Evening star., 1921-07-10
FEAR ALARMING DETERIORATION
INFORCEOF TIE PATENT OFFICE
Best Men Are Being Drawn Away Owing
to Inadequate Salaries, According to
American Engineering Council.

The future Of the United States pat
ent Office is in the balance. and un-
its staff is checked the manufactur-
ing and agricultural interests will
suffer- according to a statement is
sued by the patent committee of the
American Engineering Council. OF
which Edwin j. Prindle Of New York
city is chairman. Alarming deterio-,
ration has set in, it Is asserted, and
this country. in the face of aggres-
sive action by other countries to
strengthen their patent systems. can
afford to take no chances.
Reform Of the patent Office is one
of series of steps in the direction
of better social, economic and po-
litical standards taken by the Ameri-
Grated American Engineering Socfe.
ties. which has a membership. OF
nearly 200, 900, and which organized
last November under the headship OF
Herbert Hoover. The patent commit
tee statement styles patents as the
the Supreme Court as saying that
'the claim of a patent Is one OF the
most dificult Of all pieces Of English
composition to draw"
Emeient Men Drawn Away.
THE future of the patent Office Is
hanging in the balance" the state
ment declared. 1.-The patent office
has been the cause of the develop
ment of that inventiveness which has
placed us ahead of all other coun-
tries as a manufacturing country.
larRelv
manufacturing process by giving to
1t an immense quantity production
per man through the use of automat-
ic machinery.
office has been and is beng so weak
ened by designations of q large pro-
portion of its best men, due to the
extreme meagerness of the salaries
paid. that the work has fallen behind
and has deteriorated in quality. The
working staff has been diluted
through replacementof seasoned en-
in education .as to be even unable to
pass the entrance examinations.
Unless relief is promptly given by
Congress the patent Office will. to
considerable extent, cease to perform
tits normal functions and cease to be
of the great value it has been in the
past. The nation cannot AFFORD to
take any chances in that direction
because other great countries are
Strengthening their patent systems.
Qualifications of Examiner.
"A patent Office examiner requires q
variety Of qualifications not to be
found in any other con siderable class
of government employees. An ex-
aminer must have a scientific knowl-
which he has In charge. and also
must have some comprehension of 1t
from a practical standpoint before
he can perform correct judgments.
These judgments involve various
scientific. technical and practical
questions such as whether an in
vention is present in the application
for the patent which he is examin-
ing or only the expected skill of the
calling: whether the alleged inven-
tion will really operate. and whether
the simiIarities- or differences with
or between 1t and the prior art are
substantial or only matters Of form
not amounting to substance.
AN examiner must also. have a
legal education to be really qualified
for his task. A patent under our law
must define the limits Of. the inven-
ton for which 1t is granted. SO that
the public may know what 1t may
use and what 1t may not use without
infringing the patent. AS almost all
inventions are a blending of the ideas
Of the previous structures or other
inventions of an art with more or less
novelty created by the inventor. the
task OF the examiner Is a dimcult
ore. p
Such knowledge of an art as an
examiner requires can only be ac-
quired by years Of experience. For q
long time after an examiner begins
work in a class Of inventions he is
of little real use.
Legal Questlons Encountered.
The monopoly granted by the
patent must not be SO restricted that
without the inventors permission the
invention can be used by others by
merely making some change which
| keeps the substance of the Invention
while changing its form The Ques-
tions raised by these and other con-
siderations are SO difficult that the
| Supreme Court OF the United States
has said that the claim of a patent
is one of the most difficult of al
draw.
There are many other types o.
! loyal questions upon which tn,
patent Office Is required to pass. II
| fact, patent law has been called tn.
metaphysics Of the law. His knowl
edge of the law of patents is invari
ably acquired by the examiner in th'
patent office. An examiner can be,
come sufficiently proficient, therefore
| to have charge of an art onl!
through many years Of experience il
the patent Office.
when he resigns his place can
not be taken by an outsider withou
disastrous results which involve bit
ter disappointment and discourage
ment to inventors. as we'll as larg,
expense to the public and unneces
sary litigation in the courts.
Inadequate Salaries.
These trained men of the paten
office, of whom so much is expected
| were paid. when their salaries wer,
fixed in 1S48, $2,500 a year, the same
compensation as members of tn,
House of Representatives and United
States district judges. While, how
ever, these other salaries have beer
| raised 800 per cent in the interven.
ing seventy years. the examiners dur.
ing that period have been RAISED
! only 10 per cent. Since competent ex.
aminers command large compensa-