Report of the Investigation of the United States Patent Office, 1912

• Report of the Investigation of the United States Patent Office by the President’s Commission on Economy and Efficiency. December 9, 1912. 624 p
• President’s Commission on Economy and Efficiency. Report of the Investigation of the United States Patent Office. December 9, 1912. 624 pages
• Referred to the Committee on Patents
• House of Representatives, 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, Document no. 1110

• Available from the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/cu31924021895143/page/n7 and from HathiTrust at https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002009414. This report has several hundred pages of appendices including information about foreign patent offices.

Contents, highlighting sections central to tracking patents in the aero wiki

• Ch 1, Intro, Ch 2 Administration, Ch 3 Methods of examining Applications, Ch 4 Interference procedure
• Ch 5 Classification Division
• Ch 6 Scientific library and the search room
• Ch 7 Personnel of the Patent Office
• Ch 8 Building accommodations and office equipment, Ch 9 Publications, Ch 10 Term of patent and delays, Ch 11 Fees, revenues, and expenditures, Ch 12 Miscellaneous, Ch 13 Views of patent attorneys, Ch 14 Subjects not reported on
• Appendix A: History of the US patent system
• Appendix B US laws and practices regarding patents, trademarks, etc
• Appendices C and E German patent law and discussion
• Appendix D English patent law
• Appendix F Comparison of patent laws and procedure in Germany, England, and the US
• Appendix G Methods of examining applications
• Appendix I: statement of the business of the patent office, Appendix J Bibliography of the USPO
• Appendix K: Classification of patents and printed publications

Notes

• The work of investigation was done in two months, a short time, and with a limited budget, responding to legislation in Aug 1912 (p9,p10)
• The Patent Office has more than 900 employees (p11) It needs more yet; the report recommends hiring 36 people (p13)
• It needs more/better building facilities (p11) [Possibly they got the SAAM/National Portrait Gallery after this? Or it was too small a space?] A new building in DC is recommended (p13)
• Examiners are hard to evaluate, or it hasn't been done well enough (p11)
• There are 43 examining divisions (p13) The report recommends more funding for reclassifying (p13-14)
• It is recommended that the Commissioner of Patents be the head of the USPO (unclear what the prior arrangement was); that there be also an assistant commissioner and seven supervising examiners. (p13)
• The report recommends raising the fee to file a patent application from $15 to $20, and the price for a subscription to the Official Gazette be increased from $5 to $10.
• US patents have an examination system since 1836. (p17)
• Prof Albert Osterrieth and Mr. A. du Bois-Reymond, both of Berlin, leading authorities on the German patent law and practice, sent papers which became appendices C, E, and F (p17)
• Examinations have become more difficult with growth and tech change ; the prior art in patents in the US and other countries has increased; the work has become more complex substantively too. Some step other than just an increase in staff will be needed. (p17)
• In 1898 Congress supported the creation of a staff of examiners to make a new classification of patents and a digest of publications (p19) However it has not cgone quickly. This report recommends a substantial increase in the classification staff. (p19)
• Some kind of library or information technology should also be improved, but the comittee did not have time to consider it deeply (p19)
• There are more than 350 patent examiners at this point (p19)