Evening star., 1897-08-05

but that some time after having done SO
he had en- understanding with Mr.. We'd
derburn that 1t was not to be used.
Judge Wilson-'Then do 1 understand
that you withdraw the charge that We'd
derburn & Co. forged that letter. n
Mr.. Greeley-"Yes; that charge is With
drawn"
Mr.. Bond of the firm of wedderburn 4
Co. was then placed on the stand and tes-
titled as to his experience as a patent at
torney, covering number of years, and
that he became associated with Wedder-
burn & Co last February.
Judge Wilson-"Since you have been with
Wedderburn please state how you have
made searches"
Mr.. Bond-"When I took charge of the
search department there were 200 or 800
searches waiting to be made
Mr.. Bond had instructed the searchers as
to the way to do their work. The refer
ences found by the searchers were to be
submitted to Mr.. Frank or Mr.. Snyder. and
have them decided IL the references were
pertinent. He had instructed that careful
work be done. He described in detail all
the procedure in making searches.
Favorable searches were looked over by
him before being turned over to a tyoe-
writer for a favorable report. He had no
instructions from Mr.. Wedderburn, who
had sent for him. saying ne wanted to i'm
prove the character of his search depart
ment. He told Mr.. Bond he wanted him to
take an interest in the business. and to run
the search department as 1t ought to be
run. He had in doing this employed addi-
tional searchers, so as to conduct the busi-
ness properly. He had occasion several
times to reprimand searchers for careless
ness, and had told them that where care
less searches were made. necessitating
research. the careless searcher would be
docked for the time taken up in making
the research. He had never restricted
man to any number of searches he should
make in day.
Judge Wilson-"Have you a record of the
her 0f chpSp ad hy ho
der you?"
Mr.. Bond-"I have from February 6 to
date. Prior TO that 1 think the record has
been lost"
MIR. Bond produced the records The av-
erase of searches made during the time he
was In charge of the search department
was seven and half day. Some search
ers made only two a dag, while others
made ten eleven.
The Rejected Appointments.
Judge Wilson referred to the report of
the committee of patent Office officials to
the commissioner in effect that of the 3, I63
cases filed by Wedderbrrn & Company in
two years 1,s12 contained no patentable
device. and asked Mr.. Bond whether it
could be known that those ,S12 cases were
not patentable before final action
taken.
Mr.. Bond-'I examined a few of them.
about 800, and in my opinion majority of
tEtlH 10 contain pdtentaDle QeVlCeS
Judge Wilsor-''You did not select those
cases with view of finding favorable
oneS?"
Mr.. Bond-'I did not. They were taken at
random as called to my attention."
Judge Wilson-"Do you think the same
condition will be found with the other
cases you have not examiner"
Mr.. Bond said as the cases he had ex-
amined. had been selected at random he
believed the same condition would be found
to prevail throughout the 1,Sl2 cases.
Judge Wilsor-"1t Is unusual for patent
attorney to make application for patent
and have his claim disallowed'
Mr.. Bond-"That is quite common"
Judge Wilson-"Wherein does the busi-
ness of Wedderburn & Co. in this respect
differ from that of other attorneys?''
Mr.. BoEd-'They are quite similar
Judge Wilson referred to the charge that
w Wedderburn & Co. had advised appeals
when that company knew that the appeals
would be sustained, and asked as to the
truth of this charge.
Mr.. Bond then proceeded to give in de-
tail the manner in which cases in the Of
flee of Wedderburn & Co. were handled to
Show the care that he exercised in order
TO determine the patentability of an in
veDtion before advising clients to appeal
Since he had been with Wedderburn & Co.
he had taken seven appeals and won four
of them. which, he said, was as large a
percentage of cases won as he had known
with any of the attorneys with whom he
had been engaged.
At 2:4O O'Clock an adjournment was taken
Until 10 O'Clock tomorrow morning.
Examiners CrOss-ExamfnetI
After The Stars report of proceedings In
the Investigation of John Wedderburn &
Co. before the assistant commissioner Of
patents, closed yesterday afternoon, further
argument was made by MrStouffer against
the cross examination of the thirty-three
examiners of the office, and by Judge VII
scn in favor of that course. Assistant
Commissioner Greeley decided to allow the
Cross-ex animation TO take place, though IN
doing this he said he thought such a
course immaterial and unnecessary
The first examiner put under cross-ex-
animation was o. c. Fox, in charge of the
division of tilage and fences. During Mr.
Fox's examination Commissioner Butter
worth came into the room and was an at
teLtive listener to the proceedings. Judge
Wilson examined the witness on the man
her in which applications for patents are
ted in his division.
josiah McRoberts, chief of division No
furniture), was examined by Judge Will
son. When asked how many times patent
could be amended he replied:
My experience with Mr.. Wedderburn Is
that, like Tennyson's brook, he can go on
forever"
Judge Wilson-"Does not the same thing
Iappen with other attorneys?'
Mr.. McRobert-"With some of them"
MIR. Rice's Testimony.
James Q. Rice of the twelfth division
proved a rather fiery witness. He said the
cases of Wedderburn & Co. reported in
the proceedings to disbar had been given
more consideration than any cases he had
ever had before him. He was satisfied
that the thirty-siX cases out of sixty-four
which he had reported as unpatentabie
had no patentsbility in them"
Judge Wilson-"Do you know that in two
of these cases you We're reversed by the
board of appeals?'
Mr.. Rice-'Yes, I do. but they were not
patentable just the same
Judge Wilson-"Should you not appeal
the cases to the commissioner
Mr.. Rice-'I would II l had the right OF
appeal"
Judge Wilson then called for the exhibits
in the case of applications for patents on
a device for opening envelopes by means
of a string which had been filed by Mr.
Wedderburn. The examiner had decided
that there was no patentable difference be-
tween these five devices, and they were
practically the same. Considerable time was
taken up in examining and comparing these
exhibits, and at 4::15 o'clock an adjourn
ment was taken until this morning at 10
o'clock.
Capt. Sigsbee COmplimented.