ARTIN BROTHERS & CO.
Koonm 203-205-207 Exchange Building
Union Stock Yards, South Omaha
Telephone South 607
46, 48 and 50 Exchange Building
Union Stock Yards, Chicago
Telephone Yards 16
Live
tock
M
; Commission Merchants
South Omaha House
JAMES 0. MARTIN
BRAD HICKOX
II. P. THOMPSON
VM. UNDERWOOD.
WALTER NITSC1IE, Hog Salesman
AL. POWELL, Sheep Salesman
A. D. MAJORS, Cashier
Cattle Salesmen
Feeder Buyer
Chicago and South Omaha
Correspondence Solicited
Chicago House
GEO. E. MARTIN
IVAN G. MALCOLM Cattle
M. J. O'BRIEN I Salesmen
JOHN T. MARTIN
WALTER A. HANLEY
A. S. ROOT, Sheep Salesman
W. S. BURM1STER, Office
Market Reports Furnished Free on Application
X
ARE YOU AN INVENTOR?
AVillanl I). Eakln Writes Interesting
Article About the Woes of
the Inventor
(Editor's Note This ia an exclus
ive and highly Instructive article by
Mr. Eakin, on a subject in which
thousands of Nebraskans are Inter
ested.) To say that the one branch of Un
cle Sam's government which is truly
self-supporting makes money for him
through the issuance of documents
that are worthless to the man who
pays for them in 99 cases out of 100
Is not an extravagant statement. It
Is a fact.
"Get a patent" is the wlll-o-the-Wlsp,
the gay delusion, that has caus
ed thousands of poverty-stricken In
ventors or near inventors to pawn
their shirts, so to speak, for money
With which to prosecute their claims
In the- hope of attaining fame and
fortune at a bound.
One Million I.tNued
Over a million United States pat
ents have been issued to date. That naturally magnifies the value of
his device, all other features being
covered by prior patents. But the
first thing the man said when we
left the building was. "Well, you go
ahead and file an application. If I
can get a patent, I want to get it."
He seemed to think it would be
worth the money merely to be able
to say to his friends that he had se
cured a patent.
Him to It
His device was all right. In fact,
since that time similar devices have
velopments for their compensation
for that valuable service, which
means that their only hope of being
paid la in filing and prosecuting an
application, whether It is warranted
or not.
Last year alone there were 6,970
allowed apllcatlona forfeited by op
eration of law for non-payment of
the final fee, which shows what a
larpe number of patents, after being
prnpocuted at the inventors' expense
and allowed, were not considered
.
been placed on the market under the worth the final government fee of
rpatents that anticipated hU inven- 20 notary to get the letters pat
tlon and are destined to save farm-jnt finally issued,
ers thousands of dollars. The only) Some firms of patent attorneys op
trouble was that someone else was ; crate under a bonded agreement to
ahead of him. return a certain part of their fee If a
Ills case illustrates the ease with l atent is not secured. Some of their j
whlrh n-itent attorneys, if unscrupu- circulars are so adroitly drawn that
LAVERTY BROTHERS
LIVE STOCK
COMMISSION MERCHANTS
lous, find it possible to lead an in
ventor on and get him to tile applica
tions where they can, as they claim,
get a patent," but one that is not
the noiCful inventor might construe
it to mean that government fees and
all wo. lid be returned, bu: a ftrlct
reading will not permit that con-
The hopeful reader also
worth the paper It is written on. The .structlon
Inventor Is of a hopeful nature, and thinks that it protects him against
in fact it is sometimes difficult, as in 'reaction of his claim on any ground,
the case irentloned, to convince him j while as a matter of fact t rentes
'that he should give up the Idea. He! only to lnnl rejection on the ground
' . . il 1 ft-li.J flt.l.. ..1.-1- k
bis . that prior United States patents have
Is about one for every hundred peo
ple. Yet how few, how very few,
have made the Inventor rich! One
of the official examiners In the pat
ent office told me that he did not be
lieve more than one patent in a
thousand was a commercial success.
