Proclamation 3434—American Patent System Week

Whereas the year 1961 marks the one hundred and twenty-fifth anni­versary of the enactment of the Patent Act of 1836 which created the present examination system for the grant of patents; and

Whereas in the year 1961 there will be granted the three millionth patent since enactment of the Patent Act; and

Whereas the grant of a patent is a traditional incentive for the promotion of the useful arts and thereby contributes notably to the well-being of people everywhere; and

Whereas encouragement of inven­tion is essential to the continued eco­nomic and technological development of this Nation; and

Whereas it is fitting that the anniversary of the Patent Act and the establishment of the United States Patent Office should be observed; and

Whereas a joint resolution of the Congress approved September 22, 1961, authorizes the Secretary of Commerce, the Commissioner of Patents, and such other persons or groups as they may designate to make suitable arrangements for an appropriate observance of the American patent system and the United States Patent Office; and

Whereas the said joint resolution requests the President of the United States to designate the week of October 15, 1961, as "The American Patent System Week":

Now, Therefore, I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week of October 15, 1961, as the American Patent System Week; and I invite the people during that week to commemorate the American patent system which, by affording protection and encouragement to inventors as envisaged and authorized by the Constitu­tion, contributes so greatly to the encouragement of inventive genius.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

DONE at the City of Washington this twenty-second day of September in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-sixth.

JOHN F. KENNEDY

By the President:

CHESTER BOWLES,

Acting Secretary of State.