The Washington herald., 1921-01-01
DEFENDS PROPOSED PATENT

LAW.
To the Editor, TIE washinstou Hersld;
In your issue Of Deoember "a.
1890. there appeared under the cap
tion, The Joker in the Patent Biz
an article referring TO the bill, now
before Congress, which would su-
thorize the Federal Trade Commits
sion TO accept and administer for
the beneht OF the public and the
announcement Of industry. inven-
tions, patents and patent rightA
As this article presents a mis-
conception, or misinterpretation. OF
the purposes and operations Of the
bill, feel sure that, in the interest
Of fairness and Of giving your
readers correct information regard
ing it. you will not be averse to
publishing at this time the follow
ing brief statement
This bill was originally intro
duced into Congress by request Of
the President and had the approval
Of the Secretary OF the Interior,
the Secretary Of Commerce, and Of
practically all of the chiefs OF
technical government bureaus. as
well as OF eminent members Of the
patent bar, the then Commissioner
Of Patents, and Of his predecessor
in once.
1t is an incontrovertible fact that
there Is being continually deveI-
oped in the scientific and technical
branches OF the government service.
as q natural result Of their normal
activities, a large by-proouct OF in
ventions that goes 20 waste because
/ no feasible or adequate way has
heretofore been proposed for its
translation into an asset for the
beneht OF the public. The primary.
basic purpose Of this bill is 20
create an agency TO DO this thing:
TO help make the investment OF the
taxpayer in his government yield a
| bigger public dividend The pro-
visions Of the bill, as originally
proposed, were made broad enough
20 include altruistic inventors out
| side Of the government service,
with particular reference 70 scienti-
| nc and technical schools, and So
cieties, which, in the matter OF
handling inventions and patents un-
| der their jurisdiction, fnd them
selves in the same state Of embsr-
assment as the government The
/ bill, as IL will appear in an amended
| form at the hearing on January
/ before the Joint Senate and House
conferees. have been incorporated
as a section Of the so-called Nolan
| Patent once Bill, does not carry
this provision
It may appear 70 the unlnitiated
that direct dedication Of a patent
to the public would be a solution
Of these difficulties; but this Sc
not so. A patent so dedicated is
worthless, because an invention be-
comes OF value only after it is de-
veloped commercially, and 10 do
this, some protection for the capt.
tai required-often Of very large
proportions-must be afforded
Attention is called TO a most i'm
portAnt feature Of this bill, namely:
that IL is simply an enabling act,
being purely permissive in charac-
ter. II is desired 20 bring this out
in bold relief, because therein lies
| the bills chief strength. No one
has TO offer a patent 70 the Federal
Trade Commission for assignment
nor does that body have 70 accept
a single patent Therefore, the
operation OF the bill Will not in
any way interfere with any exist
ing or future method for the hand
ling Of patents, in or outside the
government service. Furthermore,
II for any reason. the administra-
ton under the bill should prove
unwise or undesirable. the measure
would eliminate itself, because no
further patent would be forthcom-
| ing for assignment This pcrmis-
sive character also disposes OF the
apprehension that employees OF the
Patent once will be eligible 70 as
sign patents or inventions for Rd-
ministration hereunder. The bill
does not permit the Federal Trade
Commission to trsnsgress existing
law which specifically prohibits
Patent ONCE employees from tax
ing out patents at all.
The Federal Trade Commission
was selected as the administrative
agency hereunder. because Il is an
independent branch Of the govern
ment service reporting directly TO
Congress, and because the Presi-
dent turned over TO II the admins
tration OF the enemy-owned pat
ents. thereby establishing within Il
an organization for doing this sort
Of work II Congress, after the op-
Grafton OF the measure proves its
worth. should see 1T TO establish an
| independent bureau. or other gov
| ernment unit, for conducting this
work. so much the better. what
is aimed at here is Capitalization
| OF administrative management;
thereby avoiding duplication OF ef-
fort, ineficiency and waste Let Il
be repeated that failure 70 operate
successfully will mean automatic
annuIment. A further safeguard is
| provided in the possibility OF an ap-
peal to the Executive. in whose
discretion the construction Of much
of the machinery for the bills OF
Grafton is left: and final relief can
always be found in legislative en-
aCtment
1t may be menu0ucd that the
question Of the sta'ls and proper
utilization Of inventions and patents
| Of government employees is Agitat-
| ing other governments besides our
own. The matter has hac, for in
stance, the serious consideration OF
/ the government Of Canada and OF
| New Zealand, but as far as the
writer is informed. no satisfactory
procedure has been introduced.
J. T. NEWTON