COST OF PUBLISHING OFFICIAL GAZETTE Mr. ROONEY. What does it cost to get out the Official Gazette? Mr. HAGLUND. If I can take the whole year Mr. ROONEY. Let's take the fiscal year 1949. Mr. HAGLUND. What it cost us in fiscal year 1949? Mr. HAGLUND. $257,051. Mr. ROONEY. For salaries? Mr. HAGLUND. No; that is printing costs. Mr. ROONEY. How about personal services? Mr. HAGLUND. In fiscal year 1949, it was $139,129. Mr. ROONEY. Now in fiscal 1949, do those two amounts represent every conceivable expense connected with the production of the Official Gazette? Mr. HAGLUND. Yes. Mr. ROONEY. It includes supplies and materials, communications, equipment, all such items? Mr. ELLIS. Mr. Chairman, that figure, if we are going to arrive at a net, a true cost of processing that one publication, will have to be refined, and we will have to furnish it for the record, because this figure of $139,000 includes personal services for the branch which processes the Official Gazette, but it also process all issuances of patents, including the preparation and specifications, trade-marks, and so forth. Mr. ROONEY. I am trying to make a record of the amount collected by the Government on the sale of the Official Gazette as compared with all expenses that go into its production, and when you submit this for the record, I want not only the salaries and expenses, but the costs of the Government Printing Office to produce it. It looks on the figures we have so far as being a very expensive operation as far as the taxpayers are concerned. Mr. HAGLUND. We will have that for the record. (The information requested is as follows:) Estimated cost of publishing the Official Gazette, fiscal year 1949 1 Includes $190,782 for printing of 52 weekly issues of the Official Gazette and related extract sections, and $66,269 for printing of annual indexes of patents and trade-marks on pick-up from the Official Gazette. NOTE. The Patent Office is charged with 736 copies of the weekly publication of the Official Gazette, of which 600 copies are for congressional use and 136 copies for Patent Office use. Subscription and single copy sale service is provided separately by the Superintendent of Documents. Printing of the Official Gazette and related indexes is expressly authorized by law (44 U. S. C. 283). REVENUE Amount of revenue during fiscal year 1949 from sale of Patent Office publications (largely from Official Gazette) as reported by Superintendent of documents-- $114, 347 RECEIPTS COLLECTED BY PATENT OFFICE Mr. ROONEY. What receipts are collected by the Patent Office? Mr. HAGLUND. There are quite a number of items here. Would you like to have them inserted in the record? Mr. ROONEY. Yes. What is the total? Mr. HAGLUND. $5,201,598 for fiscal year 1949. Mr. ROONEY. We shall insert this statement at this point in the record. (The statement referred to above is as follows:) Summary of earnings for fiscal years 1946-49, and estimated earnings for fiscal years 1950 and 1951 Mr. ROONEY. Why could not these patent fees be increased so as to bring the amount of revenue more in line with the amount of money that it is costing to run the Patent Office? Mr. MARZALL. Mr. Chairman, in my 25 years' experience in patent law, I think that the inventor-that is, not the rich inventor, but the poor inventor-must have some consideration. It is perfectly all right for large corporations that can afford to pay it, but I think the Government owes something to the inventors of the country who have caused our industries to grow the way they have, and I think if we increased the cost of patents to the inventor you will find inventions are going to decrease; industry is going to decrease. I have argued all my life that the backbone of our Nation and the reason we have assumed the position we have in the world today is due primarily to the patent system of the United States. I think it would be of great harm to our country in general to cause the cost of obtaining a patent to be increased. Mr. ROONEY. To pursue that thought a little bit further, why would it not be possible to leave the initial fees static but increase the fees where a patent is granted? Mr. MARZALL. Because, Mr. Chairman, there are many cases that arise where the inventor himself doesn't know whether or not he is going to get a patent. Mr. ROONEY. There are fees collected after it has been determined that he is going to get a patent; are there not? Mr. MARZALL. Yes. Mr. ROONEY. Those are the fees that I have in mind. Mr. MARZALL. The poor inventor would take the same attitude. You must remember that an inventor has to make an invention. He has to create a demand. He has to make his models. He has to pursue his invention. He has to hire a lawyer to file it. He has to go out in the field and create a demand. He has to do considerable missionary work, and all those things are considered in the original cost of the patent. The inventor, when he comes into the office with an idea, is interested in how much it is going to cost him to get a patent, and he takes into consideration the filing fee, the final fee, the amendments, and the other things that are required. In my opinion, Mr. Chairman, we would make a great mistake if we tried to increase the fees any higher than they are now. POSSIBILITY OF REDUCING APPROPRIATIONS Mr. ROONEY. Well, then, it would appear from that that the only way we can decrease the cost to the taxpayer for running the Patent Office is to cut the appropriations for it. Mr. MARZALL. Well, I think you would be making a very harmful mistake in that regard. Mr. ROONEY. I wouldn't expect you to agree with me. Mr. MARZALL. In my opinion, it costs as much to run the Patent Office as we are asking for. My position is, Mr. Chairman, that I am going to do the very best job I possibly can with the scantlings that the Appropriations Committee gives us to run the Patent Office. Mr. ROONEY. Scantlings? Would you call an operation of almost $12,000,000 scantlings? Mr. MARZALL. Well, let's say the materials for the construction to build a house. Mr. ROONEY. Do you realize in the year 1940 it cost $4,667,500 to run the Patent Office, as compared with a requested amount this year of almost $12,000,000? Mr. MARZALL. Yes, sir; I understand that clearly. 