Evening star., 1927-05-01
PATENT TRIBUNAL
WILL SPEED WORK
Reorganized Appellate Board
Will Be Inaugurated
Tomorrow.

Slow movement of patent applica
tions which has proved a serious
problem to American inventors anC
industry in recent years, viii he
greatly expedited through the inau
guration tomorrow of the reorganized
Board of Patent Appeals. replacing
the dual method of appeal formerly
practiCed In the Patent Office.
Commenting upon the operation OF
the new appellate system, Commits
sioner of Patents Thomas T. Robert
son expressed the opinion that ''it
win effect the greatest improvement
that has ever been made in the praC.
tice of the Patent Office" and carries
the hearty Endorsement of the Ameri
can bar and of the industry of the
country.
Applications Swamp Office.
For years the increasing number of
patent applications has swamped the
Office and the inauguration of the new
board, functioning as the single pat
ent appellate tribunal, will do much to
alleviate the annoyance caused to in
dustry generally by the long delays
usually pending before patents can be
granted. 1t is estimated that the new
board will eliminate approximately
formerly required and will reduce TO
that extent the congestion of cases in
the Patent Office.
The Patent Office is one of the
branches of the Government which is
nearly self-sustaining In 1926 it re-
Ceived a total of 110, AL applications
for patents, trade marks and designs
and acted on total of 6S 446 of them.
The receipts of the Office in fees
amounted to $3,449 200, which was 81
per cent of the operating expenses for
1926. 1t is evident. therefore, that
any Improvement in practice which
tends to speed the procedure of the
examination of these cases will result
In actual economy in addition to per-
forming a valuable service to the
business of the country, Commissioner
Robertson points out.
New Board Personnel.
The new board comprises the COM
missioner and the two assistant com
missioners of patents and the six eX-
aminers- chief. any three of whom
will constitute a quorum.
March =, 1861, two days before
the inauguration of President Lin
coin, the President signed an act
providing for a board of examiner
in chief in the Patent Office to hear
appeals. For sc years that body has
functioned' in hearing appeals from
reflections of applications by exam
liners and in deciding priority of in
vention between two or more con-
flicting inventors. On March ex-
actly &c years after the official es-
tabnshment of this board, President
Coolidge affixed his signature to the
bin creating the reorganized Board
of Appeals.
Previously, the original appeal
from office reflections was heard by
the Board of Appeals. from whose
decision appeal could be had to the
commissioner of patents. From the
commissioners decision, appellate
jurisdiction was vested in the Court
of Appeals of the District of Colum-
bi9. Under the reorganized plan it
is }designed th"t the single appellate
tribunal will always include the COM
missioner or one of his assistants
sitting with two of the examiners i'm
chief. Appeals from this body will
however, still be heard by the Dis
trfct Court of Appeals.
The two appellate bodies formerly
existing in the Patent Office necessi-
tated two pleadings of the case, two
decisions and double preparation for
the hearing. Moreover, a period of
one year could elapse between the
appeals. This procedure has now
been virtually cut in half while an
other salient feature of the new act
reduces the period of time in which
the appeal must be made to six
months. The significance of the new
method becomes more apparent when
1t is considered that approximately
5000 appeals are handled each year
by the Patent Office.