The motion picture projectionist (Nov 1931-Jan 1933)

28 Motion Picture Projectionist February, 1932 ^EHLING Still Preferred \ Above All Others MORE Miehling books have been sold to projectionists than any other .... There have been others since Miehling's book was brought out .... and some at a lower price .... but Miehling's still remains as the only book written by a projectionist for projectionists . . _ . . That it why it is so overwhelmingly popular. In this book you will find a thoroughgoing explanation of the fundamentals of all sound equipment. Western Electric and RCA outfits of all types are fully treated as to construction, wiring, functioning and trouble-shooting. There is also a practical discussion of the most widely used independent sound equipment. Every projectionist will find his needs adequately fulfilled, both as to the theory and practice of sound operation. SOUND PROJECTION By MIEHLING Member of Local 306, Motion Picture Operators Union of New York City, Engineer, Designer of sound equipment and practicing projectionist. 519 pages . . . completely indexed XhIRTY-ONE chapters, each covering a phase of sound equipment operation, are thoroughly indexed in the back of the book, affording the projectionist full means of reference in case of trouble. The whole setup of the book has been designed for leisurely reading or for quick use in a breakdown emergency. O NE hundred and thirty-seven illustrations: diagrams, schematic drawings and photographs are scattered through the book, adjacent to connecting text. Continuity of text and picture is thus preserved throughout. A perfect book for projectionists. Price $4.00, We Pay Postage Mancall Publishing Corp., 7 W. 44th Street, New York City Send me Miehling's Sound Projection. Enclosed find remittance of $4.00. Name Address City and State Position Theatre tor's entire chance of a profit from his invention. Outright Assignment Losses Inventors frequently lose an opportunity to make money out of their patents by being too hasty in the beginning in signing away a part of their rights, particularly through outright assignment. The vital fact in this connection that is seldom understood by laymen, is that the outright assignment of any portion of a patent right, no matter how small, puts the assignee of that right in possession of a right to license under his right as fully and completely as can the inventor., even though he retains the major portion of the patent right. To illustrate, an inventor may assign an undivided one-tenth interest in his patent. He then often thinks that what he has left is nine times more valuable than what he assigned. But this is not the case, since the person getting the onetenth interest, or, in fact, any other undivided part, obtains exactly the same right to license others to the use of the invention as has the owner of the remaining rights. It is wise never to sell an undivided interest in a patent, but only either an outright assignment or a license to use it. This last preserves the title in the inventor, the sole right to sue for infringement, and also the exclusive right to sell additional licenses. Always Consult Attorney Right here it is well to sound a warning against signing any paper whatsoever regarding your patent without first submitting it to your attorney. And try always to arrange to let him draw up any license or assignment. For only the able patent attorney with practical experience in such contracts can properly protect your interests. A patent contract is unlike all others. Its laws are filled with technicalities little known to the general lawyer. Just to cite one instance: an assignment of "the entire right" to a patent, compares with one of "my entire right,'' exactly the same as a warranty deed to real estate does to a quit-claim deed. So if you are the buyer of a patent, your attorney will see that you get "the entire right." And if you are the seller of it, he won't let you get into the difficulty of one inventor known to the author, who, instead of assigning "my entire right, etc." found afterwards that he had given "the" right, although he had previously granted a shop license under the same patent to others; and the purchaser held him to his warranty, forcing him to return a substantial part of the purchase price in lieu of a settlement. One method often used with great success to make money from a patented invention, is through the incor poration of a company and the transfer to it of the patent rights in return for a stock interest. The company then undertakes the manufacture and sale of the invention. This method enables the inventor to get into a profitable business as a result of his inventive genius. The first step is to get your attorney's advice on the details of the incorporation, such as the best state to incorporate in, the amount of capitalization needed, whom to name as incorporators, the amount and kind of stock to issue, and the avowed purpose of the corporation. He will also help you decide on a name for the new company, and have a search made in the state's capitol to be sure that the name is free to use. He then prepares the charter and other incorporation papers, and sees that they are properly filed with the Secretary of the state, and the taxes paid. Because of low annual fees and other attractive features of their incorporation laws, certain states are more popular than others with incorporators. For instance, the states of Delaware and West Virginia are used by many concerns whose principal places of business are elsewhere. Since the cost of incorporating in either of these states is appreciably less than in many others, if initial expense is of great importance, it might be well to consider one of them for the location of your home office. But unless there is some such specific reason for doing so., it is usually well to incorporate in the state of residence, as such action creates confidence on the part of your friends and acquaintances who may be possible investors of the stock of the new company. Preparing the Prospectus Before proceeding to exploit the sale of the stock, it is necessary to prepare an attractively worded prospectus of the proposition, giving not only facts about the corporation and its personnel, but detailed information on the merits of the invention, the strength of the patent protection, the advantages claimed over existing articles or methods in the same field, a comparison of costs with that of competition, the sources of possible income to make the corporation produce profits, and a statement as to the purpose for selling the stock. From this point on, the work of raising working capital is largely a matter of pure sales ability. For the proposition is now in business-like form, and prospective investors have the necessary information to judge the attractiveness of the issue, and through the stock certificates a convenient means of obtaining a definite part of the business in return for the money invested. Of course, it is not always a simple matter to sell stock in such new ventures, for while they may present at