Richard Nixon

The Senate's action makes it necessary for pay adjustments to become effective this October.

I have directed the Secretary of the Interior to continue to accelerate the leasing of Outer Continental Shelf lands for oil and gas production to a level triple the present annual acreage rate by 1979, as long as such development can…

Finally, we must seek ways to insure that the oceans remain an avenue of peaceful cooperation rather than an arena of tension-filled confrontation.

To help protect our domestic fishing industry, I have recommended legislation which would permit U.S. regulation of foreign fishing off our coasts to the fullest extent authorized by international agreements and would permit Federal…

I am determined that our future Federal marine effort will continue that leadership to the benefit of our Nation and all mankind.

Benjamin Franklin, a famous inventor as well as a statesman, reflected once that he wished it his destiny 'to be born two or three centuries hence' so that he could not only enjoy the conveniences of modern life but also satisfy his…

We both seek a world in which not only great powers but small powers and small nations are safe, independent, and respected.

In that belief, I ask the Congress to give the proposals contained in the Patent Modernization and Reform Act of 1973 prompt and careful consideration.

America's dramatic progress from a small agrarian nation to a great technological and industrial leader has been due, in no small degree, to the inventive genius of its people.

It would preserve and extend some of the best and most important aspects of our current patent system.

My proposal would also preserve the American concept of giving the patent to the person who is first to invent, because he is the individual most deserving of recognition and encouragement.

Our patent system should always work to foster that spirit.

Ladies and gentlemen, I know you will want to rise and drink to the health of the Prime Minister.

One of the virtues of the American patent system is its emphasis upon practicality--its demands that ideas be reduced to a tangible form having a known usefulness before the public should grant a monopoly on the concept to the applicant.

Accordingly, I am today proposing that the Congress enact the Patent Modernization and Reform Act of 1973.

So long as the spirit of Franklin remains alive in America, we can be confident that our civilization will flourish.

With the changes I am recommending today, however, we can combine the best parts of our existing system with the most promising proposals for improving it.

And I would simply say, Mr. Prime Minister, that perhaps it would be hard to find any two countries in the world that are further apart geographically than New Zealand and the United States.

In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that our current patent system does not measure up to these standards.

If we take these steps, I believe we would not only ensure a more orderly and complete patent examination but also greatly strengthen public confidence in the validity of our patents.

The legislation I am recommending would also enhance the value of the patent grant.

We both seek a world in which all people in the world--all people in the world--wherever they may be, not only in our countries, which are fortunate to be far above the average in terms of our income, shall have the opportunity to move…

Our Founding Fathers understood the need for innovative thinking and wrote into the Constitution a means of encouraging invention--the patent system-which has enormously stimulated our progress and prosperity.

More than 50 bills still remain on that agenda.

It is a good day too for all Americans who have wanted the Congress and the Administration to stop butting heads and start pulling together for the public good.