Yet each of the 999 worthless ones
cost the Inventor usually or at least
frequently an Individual of slender
means, 50 to 100 dollars to secure.
Since it was established, the patent
office has "earned" and turned over
to the treasury over 17.000,000.
Surely it is an evil that men who
i j a n
invention. He may even accuse the own sramt-u on m same iumK. ou,
attorney, as has frequently happen- if It is finahy rejected upon refer
e 1, of trying to steal the invention. once to a foreign patent, o- for want
Value of a Patent '' novrlty without reference to an-
The value of a patent is detcrmln-jtlclp-itlng patents, or for want of
ed by the nature of the claims, which ; utility, or any one of severr.l other
form usually brief paragraphs at the , Possible grounds of rejection, it lets
end of long specifications. The spec-j them out. They are also relieved
Iflcatlons are not the vital part of jfron liability If they get any kind of
the patent. They merely disclose. a patent at all. however much they
the device and show how It is to be have had to narrow it down by re-
operated. They may describe fea
tures of the device that are not pat
entable or that have been previously
patented. They do not secure any
have spent days of hard labor and ' rights to the inventor, but on the
sleepless nights Inventing something 'other hand represent his gift to the
go on and spend their hard earned public. The claims show what par
or borrowed money to secure patents tlcular features be claims as his own
that never bring them any returns, invention, the exclusive right to
But the examiners say, "It is not for make, use and sell them being se
us to Judge of the value of the In- cured to him by the patent. The
rentlon. The only requirement of specifications may describe a whole
the law in this conectlon Is that the threshing machine and the claims
device be useful, and if it appears to relate only to the cylinder. As a
have even the slightest degree of ruie, the shorter a claim is, the more
usefulness, we have no right to with- it covers, as additional words have
hold a patent. In fact the degree of not been used to narrow it down,
usefulness cannot be foretold until which shows the point In the fre
the article has been put upon the ouently told story of the inventor
market."
SOO Patent Attorneys
In the Washington telephone dir-
who found fault with hU patent be
cause the claims were too short.
Tho value of a patent also de-
ectory on my desk there are the pends upon whether the device can
names of nearly three hundred pat- bo used by itself or is usef ul only in
ent attorneys, many of them not law-j connection with eoxethlng else upon
yers, who make their living and In
some cases large fortunes chiefly
from fees for securing patents, al
though some of them do make a part
of their incomes from infringement
causes and other litigation Involving
patents already granted.
The temptations that beset a pat
ent attorney are great. Some invent
ors fairly insist on being fleeced. I
went with a man from Nebraska to
the patent office and after making an
examination of the patents already
granted advised him that It would
not be worth the money or the time
to file an application. Then we went
to the division In wh'ch devices such
as his were considered, and the
examiner there, after investigation,
told him the same thing that, al
though there was a bare possibility
that he might eventually secure a
patent, It could be a patent only on
some little, insignificant feature of
which someone else holds a patent,
who may not bo willing to buy, sell
or license.
A patent on a shift-key for a type
writer may not be of much value to
you if you do not have and can not
get the right to "make, use or sell"
the typewriter Itself.
The Patent Attorney
In 99 cases out of 100 the great
est service the patent attorney can
render his client is, after making the
necessary thorough search for prior
patents, to frankly tell the Inventor
that it Is not worth while for him to
proceed, although the device may be
"patentable" in that some little
curve or creok at the end of a wire
or some little notch or some combin
ation of parts might be the subject
of a worthless patent, so the prelim
inary search is very important. Yet
some attorneys will make the search
peatedly amending their claims. Af
ter each rejection, they have a year
in which to amend, and so long as
they can thus keep the claim alive by
repeatedly amending and amending,
from year to year, until final rejec
tion, they are not bound to return
the fee. Is It any wonder that claims
are so frequently amended and nar
rowed down until quite worthless
patents are finally Issued?
