Jennings himself was there, evidently having arrived that very morning, since he had not contacted them. Mart recognized other men from the AEC, from the Bureau of Standards, and top universities. There were a number of his former students who filled top scientific posts.
Don Wolfe was there, as was Joe Baird, the TV reporter. And then Mart saw, with a somewhat sinking sensation, the portly figure of his former colleague on Project Levitation, Professor Dykstra from MIT. Mart groaned, and nudged Berk as Dykstra took a seat at the rear of the room. “Nemesis is here,” said Mart.
There were five congressmen on the Committee in charge of the hearing. Berk and Mart studied them intently as they came in and took seats at the long table. There was nothing obviously outstanding about any of them — but neither was there about the group of scientists, Mart thought. He reflected on the situation wherein the decision of these five could affect the lives and work of all these others in the room. What made these five and their colleagues in the Congress competent to judge the limitations to be placed upon the men of science and channel their thinking?
His reflections were interrupted by the gavel banging of Senator Cogswell, who stood at the head of the Committee table and spoke into the cluster of microphones, calling for attention.
Mart watched Cogswell intently. He was the key to the Committee. The senator had come from a Midwestern state, a dealer in farm machinery before coming to the Senate. His face and neck and hands had the perpetual florrid tint of a man who has spent long years of his life in the sun and wind. The press called him Honest Abe Cogswell, and Mart was certain the name fitted.
But you couldn’t be honest if you didn’t have the data, Mart thought. It wasn’t honest to judge a thing concerning which you had no data. And what a fetish you could make of honesty if you didn’t even know you lacked the data! Somehow he would have to find the way to give it to Cogswell.
The farmer-politician announced: “The first to be called for testimony in this hearing will be Dr. Martin Nagle.”
Mart stood up and moved slowly to the seat before the microphones. There was a well filled press section, he noted. Evidently all the news services had been stirred into sending representatives on the off chance that something spectacular might develop.
Cogswell faced him across the microphones. “You are Dr. Nagle?”
“Yes.”
Briefly, he was sworn in. Then Cogswell resumed. “You have been called before this Committee as a result of certain allegations on the part of yourself and others. It is alleged that you have refused the military and commercial exploitation of certain discoveries made by you, and that these discoveries are of primary importance to the welfare and defense of the country.
“It is alleged that you have criticized the Patent System of the United States in a very serious manner, claiming that it offers you inadequate protection for your work. It is further alleged that you have threatened to withhold knowledge of your important discoveries until revision of the Patent Laws gives you the protection you desire.
“Would you like to state your position, Dr. Nagle, to clarify your points of contention for the Committee, or would you prefer to be cross-examined, first, point by point?”
“I would like to ask,” said Mart, “if the Committee is prepared to recommend to the Congress that modifications be made to the Patent System if it can be shown that this is in the best interest of the public, whom the Patent Laws are designed to protect.”
“We are not committed to any action,” said Cogswell. “But if it can be shown that action is called for, the Committee is prepared to make recommendations accordingly.”
“Then I would like to state my case,” said Mart.
“Proceed, Dr. Nagle.”
“In the beginning of industry and manufacture,” said Mart, “the basis of success was often what came to be known as Trade Secrets. A man or a family, over a period of years discovered superior techniques for producing some item of trade. The process would be zealously guarded from disclosure to any possible competitor. Only by preserving the secrecy of these processes could the inventors and discoverers of them obtain any just remuneration for their work of discovery.
“Until very recently, historically speaking, this system of Trade Secrets prevailed. Obviously, it has drawbacks. It impedes the flow of knowledge. It prevents the progress which might result from the application of one man’s knowledge to another's discovery. Because of these drawbacks, the Patent System was born. In theory, this is designed to release the vast store of Trade Secrets and put them in the reservoir of common knowledge to be used by all men. In return for contributing his discoveries to the common store, a man is theoretically rewarded by the Patent System by being given a limited monopoly in the exploitation of the discovery.
“In addition to providing a reward, the Patent System is supposed also to provide an incentive for new discovery and invention. Actually, the present laws achieve almost none of these very idealistic objectives. The System has failed to keep pace with the technological and scientific progress of the world so that it fails to accomplish that for which it was designed. It protects virtually none of those who most deserve its protection.
“I, for one, am in the position of having what we may term a Trade Secret of great value both to myself and to Society. I would like to share it, but under the present Patent System there is no possible way I may do this and receive a remuneration which I consider adequate and equitable.”
A senator interrupted, frowning. “You mean you are not able to obtain patents on your discoveries under the present laws?”
“That is correct,” said Mart. “I cannot protect my discoveries, therefore, if I am to make any practical use of them I must keep them as Trade Secrets, as it were.”
“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.”