member of the Library staff should write this book, and that the Patent Office should, kindly, sponsor it. The demand for this book will not be large, but those interested in the history of intellectual property rights, administration or law will value this full account of a small but vitally important public body. Those, like me, who have fond memories of SRIS with its spectacular iron balconies, and of the patent models at the Science Museum, will enjoy reading of their origins.