60785-50-pt. 5- -48 Mr. ROONEY. I wouldn't refer to such a huge sum as that as scantlings. Mr. MARZALL. Well, sir, the word "scantlings"-I was just referring to such elements of the building construction which the Government wants to give us which, I can assure you, will be put to the very best usage, and I think that we should have it to run the Patent Office the way it should be run. Mr. ROONEY. I am sure you mean to do the right thing; I can appreciate the vigor with which you are approaching the command of the Patent Office, but when you make that statement, you are making a statement which is similar to every other head of a bureau in the Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, and all the judges from the Supreme Court of the United States down, and if everybody had the amount of money they thought was necessary to run their shops as efficiently as they would like to have them run, we just wouldn't have enough money to pay the freight. Mr. MARZALL. I understand, Mr. Chairman, but may I make this statement, that when I came into the Patent Office in December, we had a backlog of 135,000 cases awaiting action by the Patent Office; we had 4,000 cases on appeal. I think I can do some good in the Patent Office, and I think that next year at this time you will be surprised at the things that can be done if we have the things to do them with. Mr. ROONEY. That is exactly what we were told last year and the year before and the year before and the year before that. Mr. MARZALL. The backlog is being reduced, and I will say that last week was the highest production record in the Patent Office sincewell, I have gone back to 1933. We are doing good work in the Patent Office. We have made some changes. Mr. ROONEY. We are certainly glad to hear that. We are glad to hear that your backlog has decreased. We are glad to hear that you are getting out more work per examiner. Mr. MARZALL. Yes, sir. Mr. ROONEY. We agree with you in that regard. Mr. MARZALL. We are going to do a still better job. BUDGET BUREAU ALLOWANCE Mr. ROONEY. What amount did you request of the Bureau of the Budget? It was $270,000 less, was it not, than the amount allowed by the Bureau of the Budget? Mr. ELLIS. $11,490,000 is what we requested. They allowed us that plus $270,000 to take care of Public Law 429 increases. Mr. ROONEY. The $270,000 increase allowed by the Bureau of the Budget was entirely for Public Law 429? Mr. HAGLUND. That is correct. Mr. ROONEY. At this point, we shall insert in the record pages 709, 710, 711, and 712 of the justifications, also the work load schedule near the bottom of page 714, under patent-examining operation, and the chart at page 715 for trade-mark examining operation-I should say work load chart under specifications and drawings of patents and trade-marks, mentioned in the summary of obligations by objects of expenditure at page 718. (The material referred to above is as follows:) GENERAL JUSTIFICATION STATEMENT The basic purpose of the Patent Office is to administer patent and trade-mark laws governing the granting of patents for inventions and the registration of trade-marks. The general functions involved in carrying out the responsibility of administering these laws include examination of applications to determine the patentability of inventions and the registrable merits of marks according to the requirements of the statutes under which such applications are filed; granting of patents and registration of trade-marks; appellate review of examiners' decisions within the Office; classification of patents, literature, and periodicals to make possible searches as to novelty or validity; maintenance of a scientific library and search room to provide in accessible form technical data for Office and public reference; publishing issued patents and trade-mark registrations and various publications authorized by law for the conduct of the business of the Office; supplying copies of patents, trade-mark registrations, records, and documents, and general information concerning patents and trade-marks; and furnishing such additional services as will enable the public to secure the benefits of patent and trade-mark legislation. Fees established by or pursuant to law for filing of applications, issue of patents, sale of patent and trade-mark copies, and other services furnished by the Office produced $5,202,000 in revenue during 1949, and are estimated to produce $5,600,000 in 1950 and $6,000,000 in 1951. All income received by the Office is covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. The following summary indicates the condition of work at the end of fiscal year 1949: Estimated number of allowed patent and trade-mark applications maturing into issuances for fiscal years 1950 and 1951 is compared with the actual for 1949 as follows: The estimates for 1951 provide for continuing the Patent Office program at the same staff level of operations as authorized for 1950. No additional funds are requested for new positions. The increase of $780,000 over the base requirements for 1950 comprises $338,000 for personal services and $442,000 for printing and reproduction. INCREASE FOR PERSONAL SERVICES The increase of $338,000 for personal services is comprised of $86,000 for mandatory within-grade salary advancements, $82,000 for cost of pay increases pursuant to Public Law 429, and $170,000 for continuation of the examiner salary |