The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1942-04-18

Useful Arts by securing for
limited times to Inventors the
exclusive Right to their respective
Discoveries" Amen.
But in these times Of about 100
per cent two-hemisphere global war
for survival, 1t seems that this old
stuff Is all wrong. tn epatent law Is
presented as a curse, for certain
wicked parties, particularly corpora
lions, have conspired to do inven-
tors out Of their just rewards and,
far worse, to deprive the public Of
the benefits they might be enjoying
If those patents were not held as q
monopoly. Still worse, many Of these
patents are held under hidden Ger
man control In such way that the
American war production effort Is
handicapped because the U. s. gov
eminent cannot now legally obtain
munitions manufactured under
these patented processes.
OUT OF
OBSCURITY
That - In brief and oversimpli-
fled statement - Is what's behind
the current series of disclosures be-
ing unfolded before the Senate
Committee on Patents. For years
congressional patent committees
have gone their routine ways, neg
lected and ignored. Today, this
Senate committee Is revealing the
most sensational stories in WASH
ington.
The little committee room on the
first floor of the Senate ONCE
Building is overcrowded to S. r. o.
as one lawyer after another from
the Department Of Justice unfolds
almost unbelievable stories on mon
opoly controls Of patents on pro"
cesses for increasing the production
of machine tools, magnesium, alum
mum, zinc, plastics, munitions-ba-
sic materials which the United
States must have to win this war.
The purpose Of all these disclose
ures is to build up case for re-
vision Of the patent law OF the land
and permit the United States to Sc
cure full and unrestricted benefits
from these monopoly held patents
The assumption Is that the country
now has an oxcart patent law for
an airplane civilization. Last reW-
sions on the basic patent laws were
in 1910 and 1918.
REMEDYING
THE WRONG
To remedy what's wrong, there Is
proposed a new bill introduced by
Senators Joseph @. O,Mahoney Of
Cheyenne, Wyo., Robert M. LaFol-
lette, Jr., of Madison, Wis, and
Senator Homer T. Bone OF Tacoma,
Wash. In its present form, what
this proposed bill would do is briefly
this:
Suppose the government wanted
to use o patented, rnonopoly-held
process for the manufacture Of
magnesium. The President would
be authorized to declare the need
of this material, then issue a III
cense to anyone to produce mag
nesium by this patented process
on payment of designated royal
ties, for specified times. Patent
owners would be permitted to
bring suit for payment Of royal
ties, but not for injunction pre-
venting use of the patented proc
ess during the emergency. After
such declaration, no one would
be prevented from going into the
magnesium production business.
In the case OF patents held In such
q way, that alien ownership can
not be established, the govern
ment would still be able TO take
the patents by condemnation pro-
ceedings, making fair compensa-
ton.
All this is pretty drastic medi-
cine in the eyes of patent holders
and old-line patent attorneys. But
1t Is q war measure. From some
quarters, however, there may be
heard charges that 1t Is the first
step toward specialization Of the
patent laws, or the seizure of pr-
vate property or franchise for the
use Of the state.