Trade secret

The AEC man seemed to sense that he was something of an intruder. As the silence continued, a look of disgruntled determination settled upon his face, as if he intended not to be left out of any secrets that might pass between the others.

Afterwards, they went up to Mart’s room. Carolyn and the children had gone to a show, so they were alone. Jennings lit a fresh cigar and sat down by a window where he could see the haze of lights and desert dust over Las Vegas. Mart stood a moment near the window, looking out. Then he turned.

“I want a patent on what I’ve got,” he said. “That’s all I’m after. Nothing but a patent.”

Jennings blew a cloud of smoke into the air and looked up quizzically. Goodman lurched impatiently in his chair. “You have patents!” the AEC man said. “I even wired Washington and had a copy of the Volcano patents sent out while I went to Los Angeles. You’re covered on everything you’ve done!”

But already Jennings was smiling as he watched Mart through the haze of cigar smoke that was fading between them. “So you want a patent!” he murmured. “I should have guessed that it would be something oblique like that, since you were teamed up with Berk. This is Berk’s angle, isn’t it?”

"We worked it out together,” said Mart. “We had developed these things and didn’t know what to do with them. Finally, Berk got so tired of my griping about the impossibility of using them without giving them away that he suggested we do something about it. We have.”

Jennings shook his head. “Not yet, Mart. You haven’t done anything except stir up a hornet’s nest. It remains to be seen whether or not the stirring-up is going to result in any real action on your problem.”

“The stirring-up is something in itself,” said Mart. “Things will never be quite the same again for anyone who fully understands the symbology of the Volcano.”

“You are talking over my head!” said Goodman irritably. “I fail completely to understand what this is all about. You have produced a model which you have tacitly admitted has been correctly interpreted by myself and Dr. Jennings. Now you say you want patents — on a device which is already covered by patents!”

“You will recall,” said Mart, “that each patent refers to a specific, unnamed Law of Nature upon which the device in question is based. In accord with the present Patent System that is as far as I can go. And we had plenty of trouble going that far — getting the Volcano in under the wire as an amusement device instead of an immoral gambling machine.”

“What do you mean, that’s as far as you can go? Where else do you want to go?”

“Where would you like me to go?”

Goodman became slightly redder in the face. “I would like you to enlighten us in our ignorance regarding the structure and internal processes of the radioactive atom — if you consider us capable of understanding it. I would like you to show how the methods of propulsion in your rocket toy may be adapted to full-scale aircraft. And the Teleport... it’s obvious what we would like you to do with that, if it’s possible.”

“It’s possible, I assure you,” said Mart. “Let me say that I don’t know exactly how — that would take a corps of engineers some little time and a fairly well equipped development laboratory to design the exact means, but that is only a matter of detail.

“I am not an engineer, Dr. Goodman, nor a gimmick maker — except temporarily. I am a theoretical researcher and desire to remain so. Unfortunately, however, I have to eat. So do my family.”

“I don’t see what that — Any good University —”

“It is commonly supposed that the theoretical researcher is much like the Artiste of old: far above working for mere dirty money. He’s supposed to work for Truth and Knowledge, while somebody else — the development engineer — makes the old filthy green stuff.”

“Dr. Nagle —”

“Now if I were to do what you ask, to broadcast the basic principles which I have discovered and employed in these devices, I would be completely out in the cold. I would get no protection or further remuneration whatever. As long as I remain a maker of trinkets and gimmicks I am entitled to the full protection and blessings of our Patent Laws. The moment I step into the field of new, basic science I have no protection whatever. I cannot even use my own work!

“I cannot reveal to you these basic Laws of Nature which I have discovered without forfeiting all claim to financial benefit from my work!”

Dr. Goodman made a noise as if appalled by some enormous sacrilege. “Of course you can’t patent a Law of Nature! It’s unthinkable! That’s something that’s just there — for everybody to use.”

“Fine. Let them use it then.”

It had grown quite dark but they had not turned on the lights. The only illumination came from the glow over the city. From the darkness by the window they heard a low chuckle and Jennings said, “If we understand your Volcano properly, what you are saying is equivalent to saying that you would like to patent the atom.”