The evening times., 1898-11-23
SUMMARY OF PROPOSED
PATENT LEGISLATION
COMMITTEE MAKES A REPORT
Washington Patent Law Ass9cia-
ton tn Make "a Firm Stand Against
Congressional Tinkering.

| tAoh ~ a Firm SIAnu AtS0tnSI
Conversational Tinkering.
| committee, consisting of Walter F.
| Rogers. Wallace A Bartlett, Arthur s.
| Browne. Frederick W. Ritter. jr. and
| George P. Nairs.esey, which was APP
| pointed by the Washington Patent Law
Association to prepare a statement pre-
| senting summary OF proposed iegisla-
ton in the Fifty-ffth Congress bearing
| on the patent and trademark laws. mas
| made it's fe5ofti to Gen. Ellis Spear.
president Of the association.
The repoe. in part follows:
''1he fateat Law Association of Wash
in2ton mad lis opening experience in lhe
matter of patent legislation in tie ea; y
palt OF 1881. Ii tnen demonstrated tn.
power OF cpmbiaa aat,on, anI Impressed the
principe of consulting, as far as possible
All the in;etasts tnvolved in proposed leg
! isiajloii.
"A genera patent b!ii was befo-e Con
| gress. had passed The House OF ke?rese2-
| tatives, ana nad been faYo:abiy repa!tc /
| without amendment by the Senate Com
! tnittee on Patents. I hat bill was cciSi-
naliy prepared III response TO a lolg-cun-
| tinued demand from all quarters tnat RE
| yised Statutes, section faS3. should be re-
| peaied in go far il limited the life OF
d ms $ i p tents by The term of the hort
| est corresponding foreign patents. TIE
| bill had the powerful support OF the
| American Bar Association and the Com
| missioner Of Patents, and its principal
aim had the hearty concurrence of other
! associations and individuals generally.
But, after the bill had passed the House
| and been reported by the Senate commit
| tee, ii became known to many for the
| first time that to reach the point aimed
at the bill had been loaded with con
cessions which were more Objectionable
| than the previous limitation of the old
| law. The bill placed the new bar of two
| years publication, so that it applied at
once to all pending applications and to
| all existing patents. 1t made the nc"'
bar of seven months for foreign inven-
! tions Immediately operative which, as i
now apparent would have cut off thou
| sands of foreign inventors without no
! tice. And the bill contained the six
| months provisions OF the former rules
of Commissioner Seymour with an mex
! plicablc eighteen months final repect.on'
| provision-both of these provisions be ns
| opposed to the nearly unanimous iudg-
ment of the patent bar, the latter one
| having no one to defend or even inteE-
| pref II.
The matter was brought to the after
| ton of the newly-organized Washington
! Patent Law Association by members and
| others. A large committee was at once
! appointed With considerable difficulty,
! in view of the late date, a hearing was
| secured from the Senate committee. To
! the surprise of this association represen-
| tatives of other associations appeared in
| defense of the bill. These Representatives
| were finally forced 10 admit the objection
| able character of the bin. but insisted that
| it was too late and too dangerous To pro-
| pose any amendment to the House. The
! former chairman OF the House Commit
tee himself saying that TWO hundred
| members We're prepared To attack the pat
! ent system if the bill should come up
| again The reply of this association was
| that the bill if not amended ought to fail
| TO pass the Senate, and that reliable in
| formation led the association to believe
| that no such bill would be permitted 10
pass.
BY appointment, a few days thereaf-
| ter the committee of the Patent Law
! Association met the chairman of the
| Senate committee and handed him the
| draft of a bill in the precise words of the
present law. with the exception of sec
| ton I, subsequently, added.
The bin as drawn was offered 4
substitute in the Senate and in two weeks
was passed by both Houses and signed
| by the President The Patent Law Asso-
| citation had in the time between the draft
| ing of the new bill and its passage suc-
ceeded in convincing many opponents Of
| the bill that, in its new shape, it ought
| to pass. Without this Intervention the
| bill would unquestionably have failed.
The experience with that bin demon-
| strated to this association the great ad-
vantage in having proposed legislation
! submitted TO the scrutiny of the various
| interests involved. before pushing it in
| Congress. and the effect of a determined,
| intelligent attack upon 4 dangerous bill.
The object of the digest is said TO be
| TO convey to the profession, manufactur-
ers, inventors and others Interested an ac-
curate idea of the amount and character
| of the proposed. Legislation, and 10 offer
! suggestions which it is hoped may result
| in doing something toward crystallizing
| the ideas of bill writers and bringing to-
gether on a few salient points the whole
body of parties in interest
Under the caption Cardinal Points"
| the committee reports that everywhere
| there is an agreegent on three points
| ''E'irst-The necessity of carefully study
| ing out some plan to put into the best
| shape the mass of material piled up in the
| United States Patent Office, so that a
| thorough search might be made by the
| examining corps. by attorneys making va
| lidity searches and by the public gener-
| ally in search of information.
| ''Second-That there are now too many
| appeals in contested causes in the Pat
| ent Office.
+Third-That the present arrangement
| of circuit courts of appeal courts of
| final resort is failure in the patent sys-
! tenn and that one final court is wanted
whose rulings will cover territory cock
| tensive with the grant
There are also other suggestions which
| seemed to meet with general approval.
| For example, that the trademark law
| shall be extended to commerce between
| the several States, and that the power of
| the Commissioner of Patents should be
| supplemented by a specific provision of
| law regulating the admission of attorneys.
The association has been peculiarly i'm
| pressed by the necessity of making Il firm
stand against the constant tinkering with
| the patent system by means of ill-consid-
cred bills.