“But there are patents here,” said the senator. He held up a sheaf of papers. “I have copies of patents issued to you, covering the devices over which disputes seem to have arisen.”
Mart shook his head. “No, sir. There is no dispute over the devices covered by those patents. No one is trying to deny me the privilege of making a million toy rockets propelled by antigravity, nor do they care if I become rich as an operator of gambling clubs.
“But I do not wish for these things. I have been forced into these activities by the deficiencies of the Patent Laws.”
The senator gulped a mouthful of air in restrained exasperation. “How in the world can any law of the United States force you into such activities against your will?”
“Just a moment, if you will,” said Senator Cogswell. “Perhaps we should allow Dr. Nagle to complete his testimony without interruption. There will be opportunity for questioning later.”
“If I were free to do so,” said Mart, “I would immediately release my material to the industrial and Governmental laboratories of the country. Within months, the hundreds of engineers in these organizations would be able to develop scores of useful devices based upon my discoveries. But the engineers would be granted patents on the devices in the name of the corporations for which they worked. The corporations would be the ones to profit. I would get not one dime for my part of the work!”
“That’s fantastic,” the interrupting senator said. “I can’t believe that such a situation exists. Certainly no one is going to try to force you to give your work away for nothing.
“What I do not understand is all this talk about inadequate protection under our Patent Laws. Exactly what is it you wish to patent? Why cannot these so-called Trade Secrets of yours be handled in a normal patentable manner?”
Mart smiled and shrugged. “You cannot require me to explain my Trade Secrets here. In this audience there are those who would take unauthorized advantage of them if I were to describe them at this time. Briefly, the work that I have done is classified by the patent authorities as Laws of Nature. These cannot be protected.”
Cogswell frowned. “I am not too familiar with the terminology,” he said. “I presume that an example would be the Law of Gravity.”