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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
Proposed Patent Legislation.
LSpecial to The Review.]
Washington, December 13, 1898.
The Government Patent Commission,
which is now engaged in preparing recom-
mendations for legislation in revision of
the patent and trade mark laws, has arrived
at an important determination of interest
to inventors, manufacturers and others
with regard to the priority of inventions,
the authors of which have applied for pro-
tection abroad before filing their applica-
tions in this country.
The commission
will recommend that priority shall date
from the filing of the foreign application,
provided due diligence is shown in apply-
ing for the patent in the United States.
Heretofore the laws have provided that the
protection granted an inventor should date
only from the time of the filing of his ap-
plication in the Patent Office. It has
sometimes happened that an inventor
who has filed an application for a patent
in a European country, and who has
subsequently applied for protection for
the same invention
in the
United
States, has found himself confronted with
a prior application for the same device.
Investigation has shown that a shrewd and
unscrupulous person has simply pirated
the invention, drafting the specification
directly from the foreign application. In
such a case the American inventor would
have been able to protect himself had the
Patent Office taken cognizance of the date
of his foreign application, which the
Patent Commission proposes shall now be
done.
It would be manifestly improper to per-
mit an inventor to file his American appli-
cation at a remote period after his foreign
application and then secure contempo-
raneous protection, for he might thus ex-
tend the life of his patent far beyond the
statutory period.
The commission does
not propose to permit this, and has, there-
fore, established a limit of seven months
which will be permitted to elapse after the
filing of the foreign application, within
which time patent must be applied for in
the United States in order that priority
may date from the filing of the foreign
application.
After careful investigation the commis-
sion has practically decided that the caveat
has no useful function in legitimate patent
practice. It has frequently been invoked
by inventors who have not clearly devel-
oped the principle of the devices upon
which they have been experimenting, and
by priority of date it has prevented other
and more worthy persons from securing
patents upon thoroughly worked out in-
ventions. It is the opinion of the commis-
sion that no inventor is entitled to protec-
tion until he has proven the practicability
of his device, and equally that no inventor
who has fully developed an idea should be
prohibited from patenting it because of the
priority of a caveat filed by a person who
perhaps never completed the invention,
and who may have entirely abandoned it.
Another problem to which the commis-
sion is addressing itself with much energy
relates to a general trade-mark law which
shall avoid the objections to the present
statutes which have recently been pointed
out by the courts. In a recent decision of
the United States Supreme Court it was
held that the law for the general registry
of trade-marks is unconstitutional, and
that Congress can only provide for regis-
tering trade-marks for use in foreign, in-
terstate or Indian commerce. The only
trade-mark now issued by the Patent Office
is specially required to be employed in
foreign commerce. There are thirty-three
vStates having trade-mark registry systems,
and in order to secure the fullest protec-
tion manufacturers, proprietors and others
are obliged to register their trade-marks
and pay their fees in all these States. In
the States having no trade-mark systems
no adequate protection can be secured. It
is the hope of the commission to be able to
draft a general law which will harmonize
the diverse statutes of the States and re-
duce the cost of protection to a minimum.
C. H. MacDonald, manager of the Estey
interests in Chicago, who was reported as
being seriously ill last week, is making
rapid strides towards recovery.
A small fire which occurred on Monday
on the second floor of the store of J. W.
Jenkins & Sons, 923 Main street, Kansas
City, Mo., caused $50.00 damage.
LOOK AND LISTEN.
Yes, look at it and see an organ artistically made of the best
materials and with the greatest skill of the most experienced work-
men. Look it all over, from pedals ^_^___-, to music rack, and
it's just the same. ^___1——"""
g I / \ But listen! Ah, if the
look pleased you, \ ^^
T ^ C I Iw \ k ° w m u c n more the
tone? And yet, it \ ^^ It \ f W d l
\ isn't strange tha<
fifty years of voicing \ ^^ Lm^**^
if
\ r e e t * s s n o u ^ resulr
in the sweet t o n e d \ ^ ^ ^ / ^ ^
__——— Estey, ever sweeter
and clearer with eachL———^~~^~
new instrument that come?
from the factory, else what were the uses of experience ?
SEND FOR CATALOGUE
ESTEY ORGAN CO,,
BRATTLEBORO, VT.
Recent Incorporations.
The Secretary of State of Albany, N.Y.,
granted a certificate of incorporation on
Tuesday last to The Maestro Co., of El-
bridge, Onondaga county. To manu-
facture and deal in musical instruments.
Capital, $10,000, and directors: William C.
Ranney, of Elbridge, and two others.
*
*
*
*
The Kansas City Piano Co. was incor-
porated at the Capital of Missouri on Dec.
14th for the purpose of manufacturing
and selling musical instruments. The au-
thorized and paid in capital is $25,000 and
the principal office is in Kansas City. The
incorporators are: T. F. Scanlan, Boston,
Mass. ; G. F. A. Ulidge, George Rindben-
tel, E. C. Meservey, Kansas City.
Hagen & Ruefer.
Of the several popular styles which
Hagen & Ruefer, of Peterboro, N. H.,
are manufacturing, for the trade this fall,
Style E, of which an illustration is shown,
is perhaps the most popular. It is the aim
of these manufacturers to make a good in-
strument at a popular price—an instru-
ment that will afford satisfaction to dealer
and to purchaser. There are no specious
claims made for the Hagen & Ruefer
pianos outside of the fact that they are the
best value in the trade for the money.
Dealers handling these instruments speak
well of them as rapid sellers and money
makers.
Hence it is not surprising to
learn that business with the Hagen & Rue-
fer concern is excellent with bright pros-
pects ahead.
The Paur Popular Concerts.
At the seventh popular concert by the
Paur Symphony Orchestra which takes
place to-morrow evening at Carnegie Hall,
under the direction of Emil Paur the fol-
lowing soloists will appear in an unusually
excellent program : Mme. Eleanore Mere-
dith, soprano; Miss Kate C. McGuckin,
contralto; Sada, (her first appearance) vio-
liniste, and Mr. Wm. H. Barber, who will
play the Knabe piano which is used exclu-
sively at these concerts.
A Good Record.
The Manufacturers' Piano Co., Chicago,
will pay the last of the notes due on the
settlement they made two years ago on
Jan. 1 st. The record of this institution
under the management of Mr. Louis Ded-
rick has been admirable. He has not only
paid off the indebtedness, but advanced
materially the interests of the institution
which he so ably represents.