376 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1190 



Firstly, to substitute a definite and regu- 

 lated form of monopoly under the law for 

 the broader and entirely unregulated one 

 which the patentee might otherwise secure 

 by retaining his secret. 



Secondly, to encourage and stimulate in- 

 vention. 



Thirdly, to give adequate opportunity 

 and encouragement for intensive commer- 

 cial development of the invention which is 

 almost invariably necessary to make it gen- 

 erally available on its own merits to the 

 ultimate consumer. 



Among medical investigators a very defi- 

 nite prejudice exists against the patenting 

 of any medical discoveries, and this view is 

 to some extent shared by not a few investi- 

 gators in other fields. The fundamental in- 

 stinct which leads to this aversion is unques- 

 tionably a sound one. It consists in the 

 feeling that monopoly renders possible com- 

 mercial exploitation, which increases the 

 cost of the article to the consumer dispro- 

 portionately to the cost of production, 

 while among medical men the word "pat- 

 ent" arouses the repellant idea of the so- 

 called, but mis-named "patent medicine." 

 That notorious abuse is, of course, not pat- 

 ented and should correctly be designated 

 the "proprietary medicine." If existing 

 proprietary medicines were patented (and 

 of course the vast majority, being merely 

 recipes, would not be patentable) their most 

 undesirable feature, that of secrecy, would 

 be at once removed, since, in Great Britain 

 and America at least, the issuance of letters 

 patent is the completest and most accessible 

 form of publication possible. As regards 

 the objection to the feature of monopoly, it 

 is to be recollected that letters patent are 

 only one and not the most efficient among 

 many methods of securing monopoly, and 

 it may be questioned whether the non-issu- 

 ance of patents would in any important de- 

 gree lessen the average cost of medical 

 articles to the ultimate consumer. It is, 



however, to be admitted that the possibility 

 of outrageous extortion from the public 

 does exist and has occasionally been real- 

 ized in practise. In the subjoined agree- 

 ment it is, however, provided (subdivision 

 a) that the regents of the University of 

 California undertake to utilize the rights 

 granted to them in such a manner as will in 

 their judgment best produce a monetary re- 

 turn and at the same time render the use of 

 the preparation patented most generally 

 available for the benefit of the human race. 

 The regents of the university are thus 

 clearly authorized, in event of their consid- 

 ering it to be desirable in the interest of 

 availaibility of the preparation for the bene- 

 fit of humanity, to deliberately sacrifice 

 monetary advantage, and, the element of 

 personal interest being entirely excluded, 

 the public has the fullest procurable guar- 

 antee that they would, if occasion arose, 

 take such action. 



In subdivision b are contained clauses 

 which provide for the reimbursement and 

 "conditional insurance" of the donor. In 

 this particular instance the reimbursement 

 is confined to the repayment of actual ex- 

 penses incurred, but in many other in- 

 stances it might very properly consist in a 

 sharing of profits, either expressed as a 

 lien consisting of a cash sum or of a defi- 

 nite sum per annum, or as a percentage of 

 the proceeds, or geographically, the patent 

 rights in certain countries or localities be- 

 ing retained by the donor. The "condi- 

 tional insurance ' ' clause is inserted to fore- 

 stall the obvious injustice which might 

 arise were the surviving family of the donor 

 to find themselves in actual need while the 

 university might at that moment be reap- 

 ing large returns from his discoveries. If, 

 however, the university were to be com- 

 pelled from the beginning to accumulate a 

 fund to cover this contingency, the result 

 might be, at least for a considerable term 

 of years, to completely stultify the gift and 



