Catalogue description Board of Trade: Committee on the Patent System and Patent Law: Minutes, Reports and Papers

The Committee on the Patent System and Patent Law (Banks Committee) was set up by the then President of the Board of Trade, Douglas Jay, in May 1967 'to examine and report with recommendations upon the British patent system and patent law, in the light of the increasing need for international collaboration in patent matters, and, in particular, of the United Kingdom Government's intention to ratify the recent Council of Europe Convention on patent law'.

The Committee was chaired by M A L Banks, who had until recently been Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of British Petroleum Ltd., and there were eight other members with varied experience in the legal, industrial, economic and technical fields.

The Committee's report was published in July 1970 (Cmnd 4407).