Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-15
FOR PATENT INQUIRY
Senate Endorses Bill Providing
Sweeping Investigation.
Is READY FOR APPROVAL
President Expected to Make Recon-
mendations Next December.
CHANGES ARE PREDICTED
Need of Probe Is Set Forth in Full
in Report of House
Committee.
'HANGES ARE PREDICTED


office and its administration. with a view
to determining whether or not present
methods. personnel. equipment and the
building now used by the patent office
are adequate, Is ordered in a bill passed
by the Senate today. The House having
already passed the measure. it merely
remains for the President to sign the bill
for it to become a law
The investigation is to be made by the
commission on economy and efficiency. al
ready established. The President is re-
quested to have the investigation made.
and to make specific recommendations to
Congress for the Improvement of the pat
ent Office not later than December 10,
next The investigation is to cost not
more than $4,000.
Changes Are Expected.
That the investigation will result in
important changes for the patent office
is the belief expressed at the Capitol
Secretary Fisher of the Interior Depart
ment and the commissioner of patents
have both given their Endorsement to the
made. The need of the investigation is
set forth in the report of the House COM
mittee on patents, submitted by Repre-
sentative Buckley. This report says. in
part:
"A complaint frequently made against
the patent Office is that patents are fire.
quently issued on applications that do
not state real inventions. Issuance of
such patents of doubtful validity, and
occasionally of no validity, has bad eff
feet on the Industrial development of the
country in two ways. On the one hand.
the owner of questionable patent has a
color of right to prevent others from us
ing some machine, device, combination
or process which may. in fact. have been
more or less widely known before the
patent was ever applied for. and this
may result in the manufacturer, through
fear Of Infringement abandoning the use
of an idea which in justice he should
have had the right to use.
1T may result in his paying a royalty
which he ought not to have been obliged
to pay. and it may result in his being
subjected to the expense of defending an
infringement suit based upon a patent
which never should have issued.
Distrust Is Created.
'On the other hand, the issuance of a
large number of patents of questionable
validity creates in the public mind such
"A distrust of patents that the real in
ventor finds his patent to some extent dis
credited in public opinion and finds in
the courts no such presumption of va
lidity as 10 allow him an injunction for
infringement until after the merits of
his patent have been passed on by the
court. Your committee believes that our
patent system can far better serve its
purpose of stimulating invention and in
dustry if the examinations In the patent
Office can be made so rigid as practically
to prevent the issuance OF patents except
this investigation to ascertain to what
extent this can be done by Improvement
of the administration of the patent Of
fee.
THE patent Office for some years has
been a self-sustaining institution: that
is 10 say, the fees collected have been
more than sufficient to pay every ex-
pense OF the bureau Inasmuch as the
office now receives only $50 for the pre-
and so for final fee on the issuance Of
a patent. II is confidently believed that
every expense necessary to bring the
office to the highest efficiency even in
Guiding the cost of erecting a new build
ing. should that prove desirable can be
met by a comparatively slight increase
in patent office fees.
This owuld not be in any sense a bur
den on the inventor. since he would be
fully compensated by the better quality
of patents which could be issued after
more rigid examination. The resolution
directs the attention of the investigating
body to this phase of the problem and
proposed expense out OF increase of fees,
so that the improvement can be made
without any expense whatever to the
Treasury