Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1877.djvu/39

Rh but not issued because the final fee was not paid; 1,275 applications for registration of trade-marks were received; 968 trade-marks were registered; 556 applications for registration of labels were filed; 324 labels were registered.

The total receipts of the office from all sources were $714,964.73; the total expenditures were $609,043.24, leaving an excess of $105,921.49 of receipts over expenditures.

The Commissioner reports that he has found himself embarrassed during the year by the smallness of the appropriations for the regular work of the office, which were less by $62,000 than the appropriations for the year ending June 30, 1876.

A large part of the expense for the year has been for reproducing, by photolithography, drawings of patents issued in former years. This forms no part of the regular work, but has been carried on toward completion for some years. It is expected that this work will be finished during the present year. Upon its completion a material reduction can be made in the expenses of the office, while the copies of drawings kept for sale will prove a source of revenue.

The Commissioner reports an increasing revenue from the fees for the registration of trade-marks. The fee for registration is $25, and is payable on filing the application, and, like other fees, cannot be returned to the applicant in case the registration is refused. The Commissioner suggests that it would be more in harmony with the practice of the Patent Office in other cases to require a fee of $15 upon the filing of the application and an additional fee of $10 upon the allowance of the claim.

The Commissioner renews the recommendation, made in the report for 1874, that a special appropriation be made for the preparation of complete digests of all patents granted by the United States. Such digests would greatly facilitate the work and insure greater accuracy in the business of the Patent Office. These suggestions are commended to your favorable consideration.

Under a recent arrangement, duplicate copies of all British patents, issued since 1852, 56,000 in number, will be furnished gratuitously to the Patent Office. When properly classified and arranged, these will greatly facilitate the work of the office. The Commissioner suggests that there should be a liberal appropriation for the purchase of books for the Patent Office library, as many recent valuable works having an important bearing upon the business of the office have not yet been placed upon its shelves.

The Commissioner again calls attention to the necessity which exists for additional room for his office, which can be supplied only by the action of the law-making power. Great inconvenience is experienced on account of the want of sufficient space for the working force and material of the office.