19 2d 56378 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY EIGHTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION S. Res. 240 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1960 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C. . Price 10 cents NITED STATES OF AMERICA FOREWORD It appears from this preliminary report on patent practices of the Government Printing Office that this agency has not taken title to any of the patents which were granted to its employees during the past 15 years. It also appears that of the 39 applications for patents on employees' inventions, where final action has occurred, more than half covered inventions for which the Government has no present use, and some were never used. One question raised by the report is whether the Government is justified in incurring the expense of prosecuting patent applications for inventions which are neither used nor owned by the Government. This report was prepared by Clarence M. Dinkins of the staff of the Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, under the supervision of Robert L. Wright, chief counsel, as part of the subcommittee's study of the U.S. patent system, conducted pursuant to Senate Resolution 240 of the 86th Congress, 2d session. It is the ninth of a series dealing with patent practices of the various agencies. The purpose and scope of this series are more fully described in the forewords of the studies on patent practices of the Tennessee Valley Authority and the National Science Foundation and in the annual reports of the subcommittee issued in 1959 and 1960. JOSEPH C. O'MAHONEY, Chairman, Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate. CONTENTS Page 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 I. Legal authority as to patents. II. Present practice-- A. Administration_. 1. Personnel_. 2. Performance statistics. B. Policy as to retention of title_ 2. By contractors and grantees.. C. Foreign filing.. 1. By employees.. 2. By contractors and grantees.. D. Use by parties retaining title. 1. By employees... 2. By the Government.. III. Agency viewpoint. A. Judgment as to the effectiveness of the present policy. APPENDIXES A. Administrative Order No. 44 of September 18, 1947: Employee suggestion program__ B. Form for submission of suggestions to the GPO Suggestions Committee_ C. Patents issued to the employees which were processed under 35 U.S.C. 266, and their use by GPO.. D. Rejected patent applications processed under 35 U.S.C. 266. |