PRELIMINARY REPORT AS TO THE PATENT PRACTICES OF THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE I. LEGAL AUTHORITY AS TO PATENTS There is no statutory language specifically relating to the handling of patent matters by the Government Printing Office. 1. Personnel II. PRESENT PRACTICE A. ADMINISTRATION The preparation and administration of patents is handled by the Government Printing Office's Suggestions Committee. This is a permanent committee established by the Public Printer on September 18, 1947, by Administrative Order No. 44.1 It consists of the following personnel: Deputy Public Printer, Chairman Director of Personnel Plant engineer Production Manager Planning Manager Safety officer acts as secretary When an employee has an idea or invention, which he believes to be patentable, he may prepare a request on GPO Form No. 632 for an arrangement with the Department of Justice to obtain a patent without cost to him. When this is done, the Suggestions Committee reviews the request and, if approved, it is forwarded to the Comptroller, who is the legal officer of the GPO and its liaison officer with the Department of Justice in the handling of patent applications. Technical drawings, etc., are handled by the plant engineer. When requests for patent applications are disapproved by the Suggestions Committee, the employee is notified in writing of the reasons for such disapproval. In cases of disapproval, the employee is then free to do as he wishes with his idea or invention. The secretary of the Suggestions Committee maintains a complete file of patent-application requests, correspondence, and related information. These patent applications are filed in accordance with the provisions of title 35, United States Code, section 266. This section states: The Commissioner may grant, subject to the provisions 1 Appendix, p. 5. 2 Appendix, p. 8. of a department or agency certifies the invention is used or 2. Performance statistics The Government Printing Office has no records prior to 1945 relating to inventive suggestions coming from its employees. Since January 29, 1945, however, its records have been quite complete regarding these matters. The following tabulations shows the number of employee inventive suggestions received, patents applied for, and patents granted for the calendar years 1945 through 1958: Inventive Patents Patents Inventive Patents Patents Calendar years suggestions applied granted Calendar years suggestions applied granted received for received for 1 The 1 patent granted in 1945 was issued to Morris Kantrowitz, Technical Director of GPO, but no record was found of the date of his suggestion or the date of patent application. 1. By employees B. POLICY AS TO RETENTION OF TITLE Although 14 patents have been granted to GPO employees since 1945, the Government has not taken an assignment of any of them but has taken a royalty-free, nonexclusive, irrevocable license in each case. With further reference to this situation the Public Printer had the following to say: Since March 6, 1950, Executive Order No. 10096 (issued by the Government Printing Office as Administrative Order No. 58) has been the basic policy of the Office in connection with the patentable ideas or inventions of our employees. We believe that the contribution of the Government has been insufficient to equitably justify a requirement of assignment to the Government of the entire right, title, and interest of patents granted to employees since that date. However, should it be determined that any invention that is made by an employee (1) during work hours, or (2) with a contribution by the Government of facilities, equipment, material, funds, or information, or of time or services of other Government employees on official duty, or (3) which bear a distinct relation to or are made in consequence of the official duties of the inventor to equitably justify the assignment to the Government of the entire right, title, and interest in the invention, it will be the policy of the Office to assign the patent to the Government (letter to Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney, chairman, Subcommittee on Patents, Trade- In addition to the possibility of securing a patent on his invention, the employee may also obtain a cash award for suggestions which will result in improvement in the operations of the GPO. These cash awards given to employees are based upon savings resulting from the adoption of the suggestions. The acceptance of a cash award constitutes an agreement that the use by the United States of the suggestion for which the award is made shall not form the basis for a further claim of any nature upon the United States by the employee, his heirs or assigns. No award is paid to any official or employee for any suggestion which represents a part of the normal requirements of the duties of his position. For full details of this program, known as "Employee Suggestions Program," see Administrative Order No. 44 of September 18, 1947, in appendix, page 5. 2. By contractors and grantees The Government Printing Office does not have any contracts or grants involving patent matters. However, it does have a nonexclusive, nonassignable license agreement with Dow Chemical Co., providing for royalty payments for the use of a Dow etching machine. This machine is used to etch printing plates before putting them on the printing press. During the fiscal year 1959 the sum of $3,155.10 was paid to the Dow Chemical Co. for this particular license. 1. By employees C. FOREIGN FILING The Government Printing Office has no information which would indicate that any of its employees have engaged in the foreign filing of patents. 2. By contractors and grantees As previously stated, the Government Printing Office does not have any contracts or grants involving patent matters and, therefore, has no information relating to foreign filing. 1. By employees D. USE BY PARTIES RETAINING TITLE Of the 14 patents which have been issued to GPO employees since 1945 only 1 is known to be in commercial use at the present time. This is the Alher antijam unit, which is an automatic stop for a folding machine or a quad folding machine, and which stops the machine whenever a sheet feeding into the guide fails to make proper contact. Approximately 45 of these machines have been sold commercially by the employee-inventor. The majority of patents granted to GPO employees have covered minor improvements or alternatives to industrial techniques and machinery used by the Government Printing Office. The remainder of these inventions, for the most part, cover products and processes having a very restrictive market. 2. By the Government Although the Government Printing Office has not taken title to any of the inventions developed by its employees, it has and is now using several of them in accordance with its royalty-free license. For a complete tabulation of the 14 employee inventions and the Government use which is now being made of them, see appendix at page 9. For a tabulation of rejected patent applications processed under 35 U.S.C. 266, showing the name of the inventor, subject matter of invention, date of patent application, and GPO's use of the employee's idea, see appendix at page 10. III. AGENCY VIEWPOINT A. JUDGMENT AS TO THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PRESENT POLICY The Government Printing Office feels that its present patent policy following the provisions of Executive Order 10096 is adequate and acceptable to the Office and its employees. In further explanation of its position the Government Printing Office had the following to say: The present patent policy of the Government Printing Office (Executive Order 10096) is, and has been, satisfactory from both the standpoint of the Office and its employees. We believe, as set forth in the Executive order, that the circumstances under which the Government should obtain the entire right, title, and interest in and to all inventions made by any Government employees; or the circumstances under which the Government reserves a nonexclusive, irrevocable, and royalty-free license in and to these inventions, is equitable and reasonable. The present policy of administering the patent policies and programs, i.e., through a committee established by the Public Printer (under Administrative Order 44, dated September 18, 1947, and supplements thereto), is adequate and acceptable to the Office and its employees. There is no record suggesting any change in this policy either from an official of the Office or any employee (statement attached to letter to Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney, chairman, Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, from Raymond Blattenberger, Public Printer, Government Printing Office, February 19, 1959). B. RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO FUTURE POLICY None were offered. |