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VOICE ONE:
An office in the United States government has helped protect theproperty rights of inventors for more than two-hundred years. Itsjob is to support the progress of human creativity. I’m FaithLapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Richard Rael. The Patent and Trademark Office is oursubject this week on the VOA Special English program, THIS ISAMERICA.
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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 patent is up to 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 are meant to protect the chances of inventors to makemoney from their creations. A patent gives both inventors andinvestors time to develop and market a product. Patents also providea way to share and spread technical information.
VOICE TWO (CONT):In addition to patents, the office isresponsible for trademark protection. A trademark is anything thathelps to identify the ownership of goods. It could be a name, signor device. Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from usinga similar mark. Yet, such rights may not prevent others from makingor selling the same kinds of goods under a clearly different mark.
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VOICE ONE:
Almost since its creation, the United States has been seen as acountry of inventors. It is not surprising that the founders of theUnited States included patent protection in the Constitution. Theywrote that Congress should support the progress of science by givinginventors all rights 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 the 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 invented a betterway to make the chemical potash. As the number of patent requestsgrew, it became necessary to develop an organized process to dealwith all the requests. The job of receiving and approving patentswas 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 have included 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 hundreds of thousands of requests forpatents and 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 Patent and Trademark Office saysthe first step is to record your idea on paper. You must be sure noone else has invented a device just like yours. So you must examinethe descriptions of similar devices that already have patents. Thiscan be a big job and take a long time. Many inventors pay patentlawyers to do 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 involved wasAlexander Graham Bell. The people who invested money in his projecttold him not to work on the telephone’s design. They did not believethey could earn any money from the invention. However, Bellcontinued to work on the telephone. He arrived at the Patent Officejust two hours before a competing inventor got there.
Elisha 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 Bell was requestinga patent. Elisha Gray 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 of things. These include new machines, methods andproducts. New uses for — or improvements to — old inventions. Andnew, improved kinds of plants 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. In two-thousand-one, nine of the ten companiesthat received 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:
In two-thousand-two the United States Patent and Trademark Officecelebrated its two-hundredth anniversary. President Bush said theagency has been an important influence in the nation’s development.
Now, in its third century, the Patent and Trademark Office facesa number of issues. One is what to do with the growing number ofpatent requests awaiting consideration. The agency is slowly workingits way through hundreds of thousands of requests.
One problem is a lack of money. The Patent and Trademark Officedoes not keep all the money it collects. During recent years,Congress has taken millions of dollars to spend on other governmentprograms.
VOICE ONE:
Former Congressman James Rogan [RO-gan] was named director of thePatent and Trademark Office in two-thousand one. Mister Roganproposed a plan to reform the patent process. The plan was amendedafter discussions between agency officials and users of the Patentand Trademark Office. Earlier this year, a subcommittee in the Houseof Representatives approved reform legislation. But the future ofthis measure is not clear.
VOICE ONE (CONT):The legislation would increase the money thatthe Patent and Trademark Office collects to work on requests. Itwould also give the office the power to decide how to use the money.Supporters say the measure would result in major improvement to thesystem.
But critics say the increased costs would reduce investment inscientific research and development in new technologies. They alsosay the costs would stop some independent inventors and smallcompanies from using a system long tied to progress in America.
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VOICE TWO:
Our program was written by George Grow and Jerilyn Watson. It wasproduced by Caty Weaver. I’m Bob Doughty.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for another reportabout life in the United States on the VOA Special English programTHIS IS AMERICA.