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

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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,

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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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2 r 1 TRAINII-gI6DH3T , Attorney General Sargent has said in effect that an incompetent judge is the worst of burdens on a community. This is especially true in patent cases. There is nothing that I know of more discouraging than to go through weeks of careful study and preparation in a case, and then to go before a court who is incapable of understanding, or, unwilling to give the mental effort necessary to understand, the abstruse question in the case. The inevitable concomitant of the incompetent court is the unscrupulous attorney who is not unwilling to deceive the court. In factgsuch a court offers a premium to the counsel who will state deliberate errors most convincingly. If it be asked why the incompetent court and the unscrupulous attorney are most seriously objectionable in patent cases, the answer lies in the fact that the questions arising in patent cases are likely not to be so plain, definite and easily understood as those ordinarily arisng in general practice, and wider latitude to judicial discretion is allowed in most patent cases. Another difficulty which is peculiar to the patent practice is that every litigated case is founded upon a patent, and every patent is the work of a solicitor who is not omniscient and, therefore, who has failed to foresee every aspect of the invention which may subsequently be developed. Every patent, therefore, is in some degree defective and has to be ex- cused or explained or accounted for by all the ingenuity that the patent attorney can command. This, of course, applies only to the case for the plaintiff, but is a very real and ever recurring difficulty. Nevertheless, the advantages and attractions of the patent practice far outweigh any special difiiculties that may have to be encountered therein. ' This is especially true of the practitioner who has an inclination toward questions of mechanics or of applied science. A special scientific training, however desirable it may be, is not required for success in patent practice. In fact, a study of the humanities, including the classics, is perhaps of more benefit and satisfaction to the patent lawyer than a training strictly limited to scientific studies. One who has had the benefit of training in the classics is more likely to have that humble attitude of mind which alone conforms with the widest outlook and the greatest aptitude for learning. Any training which gives one conceit of his knowledge, has the effect of closing his mind, and a man of that quality is at a disadvantage, whether he be a lawyer or a judge. So to one who is ambitious, who is desirous of the spur of interst in his work, of accomplishing something beneficial to others, of securing for himself honor and a competence, I say the patent practice offers all these incentives to a degree not excelled in any other branch of the profession. And, it is the pride and privilege of the patent lawyer who starts with the idea of putting into his profession all of his ability, and of .taking out of it all' the interest and credit to be derived from such a job, to consider himself as the honored companion and helpmate of the scientists and inventors who are forever pushing back the boundaries of the unknown and adding to the sum of knowledge which can be practically applied to human progress and especially to business and industrial life. 103 1926