OF MICHIGAN JUL 15 1963 MAIN READING ROOM U.S. PATENT OFFICE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM STAFF REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY PURSUANT TO S. Res. 65 97076 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1963 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office PURCHASED THROUGH COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi, Chairman ESTES KEFAUVER, Tennessee EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts EVERETT MCKINLEY DIRKSEN, Illinois HUGH SCOTT, Pennsylvania SUBCOMMITTEE ON PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Arkansas, Chairman OLIN D. JOHNSTON, South Carolina PHILIP A. HART, Michigan ESTES KEFAUVER, Tennessee HUGH SCOTT, Pennsylvania HIRAM L. FONG, Hawaii CLARENCE M. DINKINS, Chief Counsel FOREWORD This report was prepared by the staff of the Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, as part of the subcommittee's responsibility under Senate Resolution 65 to "conduct a full and complete examination and review of the administration of the Patent Office," and is concerned with a survey of the efforts which have been made to introduce automation into the search procedures of the Patent Office. The Congress, over a period of years, has received many complaints about the examination procedures of the Patent Office. This subcommittee has on several occasions expressed its concern with the delays involved and the extent to which relevant prior art apparently has not been considered by the examiner. The Congress in the past decade has substantially increased the funds appropriated for the operation of the Patent Office. Unfortunately, this has not effected significant reductions in the backlog of the Office or improvement in the quality of patents issued, judging from the continued high percentage of litigated patents found to be invalid. The rapid rise in technology and the growing complexity of disclosures can only aggravate present defects of the examination system. The subcommittee attaches great importance to the research and development program in the Patent Office, and hopes that it will be eminently successful. Because of my strong interest and belief in the necessity for the advancement of science and technology, I have introduced a bill (S. 816) for the establishment of a Commission on Science and Technology. As I indicated to the Senate on February 18, 1963, one of the tasks of the Commission would be "to conduct a study of Federal scientific and technical activities, such as the deficiencies in scientific, engineering, and technical information programs, including acquisition, processing, documentation, storage, retrieval, and distribution of scientific information; the urgency for accelerating scientific, engineering, and technical progress in a number of Federal agencies which perform some functions in these areas; and to recommend necessary reorganizations of scientific and technological activities of the Federal Government to improve their operations and to better coordinate their activities." It is too early to tell whether the research and development program of the Patent Office will be successful in permitting mechanized searching in most classes of the arts. If, after further research, it should appear that such efforts do not afford reasonable prospects of success, it would then become necessary to consider substantial changes in our present examination system, before the entire system runs the danger of collapse. A full examination system does not exist in a number of industrial nations and the proposed Common Market Patent Convention provides for a deferred examination. It may well be that a study of the |