The Washington herald., 1910-04-18
Editor The washington Herald.

Editor The Washington Herald:
Your elaborate interview furnished by
a presumptive patent lawyer for your
issue OF April Is is more curious than
valuable contribution to current knowl-
edge. except for the single felicitous
phrase, legal presumption" For this
the thanks Of inventors are rendered the
author, who has thus enriched the Presi-
dents English as she will be spoken
By US.
The interview is a specious plea for our
farcical patent law and for each and
every one OF its hoary abuses. It is
under such n system that the business
standing Of inventors has fallen so low
as 20 tempt no smaller concern than the
Stubebakers to misuse costly advertising
space BY such abuse as this; I'VE would
not have an inventor about the place.
They are hare-brained folk. finding what
was not lost" &C
Attack on Commissioners.
This interview is further enlivened by
q vicious but abortive attack on Patent
Commissioner Moore, who has earned
the good viii OF all inventors, and may
serenely recall the axiom that some en-
mites are compliments. His record for
effective service 20 inventors and the
public easily challenges those of all his
predecessors. He is rated by inventors
the most effective administrator who has
ever served them, his being tho first pro-
motion through the Office itself. where
he has served twenty-five years. And.
more, he Is the only commissioner who
has shown sufficient devotion 10 duty for
probing current abuses. or who has had
enough courage 70 tell Congress and the
country tho whole truth about actual
Patent Office conditions.
He has Glslodged some OF the barnacles
from within. while warding of the at
tocks Of legal presumption" from with
out. and has raised the standards Of prac-
tice in all directions.
This Interview with the patent lawyer
recalls some OF the costly defenses
erected by very reputable lawyers" Of
course. for the more vicious Of our trusts,
now under Federal prosecution.
Its array Of irrelevant data. distortion
OF fact, unwarranted inference. and falla-
cious reasoning. while carefully calcu-
lated to mislead the uniformed. recalls
the defense made by a countryman OF the
writer who was arraigned for stealing a
spade. He asked the court: AN wud
y'r amer sind a poor felly to jail on the
Evidence av two min that seen me take It.
whln Oh can bring yer twinty thatl
swear they didn't see me?" Patent
Lawyers" legal assumption" that in
Nentors cannot speak for themselves. but
need a mOuthpiece. is on a par with his
defense OF the poor patent examiners
(better paid BY Mr.. Moore than ever be-
fore who are assumed" whether 1e
6aily'' or not is not stated. to be smart
ing under thS attack Of their honored
chief.
Patent Lawyers" presumption" that
because two-thlrds OF the l De-. cent Of
total patents issued. and which reach
the courts, are there sustained that,
therefore. the other 90 per cent not utl-
gated must be valid. may be an excellent
demonstration OF legal" presumption,
but inventors will prefer the common
sense theory that the greater proportion
Is not worth litigation, since infringers
swarm Ike the locusts, and there IS no
lack Of reputable" attorneys, while all
the legal presumptionS" are under our
system, with the thief and against the
Datentee
It is precisely OF such legal presump-
ton that our patent system Is moribund
The canons Of Saxon law. for instance.
rate a man as innocent until proven
guilty But. as limited. the legal pre-
symptoms" OF skilled attorneys have
been erected. by complaIsant or unskiIled
courts, into laws quite the reverse. and
the common law thus superseded. making
the inventor a notable exception. For
MN alone legal presumption" abandons
the saxon and adopts the Latin practice.
The inventor alone is rated guilty until
ne proves his innocence and title.
Possession Is VIGOROUSLY nine noints ~
the law for the happy holders Of all other
property except the products OF the brain.
Legal presumption again volunteers to
supersede the common law practice. re-
verse the common sense intentions Of the
fathers, written into the Constitution. and
pillory the inventor as an outcast and
pariah- No nine points" for him nor
one-they are Ill given by convenient
legal presumption to the thief who robs
him, politely called the infringer. And
the deSpised inventor must, at his own
costs and charges. hunt that thief and
beat him in nine CfataI NUMBER judicial
circuits. with jurisdictions alternately
concurrent and independent but always.
when varying. against the inventor, and
never stumbling once in his favor. Our
robbed inventor must fight through them
all before no can rest from his labors
under the shade Of his own vine and fig
tree lucky IL his patent protection has
not first EXPIRED.
The inventors situation Is thus Ike
that OF the lawyer who was halted bv 81
Peter at the celestial portal for classical
ton. After the guardian had elected the
leading fact that the new conner had
practced law Gin Chicago for ten years
he said. step on the elevator, please"
The elevator delaying. the arrival became
nervous and asked. When does il 90
upT' The saint turned his thumb down.
as II In Roman amphltheater, and said;
1T don't 60 UP, il does down-for Chicaeo
lawyers" SO all the lawyer-made legal
presumptions" put the inventor down
they never help him up. Judging legal
presumption" by these instances. IN
ventors can scarcely be blamed for pre-
ferring a more common sense article.
Amony Patent Lawyers" host OF men
Of straw, thus paraded in buckram IN
der the wand OF their creator. the as
sumption that Commissioner Moore. in
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LOAN SOCIETIES.