IIT Chicago Kent College of Law - Transcript Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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it Pfl 2 t 1 TPAINETZLIIIIJT - been those who have had, without any special information about strictly patent questions, the best general knowledge of the Law. The names of Chief Justice Marshall, and Justices Story, Bradley, Miller, Blatchford, are instances on the Supreme bench, and Judges Blodgett, Baker of the Seventh, Coxe and Lacombe of the Second, and Sanborn of the Eighth Circuit, instances on the district and circuit bench. To take up specilic reasons Jin favor of the patent law as a profession: . . I, : . . . . flj The subject matter is iII1VCflt1OllS.,, An invention is something new and original-something beyond the skill of the mechanic-something which is the result of inspiration. ' The inventor is in the front rank-of the army which is engaged in carrying on the march of progress and civilization. The patent lawyer is brought into intimate relations, not only with the latest developments of applied science, but also with the most progressive of the workers in that broad and inqteresting Field. The value of the zest and romance that is added to work in such pioneer undetakings and with such bright and prophetic minds, cannot be over-estimated. Every important patent law office has always in hand some invention which promises to be of great value, and upon which patents are being solicited. It may be a new combination of metals, lighter and stronger than steel, rustless and everlasting. It may be a process of producing aluminum at half the cost at which it is now produced. . , Upon these and many more inventions are now concentrated the efforts of engineers, chemists and inventors in various parts of the United States. They may not all be successful. The effort may not produce the desired result: but The glory of the conHict is the joy the vanquished feels. The stimulus is the compensation offered by a- patent under the law. , It is the privilege of the patent lawyer to be associated with, and to share, the labors and joys of these explorers in the frontier territories of applied science. There is an inspiration about it that raises this work above sordid mer- cenary motives. CZJ The patent practitioner is engaged in protecting the patentee in the exclusive right to his invention, or, he is engaged on behalf of his client and the public in preventing the patentee from overstepping the legal limits of his monopoly: and in either case he is upholding that provision of the Constitution which gives to the Congress Power to promote the progress of science and useful arts. by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries. I have not seen successfully controverted the assertion that this is the most beneiicent clause of the Constitution, so far the physical well being of the people is concerned. There lies in the citizenship .of the United States a great reservior of in- ventive capacity. The beneficent stimulus of the patent law, like the sun with great bodies of water, lifts this capacity and makes it active, as the sun lifts aloft the water from .river, lake and ocean, to make it active forthe benefit of mankind in producing fertility and power. 101 1926

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Q r 1 TPANEICRWT , r z SHALL THE YOUNG LAWYER CHOOSE THE PATENT BRANCH OF THE PROFESSION CHARLES A. BROWN Lecturer on the Law of Patents HE recent work of hction by Warvsfick Deeping entitled Sorrell Sz Son, presents, with vivid interst, the importance of selecting the right job. Sorrell says to his son, Work is the cleanest of all things, the game you are playing, or the job you are going to do. He raises the job to the height of a religious function-giving to religion the broad meaning of devotion to the highest morality. So when a popular idol, staying at the hotel where his father is chief porter, is seriously injured in an automobile accident, and the whole community is waiting with bated breath for the verdict of death or life, and the great surgeon from London seems to hold the issue in his skilful hands, Christopher, the son, says to his father, Father, I'd like to be a surgeon. lNhether influenced by curiosity about the marvelous mechanism of the human body, by the desire to cure ills and to relieve suffering, or by ambition for fame and financial reward, or, as probably, by all three motives Qand properlyj, he had found his job, and made the most important decision of his life. The more he worked at it the more he liked itg for it is a, wise dis- pensation of Providence that the more one holds one's nose to the grindstone the more he enjoys it. I The Wlork under our Labor grows Luxurious by restraint. I wish to emphasize the importance of enjoyment in the job one chooses, The labor love delights in, physics pain. , , So let me point out some reasons why one may delight in practicing the patent branch of the legal profession. I am considering the patent branch as only one department of'the legal profession, assuming, of course, that one hs -first chosen the law as his job. VVhat I am saying is not with the idea of limiting one's study and preparation. There is no branch of the law which does not come within the purview of the lawyer who devotes himself to the patent practice. - For example, a patent is a contract, and nothing with reference to contracts is foreign to patents. A patent is property, and nothing with reference to the law of property is without its bearing upon patents. Infringement of a patent is a tort, and nothing in the law of torts is beyond consideration in the subject of patents. For infringement, the patentee is entitled to damages. The subject of damages, therfore, is material for patents. The rights of a patentee are usually enforced in a Court of Equity. The principles and practice of Equity are, therefore, within the required scope of a well equipped patent lawyer. An infringer of a patent is looked upon as a trustee ex maleficio, and all features of trusteeship are pertinent to patent law. And so, with injunctions, accountings, licenses, assignments, etc. As an illustration of the importance, in the patent practice, of all general legal information, it may be pointed out that the best patent judges have 100 1926 7,

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t THE F 1 TRANSCRIPT e The beneficial effect of the patent system of the United States, established by the wisdom of our founders, is accepted universally. No political alarmist or anarchist has ventured to raise, as an issue, our patent system. The primacy of our country in industry and the leadership in finance is largely the result of our patent system. The productiveness of labor and its consequent prosperity is largely due to the same cause. VVhile based upon the rights of property, the patent system offers the most conspicuous opportunity for success to the man without property. To administer and uphold this system with its manifold blessings, gives to the patent lawyer that assurance that he is working for the public good, which is a fundamental necessity for satisfaction in one's work. ffij Ample financial reward is assured to the diligent patent practitioner. Probably in no other branch of the profession are there at stake issues of such financial magnitude as in the case of patents. The patent lawyer, for the responsibility and labor in cases in which great amounts of money are at stake, is entitled to, and often secures, large fees. He has also the opportunity to make investments in enterprises based upon patents, particularly when these enterprises are new, and if his judgment is good, he is able to secure large returns in this way. C4j The opportunity for work. The character of the subject matter invites, compels and repays diligent and meticulous work. No matter how many times one may study a patent, one can always find something new on one more reading. V Other things being equal in a patent case, the lawyer who has his case better prepared is the one who wins. judging by observation and by report, patent lawyers give greater time and effort to the preparation of their cases than do those in general practice. They do not depend upon divine afflatus in the 'presentation of their cases. By experiment and test, by, conference and study, every branch and possibility of their cases is investigated and considered. It is a real advantage to have a profession where work is necessary and remunerative. VVork, contrary to the teaching of the old testament, which borrowed this gospel from orientals who were constitutionally averse to work, is not a curse, but a blessing. I do not know a better presentation of the benefits of work, physically, mentally and morally, than that by Sir VVilliam Osler, the most famous physician of the last fifty years, which will be found in the great biography of Osler by Dr. Harvey Cushing. I would not have the young lawyer choose the patent practice with the idea that his path is going to be an easy one. The patent practice is not without its drawbacks. If it were, I should not be recommending it for adop- tion. No enterprise or profession which is without difficulties fif there by any suchj, is worth any man's adoption. So I point out two conspicious difficulties which are peculiar to the patent practice, and I .assure the young candidate for success in this field that he will find others. justice Story said that patent law is the metaphysics of the law. Not every practitioner and not every judge is competent to understand and appreciate the metaphysical considerations which arise in the consideration of patent questions. 102 X 1926 7,