VOICE ONE:
An office of the Americangovernment has helped to protect the legal rights of inventors fortwo-hundred years. The United States Patent and Trademark Officegives inventors property rights to their inventions. I’m MaryTillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. The Patent and Trademark Office is ourreport today on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
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VOICE ONE:
Every week, thousands of people send their inventions to theUnited States Patent and Trademark Office near Washington, D-C. ThePatent Office examines each invention. Those that are judged to benew and useful will receive a patent.
The term of a new patent is twenty years. During that time, theinventor controls the legal right to make, use or sell the inventionin the United States. After twenty years, anyone can make or sellthe invention.
VOICE TWO:
Patents protect inventors’ chances to make money from theircreations. A patent gives both inventors and investors time todevelop and market a product. Patents also provide a good way toshare and spread technical information.
The Patent Office’s responsibilities also include trademarks. Atrademark is anything that helps to identify the ownership of goods.It could be a name, sign or device. Trademark rights may be used toprevent others from using a similar mark. Yet, such rights may notprevent others from making the same goods or from selling the samegoods under a clearly different mark.
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VOICE ONE:
Almost since its creation, theUnited States has been seen as a country of inventors. It is notsurprising that the men who established the United States includedpatent protection in the Constitution. They wrote that Congressshould support the progress of science by giving inventors allrights to their discoveries, for a limited time.
In seventeen-ninety, President George Washington signed into lawthe first Patent Act of the United States. Under the measure,inventors asked the Secretary of State to consider a request for apatent. Next, the Secretary would discuss the request with theSecretary of War and Attorney General. They would decide if theinvention or discovery was useful and important. At that time, boththe President and the Secretary of State signed patents.
VOICE TWO:
The first American patent for an invention was given inseventeen-ninety to Samuel Hopkins. Mister Hopkins’ invention was animproved way to make the chemical potash. As the number of patentrequests grew, it became necessary to develop an organized processto deal with all the requests. The job of receiving and approvingpatents was given to a group of State Department employees inseventeen-ninety-three.
In eighteen-oh-two, a State Department official named WilliamThornton was appointed to serve as the first clerk. He was the onlyperson responsible for receiving and recording patent requests andapproving requests. His office became the first Patent Office.
Since then, more than six-million patents for inventions havebeen approved. They include Thomas Edison’s electric light,Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone and Orville and Wilbur Wright’sflying machine.
VOICE ONE:
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has grown tofourteen agencies in the Department of Commerce. The agency occupiesseveral buildings in Arlington, Virginia. It has more thanfive-thousand permanent employees.
The Patent and Trademark Office has one of the largestcollections of scientific and technical knowledge in the world. Eachyear, the agency receives more thanthree-hundred-twenty-six-thousand requests for patents. It also getstwo-hundred-thirty-two-thousand requests for trademarks.
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VOICE TWO:
Suppose you have an idea for an invention. How do you get apatent to protect your rights? The first step is to write your ideaon a piece of paper. You must be sure no one else has invented adevice just like yours. So you must examine hundreds of descriptionsof similar devices that already have patents. This can be a big joband take a long time. Many inventors pay special patent lawyers todo this job.
The Patent and Trademark Office will examine your request onceyou know that the idea does not have a patent already. Because theagency gets so many requests, the examination process may last twoor more years.
You do not have to show that your invention works to receive apatent. All you must show is that your invention is a new idea. Forexample, Thomas Edison is famous for inventing the electric lightbulb. Yet the light bulb design for which he received a patent neverworked.
VOICE ONE:
Sometimes, two or more inventors get the same idea at the sametime. This happened with the telephone. One of the men was AlexanderGraham Bell. The people who invested money in his project told himnot to work on the telephone’s design. They did not believe theycould earn any money from the invention. However, Mister Bellcontinued to work on the telephone. He arrived at the Patent Officeonly two hours before a competing inventor, Elisha Gray.
Mister Gray had developed exactly the same idea for a telephone.He, too, did not believe the invention would be very important. Yethe went to the Patent Office when he heard that Mister Bell wasrequesting a patent. He was too late. Alexander Graham Bell receivedthe patent for inventing the telephone.
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VOICE TWO:
What kinds of inventions can receive patents? American law namesmany kinds, such as new machines, methods and products. New usesfor, or improvements to, old inventions. And new, improved kinds ofplants and animals.
An American patent protects an invention only in the UnitedStates. But you do not have to be an American citizen to receive aUnited States patent. Last year, nine of the ten companies thatreceived the largest number of patents were foreign.
VOICE ONE:
Almost every nation in the world has a patent system of some kindto protect inventors. Most governments give a patent to an inventorwho is the first to ask for it. Until recently, many countrieshonored an international treaty on patents. The treaty was signedmore than one-hundred years ago.
In nineteen-ninety-five, the World Trade Organization wasestablished. W-T-O member countries are required to provide patentprotection for inventions, while permitting exceptions. Under W-T-Orules, patent protection has to last at least twenty years from thedate the patent request was first made.
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VOICE TWO:
President Bush recently congratulated the United States Patentand Trademark Office on its two-hundredth anniversary. He said theagency has been an important influence in the nation’s development.
As the Patent Office enters its third century, it faces a numberof issues. One is what to do with the growing number of patentrequests awaiting consideration. Currently, the agency is slowlyworking its way through about four-hundred-thousand such requests.
One problem is a lack of money. The Patent and Trademark Officedoes not keep all of the money it collects. Over the past ten years,Congress has taken away more than seven-hundred-million dollars fromthe agency. The money is then spent on other government programs.
VOICE ONE:
Last year, the Bush administration appointed a formerCongressman, James Rogan, as director of the Patent Office. MisterRogan has proposed adding hundreds of new patent examiners to theagency. He also wants to reform the patent process.
His plan includes negotiating international agreements to createan electronic-based patent system. Mister Rogan wants to limit theduties of agency employees to just the examination and approval ofpatents and trademarks. He also wants inventors to ask privateinvestigators to carry out patent searches.
The plan would increase the money that inventors and patentlawyers pay the Patent Office. However, critics say the increasedcosts would decrease investment in scientific research anddevelopment in new technologies. They also say the costs would stopsome independent inventors and small companies from using the patentsystem.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written by George Grow. It was produced byCynthia Kirk. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Mary Tillotson. Join us again next week for anotherreport about life in the United States on the VOA Special Englishprogram, THIS IS AMERICA.