How many Inventors know that
even after a patent has been secur
ed, Its validity, if attacked, is not
accepted by a court until proven?
The patentee cannot secure an in
junction t prevent Infringement
pending suit unless he can show his
patent has heretofore been declared
valid by a court or that the public
has long acquiesced in its validity,
and such public acquiescence must
be shown by some positive evidence,
as that infringers have ceased In
fringement upon protest, that licens
es have been sold for a substantial
price under it, or that persons to
whom it would be a material advan
tage to have the patent declared In
valid have not succeeded in doing
so. So a patent may not mean so
much, after all.
If They Knew
Inventors would not be in so great
a hurry to secure patents if it were
generally known that they have two
years after completing the invention
in which to file the application, and
anyone but the first Inventor can be
prevented from securing a patent on
it even though the imposter files his
application first. And for that mat
ter, if some one should steal the in
vention and even secure a patent on
it, the invalidity of the thief's pat
ent, on the ground that he Is not the
first inveutor, cun be proven In
court. After the thief has riled his
We Sell 'Em High and Pill 'Em Full
There are 57 other reasons why
you should ship to us
Particular Attention Given to the
Selling of Ranch Cattle, Stockers
and Feeders
Market quotations and other information
cheerfully furnished on application
UNION STOCK YARDS
South Omaha, Nebraska
ntimnnitttimmmmmt
iinsi.'iiiiiiisittmmt
free of charge, looking to later de-! apiMcstlon r- true Inventor can fil"
an "Interference" In the patent office
and the question of which was the
real Inventor or the first inventor Is
then decided upon proper evidence
and the patent Issued to the one en
titled. Try Out First
There seems to be littl ereason,
then, why an Inventor should not try
out his Invention commercially be
fore applying for a patent, If he has
proper witnesses as to the fact and
the time of his Invention, except that
he must file within two years after
his invention is perfected or be con
sidered as having abandoned his
right. Such a course also has the
effect of extending the life of his pat
ent, as it Is good for only 17 years
from the day it is finally issued, and
by filing bis application at the end
instead of at the beginning of the
v-ver r vr'rd tV-". ! ';
protection for 19 years instead of 17
years.
Since the patent office cannot deny
a patent pn the ground that it would
be of lltlte value, the only hope of
abolishing the evil of so many worth
less patents being issued fs In the
conscientious action of patent attor
neys, In frankly advising their
clients when It Is manifestly not
worth while to proceed.
NEIGHBORLY ADVICE
Freely Given by Alliance Citizen
When one has suffered tortures
from a bad back and found relief
from the aches and pains, that per
son's advice is of untild value to
friends and neighbors. The follow
ing neighborly advice comes from an
Mliance resident.
Mrs. J. E. Whalev. 4?? R Dreprm
-..-.. v,,rp v'inrR
dered and the kidney secretions were
unnatural. Whenever I stooped,
sharp pains darted through my loins
and It was hard for me to straighten
I tried many remedies, but all failed
to help me until I used Doan's Kid
ney Pills. They brought relief In a
short time and I continued using
them until I was free from kidney
complaint. I have had no reason to
change my high opinion of Doan's
Kidney Pills since I recommended
tnem some years ago."
Price 50c. at all dealers. Don't
simply ask for a kidney remedy
fhetDanV?1lney Pi the same
that Mrs. Whaley had. Foster-Mil-ourn
Co., Props., Buffalo, N. Y.
Dr. A. J. Hathaway removes corns
and bunions without pain, ingrowing
nails a specialty. The best people
in your city can tell you who I am.
Hours from 8 a. m. to 10 a. m.. and
Zp. m. to 7 p. m. Residence Dhone
m- to 7 D- m- Business office.
11 n p
r 2 -: f - - r-1 T
or 1 ? (
1
1f
