For the detailed background to this anticipation of the great Circumlocution Office satire in Little Dorrit, see N. Davenport, The United Kingdom Patent System: A Brief History with Bibliography (1979). On pp. 15–17 Davenport, who quotes Dickens, sets out the stages of obtaining a patent in 1850, together with the fees payable at each stage, and notes that 'it normally took six to eight weeks to obtain an English patent by this procedure' at a total cost of £94 17s 0d (= £94.85). This gave protection in England and Wales only; full patenting cost £310 and 'If, as likely, the inventor employed an agent to help him through the maze of procedures, the cost was considerably more.' The Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852 ameliorated the situation by establishing the Patent Office as a single office where all the procedures could be carried out under the control of the Commissioners of Patents. It also considerably reduced the costs (one patent now gave protection for the whole of the UK), though this was offset by the introduction of a new fee payable to keep the patent in force.
Read more...
