The work of fitting up these stations extended over 1924 and 1925. The contracting company had great difficulties to contend with owing to the isolated situations concerned and the primitive character of the labour available, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and also the arduous nature of the work of conveying the materials through the almost inaccessible mountain country. The contract, however, was completed according to schedule.

In the autumn of 1925 all the stations were ready for use, and now they have been in function for nearly a year. In that time they have operated to the full satisfaction of the Greenland Administration and have proved of welcome and very real advantage to many, both in Greenland and in Denmark.

The greatest significance of the stations is doubtless in connection with meteorology, which is perhaps one of the spheres that wireless has helped most to extend, as it makes it possible to collect and broadcast observations from many regions in the shortest possible time. In the great net of stations which had spread itself over most parts of the world Greenland hitherto had had no place at all. Hence the station at Angmagssalik, from which Iceland gets much of its »weather«, was erected at the suggestion of the Danish-Icelandic Council in order to give the utmost protection to the many fishermen who extract a livelihood from the fishing grounds of Iceland. But to the weather services in the eastern part of America and the western part of Europe the stations also will be of extreme importance, as well as to the many ships sailing the North Atlantic.

In the administration of Greenland the stations are certainly an entirely new departure. Formerly under the best circumstances a reply to an enquiry sent to Denmark might be expected in the course of some months, and sometimes even as much as a whole year would elapse, as of course the country was quite severed from outside intercourse all the winter, a season which is never less than five months. Now a reply can be received in the course of a few hours, and the significance of this both in the simplification and the facilitation of public, commercial and all other intercourse is self-evident.

The coast of Greenland is a long and dangerous one, and hitherto the approach to it at many points has been attended by a certain amount of anxiety, but the wireless stations have made navigation much safer and easier and any vessels fitted with

wireless can now first get into communication with the settlements before approaching the coast.

Of late years there has been a considerable amount of deep-sea fishing on the banks off Godthaab and Sukkertoppen, and in this foreign vessels have also taken part. Whaling has been also carried on to some extent, and for inspection purposes in connection with these activities a Danish naval vessel is now stationed in these waters in the summer months. This inspection can be made so much the more effective now that the wireless stations are able to inform the inspection ship when and where its services are most urgently needed.

Life in the Greenland settlements, too, will be so much the more desirable to the Danish settlers now that they can receive more or less regular wireless press news instead of having to wait, as hitherto, throughout the long winter until the first ship from Denmark in the spring brought them a bulky parcel of say 150 to 200 newspapers, all inevitably long out of date.

In Godhavn a small telephony broadcasting apparatus has been set up during the past winter, and this entertains the various settlers round about Disko Bay.

On the occasion of the opening of the station at Godhavn, Mr. Hauge, the Danish Minister for Home Affairs, foreshadowed that in the course of the next ten or fifteen years the very smallest settlements in Greenland would be in wireless communication with the outside world. Developments in that direction must inevitably tend towards the cultural progress of this huge and not insignificant Danish Colony.

ON THE SOLE RIGHT

TO THE EXPLOITATION OF INDUSTRIAL

INVENTIONS

By H. HOLTEN-NIELSEN, Chief of The Directorate
for Patents and Trade Marks.

Many and varied have been the methods evolved in the course of time for the promotion of Danish industries. One of these, which has long been in use both at home and abroad, is the granting to inventors of new industrial devices the sole right of exploiting their discoveries for a certain period within the country concerned. The rules which apply in this respect in Denmark at present are to be found in the Patents Act of April 13th., 1894, with its later amendments. According to this Act patent rights may be granted for new inventions which can be employed in the industries or the production of which can provide industrial employment; this does not apply, however, to medicines, articles of food or luxury or processes in the production of foodstuffs. This right can only be obtained by the inventor or by his lawful assignee, and it comprises the right for purposes of trade to manufacture, import or trade in the patented object or the object produced by the patented method and to employ the method itself. This sole right can only be enjoyed for a period of 15 years after the issue of the patent. A fee is payable annually, rising every third year, the rates being: 25 Kr., 50 Kr., 100 Kr., 200 Kr. and 300 Kr.

In the event of more than one person applying for a patent for the same or similar invention, the first applicant to lodge his caim has the right to the patent. It should, however, be observed that Denmark, by the Order of September 28th., 1894, and that of May 28th., 1915, became a member of the international body for the protection of proprietory rights in trade which was formed by the Paris Convention of March 20th., 1883, and amended in Brussels on December 14th., 1900, and in Washington on June 2nd.,

1911. As a consequence, an applicant who in one or more of the countries belonging to this body may have applied for a patent for the same invention may demand that his application in Denmark be regarded as having been made simultaneously with the first application he may have made in any other of these countries, provided that his application in Denmark is handed in within twelve months after that date.

Besides Denmark, this Convention comprises Australia with the Papua territory and the mandate state of New Guinea, Austria. Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Ceylon, Czecho-Slovakia, Cuba, Danzig, Dominican Republic, Esthonia, Finland, France with Algeria and Colonies and the mandate states of Syria and Libanon, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Yugoslavia, Luxembourg, Morocco (excepting the Spanish zone), Mexico, the Netherlands with Netherland India, Surinam and Curacao, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal with the Azores and Madeira, Roumania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunis, Turkey and United States of America.

In order to obtain the patent rights on an invention, application must be made to the Directorate for Patents and Trade Marks, accompanied by a fee of 50 Kr. Full particulars as to the form of application are to be found in the Notice of June 17th., 1915. In the case of foreigners, a representative resident in Denmark is necessary. A committee examines and decides whether the invention for which a patent has been applied is of such a nature that sole rights can be granted on it. For the purposes of the investigation as to whether the invention can lay claim to being new at the time of the application, applicants who have previously applied for patent on the same invention in one or more of the countries who are signatories of the aforementioned Convention may, on conditions as already stated governing simultaneous application by other applicants, demand that the date of the first of these applications be taken as the test of newness. If the application is such that it can be granted, it is made accessible to the general public for a period of eight weeks, during which time any objections to the granting of the patent may be filed. Such objections are thereafter investigated, after which the granting of the patent or its refusal is decided upon. The letters patent are issued when the prescribed fee, 35 Kr., has been paid.