The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-04-16

shall bc persons of comps,sut legal KNOWLEDGE and
SCIENTIFIC ability and they shall constitute a brar9
n appeals. any three Il whom uuon dcsignstir,
U the commisSi9nCr. shall constitute a quorum
%uuse guy II shall be on the written petition 4
ue app .lan- 10 revise and determine upon the va
ldity Of he advcr'e decisions Il the examiners
upon applications for patents and for reissues Of
patents. and In interference cases"
In another section Of the bill II is pro-
vided that they may be removed from
Office at any time by the President for
inefhciency. neglect Of duty, or NAL
feasance in Office"
This bill is strongly advocated by the
Commissioner of Patents. but is meet
ing with considerable opposition from
attorneys and others The difference Of
opinion is not as 10 the wisdom Of
abolshing one Of the appeals within
the Office, but as 20 the means sug-
gested for effecting this purpose As a
Chicago attorney stated in a letter TO
the Congressional committee in charge
OF the bill: Il am heartily in favor
OF eliminating one OF the appeals. but
l think the method proposed OF placing
the board directly under the influence
and control Of the Commissioner is radi-
cally wrong. The Commissionership is
essentially an executive office, while the
functions of the board Of examiners in
chief are purely judicial. and l do not
see why the wise provision of the Con-
stitution OF the United States to the
effect that the legislative, executive and
judicial functions should be kept sepa-
rate and vested in separate bodies
should be disregarded I'm this matter"
In the hearings before the House Com
mittee on Patents. some unfair state
ments were made concerning the board
OF examiners-in-chief 1t was declared
that they were year behind with their
work. and were unable to attend 20 Il
in a proper manner We know that this
is at variance with the truth The board
has not been, is not now. and II is not
likely 10 be a year behind in its work.
While we have sometimes thought that
they occasionally refused patents which
should have been granted, no one has
ever had the slightest reason 20 charge
or suspect that they were susceptible to
any corrupt or improper influence. or
that any such influence could cause them
to modify their decisions. The independ-
ence Of the board has beer one OF its
striking and wholesome characteristics
What should be done is TO strengthen il.
instead OF Iessening its power. The appeal
from the board 10 the Commissioner
should be abolished. and its decisions
made final with direct recourse 10 the
Court Of Appeals Of the District OF Col
umbia, in appeals from the adverse
actions OF the examiners on applications
for patents or reissues, or in interference
cases. There will be plenty of work left
for the Commissioner and his assistants.
In the numerous petitions and motions
presented TO them. BY freeing them
from the other appeals. they will be
enabled TO dispose promptly of the in
terlocutory matters.
1t is impossible within the limits OF
this article to present all the arguments
that could be made against this hill One
objection which was urged by
Mr. Dodge is that it places in the hands
of the Commissioner. a bureau officer.
power to shape and control the decision
IL any patent case. many of which in
volve hundreds Of thousands of dollars.
To place such power I'm the hands Of an
honest man is to subject him TO
temptation which should not be offered:
TO place it in the hands of a corrupt man
Is 70 invite scandals which would make
even the Heaney case seem trifing.
Another drawback to the measure In