Of current interest: Report of planning commission proposes revisions in United States patent laws

Several specific means of improving our patent system are proposed in the first report of the National Patent Planning Commission, presented recently to President Roosevelt after an 18-month investigation of the mechanics of the patent law and the use of patents. The commission was appointed in December 1941, directly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, because the President believed that a study needed to “be made of our existing patent laws and procedure … by a commission familiar with the problems of science, industry, agriculture, labor, and the consumer.” The members of the commission are: Charles F. Kettering, chairman; Chester C. Davis, Francis P. Gaines, Edward F. McGrady, and Owen D. Young; Andrey A. Potter, executive director; Conway P. Coe, executive secretary.