The motion picture projectionist (Nov 1931-Jan 1933)

30 Motion Picture projectionist November, 1931 Patents: A series of instructive and interesting articles on how patents are obtained and sold. By Ray B. Whitman Note: In this series of articles Mr. Ray B. Whitman, practicing patent attorney of New York City, explains in understandable non-technical language, just what a patent is, how one is secured and how it may be sold. In addition, Mr. Whitman offers to the readers of this magazine personal advice without obligation on any subject connected with patents, trademarks, designs, or copyrights. All inquiries should be addressed to Mr. Whitman in care of this magazine. — Editor. A NOTHER and additional means of ^* delaying the issue of the patent is to prosecute the case to an allowed condition and then not to pay the final fee of $20 within the six months permitted. The case then becomes forfeited, but can be renewed within one year from the end of this time. Thus it may be again prevented from issuing for an appreciably longer interval. As long as the application is pending, it is held in secrecy in the files of the Patent Office, and the inventor is in position to watch the activities of his competitors and issue it only when he needs it to protect his rights. By means of this strategy, the seventeen-year term of the patent monopoly is arranged to begin more nearly on the date that the patent is really needed. Once issued, it can only be extended beyond that term by an Act of Congress; but such extension has never yet been granted on any mechanical patent. However, as a partial substitute, the inventor may sometimes keep his protection alive by filing other patents from time to time on improvements of the original invention. Still another advantage of delaying the issue of a patent is that it often enables the inventor to dispose better of his rights by sale or license, since most large corporations or other purchasers have been taught by their attorneys to give preference to the purchase of patent rights as yet in the application stage. For it enables these attorneys to correct or augment the work of the inventor's attorney by revision or by adding new claims during the original prosecution. Otherwise, if this is not done, the purchaser must either be content with the protection of the original patent, or else try to broaden it by filing an application for "reissue." Reissue Patents Among the thousand or more patents which issue each week, are many which are seriously defective, because they do not broadly or fully claim the inventors' ideas. This may be caused by the varying ability of the different attorneys in broadly viewing the inventions in a practical way, and then in broadly claiming them; or it may be due to the inventor's lack of cooperation with his attorney, as in not providing a sufficient fee for him to take the time to prepare conscientiously and vigorously and get through the Patent Office every possible claim needed to cover adequately all of the invention. Fortunately, however, the law permits the correction of such defective patents, to broaden them, through "reissue" patents, provided their filing is not delayed unduly and in no case beyond two years from the date of issue of the original patent. This right is of great value to inventors, and might well be taken advantage of much more often than the once in a hundred (according to statistics) that it is now. In fact, such action is often imperative before the inventor can hope to realize anything from his rights. The original application must be forfeited when the application for reissue is filed. But this involves no particular risk, since all its valid claims may be obtained in the new or reissue patent, plus any additional ones to which it is shown the inventor is entitled. The term of protection of a reissue patent ends with that of the original patent, and the rights under it are otherwise the same. The filing fee is $30; there is no final fee; and since no new matter mav be included in the disclosure, copies of the original drawings may be used. Every one who has a patent that has issued within th<= past two years, particularly where there is reason to doubt its strength, miffht well submit it to another attorney than the one who obtained it. and have him study the file to determine if a stronger and more valuable patent may not yet be obtained by reissue. But get an attorney with a successful record in reissue case's, if possible, since broadening a patent is a more difficult task, and renuires more ability and knowledge of patent law, perhaps, than does the obtaining of the original patent. To Avoid Abandonment Risk An investor should b° ever alert to fuard against l""5s of his patent rights throueh v"T->->t is known as "abandonment." This may occur in various ways, the more common of whi^h are: (1) the inventor's delay in filing his application for more than two years after his invention is in public use; and (2) the failure — usually through his attorney, but for which he is responsible— to cover fully by claims all of his invention as disclosed in his specification and drawing. For such a failure results in a dedication to the public of his rights to the unclaimed parts. Such an abandonment as this last, however, may, as explained above, sometimes be corrected by filing a reissue of the original patent; but if the inventor delays longer than that, he has permanently abandoned his rights. But in view of the risks incident to reissues, including that of "intervening rights," a subject too technical to be discussed here, the inventor should be ever concerned to see that his claims, as originally filed, are sufficient in number and scope to cover all of his invention, and that they specify completely what he wants others not to do. Other Causes While the above are the most frequent causes of abandonment, and result in the loss of millions of dollars yearly in patent property, other causes include: (3) long delay, unexplained and not excusable, in the filing of the application after conception of the invention ; (4) failure to pay the final fee within six months after the date of allowance of the application, followed by failure to renew same within two years from such date; (5) failure to copy the claims of an issued patent to another covering the same invention, within two years after that other patent has issued, for the purpose of having an interference declared with your pending application. This last suggests the importance of instructing your attorney, at the time your case is filed, to review all patents on inventions which might be similar to yours, as soon as they issue, and to keep you informed of any which may have claims to which you alone are entitled, so that the necessary corrective action can be taken for you in plenty of time. Frequent Misconceptions There are several mistaken ideas about patents that are quite common, and so ought here to be discussed and cleared up. Sometimes, when a patent application is pending, the patent office allows all the claims, or nearly all of them, as originally worded, and without rejection or change. The inventor then often believes that this indicates a strong patent. On the contrary, however, it shows, in the great majority of instances at least, that the claims were worded so specifically by the attorney as not to be readable upon the prior art, which might, as