Evening star., 1932-04-10

but this principle was not at all in
general acceptance in 1885 and it is not
applied today in several countries. Some
systems are mainly mere registrations.
Anybody else may register the same
idea and heavy burden of court costs
reflects upon the inventor.
The committee explained that years
Of research and costs of developing
devices may be lost under some sys-
TENS because the imitator has too good
a chance to win out in court, and with
out lawsuit he can undersell the in
ventor, because he has no DEVELOPMENT
cost to recover. 1t was also pointed
out that some fereign systems require
manufacture within a specified time, so
that commercial interests can some
times wait for an inventor to go broke
and then gobble his idea. Some sys-
TENS also require yearly tax, which
may increase diSastrously. Failure to
pay means cancellation of the patent.
Some systems put the patent fees SO
high that they are prohibitive to the
man of small means. The best of the
foreign systems are modelled largely on
our own, but the United States had a
tremendous time advantage before
other countries realized the necessary
fundamentals Of a sound patent law.
Three Fundamentals.
The committee said these funda-
mentalS, as proven by this country's
own system. are three. The preliminary
examination which gives patents a
standing in court, reasonable fees with
in the reach of the average wage Garner
and the principle that a patent COM
pleteS the inventors responsibility to
the Government. Patents in this coun-
try are valid for II years, and the in
ventor may throw it away, sell it, or
forget it, He pays no taxes, does not
have to manufacture, and has no fur
ther rules to comply with.
Commenting further, the committee
said: There is sometimes a great deal
of commotion about patent reform and
injustice to inventors in our system.
The system Is not perfect and it un-
doubtedly has minor defects which can
be corrected from time to time to meet
changing conditions. But the funda-
mentals of our system are sound. Fur
thermore, there Is no existent system
which Is as effective and beneficial to
the country at large, as witness our
record of 100000 patents to date, with
a wide majority of the outstanding de-
velopments of the age.
Many of these patents originated
with foreign-born individuals or people
of foreign parentage. The entire Ma
ton came, not SO long ago, from for
eign and aboriginal stock. There is
nothing occult in the American at
mosphere that makes inventors Of the
same people who invented much less in
a foreign country. American leader
ship is directly treceable to our system
of patent law, and, though this law may
need adjustment to new developments
now and then, the fundamentals are
sound"
Patent examiners said the most out
standing 10 inventions during recent
years are the electric furnace, steam
turbine, internal combustion motor,
moving pictures, airplanes, wireless,
vacuum tube, induction motor, linotype
and electric welding. A secondary list
includes television, flotation recovery
from loW-grade ores, the cyanide
process for recovery of gold, synthetic
menthanol (wood alcohoD, synthetic
ammonia, artificial silk, artificial
lacquers, hydrogenation of oils, gaso-
line cracking, invention of special metal
alloys, mechanical refrigeration, air
conditioning and automatic machinery
in general.