PATENT PRACTICES OF THE OF MICHIGAN JAN 20 1960 MAIN GOVERNMENT PATENTS BOARD PRELIMINARY REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY EIGHTY-SIXTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION PURSUANT TO S. Res. 53 47153 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1959 PURCHASED THROUGH COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi, Chairman ESTES KEFAUVER, Tennessee THOMAS J. DODD, Connecticut PHILIP A. HART, Michigan ALEXANDER WILEY, Wisconsin EVERETT MCKINLEY DIRKSEN, Illinois KENNETH B. KEATING, New York SUBCOMMITTEE ON PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS JOSEPH C. O'MAHONEY, Wyoming, Chairman OLIN D. JOHNSTON, South Carolina PHILIP A. HART, Michigan ALEXANDER WILEY, Wisconsin ROBERT L. WRIGHT, Chief Counsel FOREWORD This report on the operation of the Government Patents Board indicates the lack of coordination among Government agencies that now exists in the handling of inventions by employees. The members of the Board have not even met since November 9, 1956, and the Budget Bureau has not yet acted upon the Chairman's legislative recommendations, intended to resolve this problem. The report was prepared by Clarence M. Dinkins of the subcommittee staff under the supervision of Robert L. Wright, chief counsel of the Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, as part of the subcommittee's study of the U.S. patent system, conducted pursuant to Senate Resolution 53 of the 86th Congress, 1st session. It is the fifth of a series dealing with the patent practices of various agencies of the Federal Government. The purpose and scope of these reports is more fully described in the annual report of the subcommittee issued on March 9, 1959, on pages 5 and 6. At the time the subcommittee's annual report was prepared it was not contemplated that a separate report on the Government Patents Board would be issued. However, upon further investigation it was determined that a report on the current status of the Board and the work of its Chairman would be essential to a complete understanding of agency patent practices. In the case of most Government agencies, when the Government obtains less than a complete assignment of the patent on an employee's invention, the decision of the agency concerned is automatically reviewed by the Chairman of this Board, pursuant to the Executive order which created the Board. Among other things, the report shows that during the calendar years 1950 through 1958 the Chairman of the Government Patents Board reversed the agencies' determinations 116 times, and in 97 of these 116 cases the employee's interest was increased. Although the Chairman obviously entertains a more liberal view of the employee's rights than some of the agencies, the Chairman's decisions in individual cases have never been published and are not circulated among lawyers or the general public. There is, therefore, no means readily available for an appraisal by an employee or his attorney of the extent and character of the difference in viewpoint between the Chairman and the employee's agency. While the Chairman has indicated that any employee or his attorney may have access to any particular decision in which he may be interested, there is no way of knowing without examining all of them, which of the Chairman's 2,347 decisions may be pertinent to his case. The report reveals an urgent need for legislative action to resolve policy differences among the members of the Board. The State Department, for example, does not approve of the neglect of foreign patent rights that has apparently become standard practice in most. agencies. The Defense agencies, and what may be called public service agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, seem to be deeply divided as to how employee inventions should be handled. Nothing to resolve these conflicts has been done by administrative order or by legislation. However, it is hoped that a helpful recommendation from the Budget Bureau on this matter will be available in the near future. i JOSEPH C. O'MAHONEY, Chairman, Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate. OCTOBER 30, 1959. 1.. 2. Nature of work and performance statistics_ 3. Collection and dissemination of information regard- ing Government patent rights.. B. Policy as to retention of title as between Government and its A. Judgment as to effectiveness of present policy. B. Efforts to draft legislation to supersede the Executive orders. A. Executive Order 10096 of January 23, 1950. B. Executive Order 9865 of June 14, 1947_. C. Executive Order 10695 of January 16, 1957. D. Administrative Order No. 5 of April 26, 1951 E. Testimony of Benjamin B. Dowell, former Chairman of Government Patents Board, and resolution offered by Mr. Dowell to supersede |