The growth of patenting in New Zealand, 1860–99

Abstract

Patent applications by male New Zealand inventors sharply increased in the early 1880s after initial official fees were reduced, and the requirement to advertise applications in newspapers abolished. Increasingly, however, applications lapsed, while applications by unskilled workers remained low. Non-fee costs were crucially important, with the 1870 reduction in fees failing to increase patenting, as hoped, because the doubling of mandatory advertising costs negated the fees reduction. Patenting by overseas inventors was less affected by fees, and steadily grew. Only one application was by an indigenous Māori person, while even in 1899 women made just 2.5% of applications.