Evening star., 1921-12-09
PATENT SITUATION
HELD VITAL TO ALL
Ex-C Commissioner Says In
dustry Depends on Efficient
Work by Staff.
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor Of The Star:
Your two very interesting and able
editorials of December and en-
courages me to ask the privilege OF
saying a few words on the condition
and needs of the patent Office.
Every class should be Interested In
maintaining an efficient patent office:
those who are opposed to the patent
system because 1t is the one factor
the function of which isto protect
the public against claims for patents
that are unwarranted: inventors. be-
cause they will get competent treat
ment of their applications at moder-
ate cost; manufacturers. because they
will be relieved from many burdens
now suffered by reason of imprOvi-
dent grants and can re- upon the
conclusions of the OH m making
developments, and the ge. eial pub
lie. because of the benefils that would
come from the stabilizing of indus
trial enterprise, from prompt develop
ment of new industries which would
help to relieve unemployment. and
from the expansion of foreign COM
incrce wherein so large a part of our
comm ditieS are new and ingenious
mechi niral devices.
The war took out of the office great
numl =" OF young men who went iato
the ni,l.,ary service. 1t also took Il
Eumhrr of men who were found to be
qualified to perform other lines of
work useful In prosecuting the war
Very few of those who left the office
during the war have come back. Their
places have been filed by men not
only of less experience and without
training In the work of the office, but,
generally speaking. of less technical
ri
|insu1nclent to attract men having the
technical training required to per
FORM the duties of examiners and as
sistant examiners.
IN tne three years which have
| elapsed since the armstice the num-
Der Of applications has rapidly in
| creased. Taking the average for five
| years before the war the increa Sc
| FOR 1919 was 13 per cent. for 1920
II per cent. and for this year the
| iholcatlons are that it will be 81
| 10 meet the emergency created by
this great increase of business moth
ing has been done in improvement,
or salaries and little has been done
IN IN increase Of force. Relatively te
| the period before the war, the force
is today much smaller in proportion
| to the work that 1t has to do. and
is made up of men who on the av.
! erage are of distinctly inferior train.
ing anu Tess experience.
This all means that the system o1
granting patents only after adequate
| examination is being broken down
I by inattention to the needs of the
Office. The work is piling up, with
resultant confusion in the office. loss
| to inventors and slowing down OF
industrial development. But delay
cannot &c, on indefinitely. The re-
| suit has been and will increasingly
be diminished care and completeness
! in the examination of applica tions
with the attendant evils.
| 1t is constantly said that the Of
| ice pays its own way. In the last
| ten years IL has turned back into
the Treasury about $1.366.OO0 more
than the entire appropriation for it.
But. on the other hand, there is no
reason why public money should be
wasted. no matter where it is drawn
from. and, on the other hand. the
income of the Office is not the meas
ure of it's needs nor of the service
| it renders to the public. In order
that the Office may be kept self-sus-
| tanning provision is made in a bill
now pending for increase in the fees
[ and / am certain that the business
interests of the country fully ap-
| ever, think this a matter of great
| Importance. The important thing is
| that the needs of the Office be intel
| ligently studied by Congress- and
! that when ascertained they be pro-
vided for. On no other condition
| can our American system of grants
of patents after thorough eXamina-
| tion be maintained.
THOMAS EWING.