424 ANNUAL EEPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTUEE. 

 Patents applied for by members of the department — Continued. 



Interferences were declared by the Patent Office between the appli- 

 cations for letters patent of three employees of this department and 

 applications filed by outside parties. One case involved a process for 

 preparing waterproof paving material ; another a process of treating 

 wood ; and the third a method of manufacturing decolorizing carbon. 

 In two of these cases testimony was taken and the cases otherwise 

 prepared for final hearing. Much time and effort were spent in their 

 preparation. 



In one of the interference cases between the application of a de- 

 partment employee and that of an outside party, a decision unfavor- 

 able to the department employee was rendered by the examiner of 

 interferences in the Patent Office. An appeal from this decision was 

 taken and the case was argued before the examiners in chief, who 

 reversed the decision of the primary examiner and rendered a deci- 

 sion favorable to the department employee. From this decision an 

 appeal was taken by the losing party and the Commissioner of Pat- 

 ents after a hearing upon the appeal sustained the decision of the 

 examiners in chief. 



PUBLICATIONS OF THE OFFICE. 



Three circulars were issued, containing the decision of the Supreme 

 Court of the United States in Weeks v. United States^ involving 

 questions of practice and procedure in criminal cases under the food 

 and drugs act ; decision of the circuit court of appeals for the seventh 

 circuit, in Union Dairy Co. v. United States, involving construction 

 of the food and drugs act ; and decision of the Supreme Court of the 

 United States in United States v. Schider, also involving construction 

 of that act. These circulars were published as Nos. 89, 90, and 91, 

 respectively. 



