CHEMICAL A N D E N G I N E E R I N G
NEWS V O L U M E 21
M A R C H 1 0, 1 9 4 3
NUMBER 5
: Walter J. Murphy, Editor :
Patents Today
D.I,I^AyNE Patent Department, Eastman ICodak Co., Rochester, Ν. Υ .
A practical up-to-the minute discussion of the situation on patents and, particularly, their present relationship to the war effort
THB patent system has not fared too badly in recent legislation, although i f all t h e legislation which has been pro p o s e d were to be passed, patents would h a v e l o s t much of their value. Character i s t i c of these times, many of our legisla t o r s a n d many members of Washington of ficialdom seem to b e looking for something t o reform and since the patent system is a romantic thing, what could be more sensational than t o reform it? I a m neither promoting t h e American p a t e n t system nor defending it. To borrow a phrase from the United States Daily, I will try t o give "all of the facts w i t h n o opinion". Any opinion which I m i g h t unwittingly express must be under s t o o d t o be my o w n and not that of any organization with which I m a y be con nected. The Constitution of these United States provides that—
The Congress shall have power * * * to promote the progress of science and useful arts, b y securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discov eries. Just as Congress h a s the power to estab lish and maintain a postal system, a mili tary organization, a judicial system, and all of the other features of our govern ment, Congress has the power to estab lish a patent system and this it has done by appropriate legislation. This power is permissive and n o t directive. The basic statute upon which modern patents are founded is the Statute of 1870 in which Congress provides that the inventor shall be given a patent for his invention or discovery if he will disclose to the public the mode of producing and operating his invention so that those skilled in the art m a y reproduce it when his monopoly expires. Congress, in ef-
feet, h a s said to the inventor, if you will disclose -to t h e public the secret of your in vention, we willgrc^e you the exclusive right to m a k e , use, aand sell that invention for 17 5rears, followlmg which t h e public shall be? free to us>e the invention. A patent i s , therefore^ merely a contract between the Ooverniraent and t h e inven tor. C o n g r e s s has c r e a t e d nothing, t h e Government has created nothing; only the inventor has created. Like the lost arts of w h i c h weliave^ heard, the inventor i s wholly w i t h i n hisrigdhts to keep his secret unto himself. The secret .may live and die with* the inventor or h e may pass i t along t o his sons am AMCERICAN CHEMICAL
SOCIETY. Father H r o w n was a member of the Reception Committee at t h e 104th N a tional Meeting in September 1942, and at t h e present t i m e is a member of the local Public Relations Committeee. At the request o f t h e Executive Com-
mittee of the Western N e w York Section James H. Crowdle, professor of chemistry was appointed general gas protection of ficer and head of the decontamination or ganization for t h e city of Buffalo b y Mayor Joseph J. Kelly. Dr. Crowdle w a s also chairman of the Information Com mittee at t h e 104th A. C. S. Convention. Austin V . Signeur, assistant professor of chemistry, is Dr. Crowdle's assistant and is deputy head of t h e decontamination group for the city of Buffalo.
