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In our issue of January 28 we gave a brief account of the business of the Patent Office for the year 1898, which was based upon advance sheets of the annual report of the Commissioner. We now have before us the full report, a lengthy digest of which appears in the current issue of the supplement. From the opening summary we learn that the total number of patents, designs, reissues, etc., filed in 1898 was 39,663, a decrease of 12,456 on the previous year. The total expenditures were 1,136,196.20 and the receipts over expenditures were 1,538.28, while the total balance to the credit of the Patent Office in the Treasury of the United States on January 1, 1899, was 4,972,976.34. The Commissioner acknowledges the granting by Congress of the greatly needed increase in the force of the Patent Office, and states that as a result "for the first time for at least ten years it is unnecessary for a Commissioner of Patents in his annual report to plead for an additional force." Proof of this is afforded by the fact that while on March 15. 1898, there were 14,842 patents awaiting action, by December 27, 1898, only 5,467 applications were subject to delay. The significance of these figures, however, is modified by the fact that the business of the office was seriously affected by the war. A similar reduction, due to the civil war, in the number of applications occurred in the year 1861, when there was a reduction of 40 per cent as compared with the previous year. Commissioner Duell urgently reiterates the request of his predecessors for additional room in which to transact the business of the office. At present only a portion of the Patent Office building is allotted to patent business, the legitimate tenants of the building having to share the space with other branches of the Department of the Interior, of which the Patent Office forms a division. The space so allotted is, and for some years has been, altogether inadequate for the growing necessities of the office. The crowding has affected the filing of the records and the printing of needed copies of the patents so seriously that it now takes days to obtain copies of the patents granted in any particular class which should be obtainable on demand. The obtaining of copies is of vital importance, both in defending suits or passing on supposed infringements, and as matters now stand inventors'interests are gravely jeopardized, simply for the want of a little more room in which to carry on the printing, classifying, and filing of the necessary documents. This is a matter for prompt and thorough remedy, and the case can best be met by giving up to the Patent Office the whole of the building which is known by its name. The report contains several proposed amendments to the patent and trade-mark laws. One suggestion is to appoint the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner for a stated term of not less than six years. Since the year 1870 the average term of service has been only two years. This quickly recurring change is certainly not conducive to "stability of office practice." As we are just now seeking certain important concessions from some foreign countries, the amendment permitting aliens to file caveats should be passed with as little delay as possible. But- the next amendment, providing for the publication of three thousand additional copies of the Official Gazette, is decidedly objectionable. These additional copies are to be given to Senators and Representatives for free distribution among [the faithful] manufacturers and mechanics [of their constituencies]. We believe that this political almsgiving is thoroughly bad in principle, whether it takes the shape of "free seeds" or free Gazettes. The price of the Gazette is entirely within the means of all who have need of it, and why John Doe should have to pay for his copy and Richard Roe secure his for nothing is an ethical mystery which the movers of this amendment are requested to solve. We are pleased to learn from the report that the commission appointed by the President on July 7 last, " to revise the statutes relating to patents, tra.de and other marks, and trade and other commercial names," will submit a proposed trade-mark law, which will provide for the registration of trade-marks used in interstate commerce. At present, before a trade-mark can be registered, it must be put into use in trade with one or more foreign countries or Indian tribes. It is hoped that the law will be modified so as to allow the use of a trade-mark in this country without any reference to foreign countries or tribal Indians. There is also room for improvement in the matter of fees, the present fee of 25 being obviously excessive. In concluding his report Commissioner Duell makes an eloquent plea for the full recognition by the government of the leading part played by the Patent Office and the inventor in the promotion of American industries. We fully agree with him in his conviction that, in view of the fact that we owe so much to our inventors, the government has hitherto done comparatively little to encourage them in their work. The Patent Office is more than self-sustaining, and all that the inventors and manufacturers ask is that the money paid into the Treasury shall be used in providing the needed facilities for carrying on the work of the office.
