Administrative and Legal Mechanisms of Patent and Licensing Work in the USSR in the First half of the 1960s (on the Materials of the GANO)

Berezina Oksana Borisovna PhD in Law Associate Professor, Department of Jurisprudence, Novosibirsk State Technical University 630102, Russia, Novosibirsk region, Novosibirsk, K.Marx Ave., 3 NSTU building, office 120 obberezina@mail.ru

Several historical and historical-legal studies have been devoted to the development of patent business in the USSR, considering both the processes of formation and activity of scientific and technical societies in different regions ^[1] and, in general, the specifics of the policy of the Soviet state in the field of inventive law ^[2]. But, nevertheless, the issues of the organization of patent activity in the USSR remain insufficiently studied from the point of view of determining the specifics of the content of the fundamental normative legal acts of this sphere and the specifics of organizational and legal mechanisms of activity, primarily newly created special bodies of patent and licensing work.

One of the significant stages in the development of the legal regulation of invention in the USSR is associated with the activities of the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, formed on February 23, 1956, which in 1963 was renamed the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR (State Committee for Inventions of the USSR).

In the period from 1961 to 1965, a number of administrative and legal acts were adopted, which made it possible to effectively regulate the issues of patent and licensing relations in the country and create a whole system of bodies that carried out patent work.

Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 607 of June 14, 1962 "On improving the protection of State interests in the Field of Inventions and on further improving the Organization of Invention in the USSR" set serious tasks for organizations and enterprises to ensure the patent purity of Soviet export products, patenting Soviet inventions abroad, preparing proposals for the sale of licenses for Soviet inventions and scientific-technical achievements. Sovnarkhoz, enterprises, research institutes and other organizations were obliged to take an active part in the implementation of these tasks.

In practice, there were frequent cases when organizations and enterprises did not take due care to protect their inventions with copyright certificates, considering it a personal matter of inventors, as a result of which inventions remained without proper protection at home and abroad, information about them was prematurely disclosed. This deprived the USSR of the opportunity to receive additional foreign currency funds from the sale of licenses for Soviet inventions and in some cases made it impossible to negotiate with foreign firms on inventions that could be implemented ^[3].

To solve these problems, a whole set of organizational measures was taken to create a system of patent divisions of research institutes.

On December 19, 1961, the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the Council of Ministers of the USSR approved a Model Regulation on the patent division of a research institute and a design organization ^[4], according to which the issues of the organization of the patent division were regulated, its functions and the order of interaction with other divisions were determined, and the rights of the patent division were fixed.

In particular, the Regulation determined that research institutes and design organizations engaged in the development of new and improvement of existing machines, devices, equipment and technological processes had to create Patent divisions, the main tasks of which were determined by:

1. participation in the implementation of measures that contribute to ensuring a high technical level (not inferior and superior to the level of development of world technology) and the maximum degree of patentability in the development of machines, devices, equipment and technological processes;

2. participation in the implementation of measures to ensure the patent purity of export objects;

3. assistance to manufacturing plants in the creation and replenishment of the patent fund, its use and storage;

4. increasing the knowledge of scientific and engineering workers in the field of patent legislation ^[5].

The functions of the Patent Division were determined in accordance with the main directions of its activities. Thus, in the field of development of patentable machines, devices, equipment and technological processes, Patent divisions had to organize the selection and replenishment of the patent fund by creating its card file, organizing convenient use of the fund, and storing it. In addition, Patent divisions had to take part in the preparation of work plans for sections related to the creation of new equipment, select patent materials for engineering and technical workers according to the relevant sections, take part in the discussion of inventions, prepare proposals for obtaining licenses, make proposals for monitoring the development of working drawings by manufacturers.

To ensure the patent purity of the developed machines, equipment, devices and technological processes, Patent divisions were required to acquaint scientific and engineering workers with the requirements for export objects, advise on filling out patent forms, organize a control examination for patent purity, and also ensure the transfer of patent forms to manufacturers and to the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

In the field of ensuring the protection of state priority, Patent divisions were obliged to identify, transfer to the BREEZE and prepare materials for patenting abroad technical solutions made at the level of inventions. In addition, Patent divisions had to take measures to prevent the premature publication in the press and official reports of materials revealing the essence of the alleged inventions, as well as to prevent the disclosure of such information during various events (exhibitions, lectures, reports, etc.) before obtaining the permission of the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the Council of Ministers USSR ^[6].

In order to assist the manufacturing plants, Patent divisions handed over copies of patent materials to them and generally coordinated with the BTI and the technical libraries of the Sovnarchs to provide manufacturers with technical information.

The main function of Patent divisions was also the organization of training of scientific and engineering workers in patent science, Soviet inventive law and patent law of foreign countries ^[7].

In order to carry out their tasks, Patent divisions were given the right to issue instructions to the Technical Information Bureau, to participate in meetings to discuss the development of projects or topics, to require necessary conclusions and consultations from other specialized departments during the examination for patent purity, to exercise control over the BREEZE and BTI regarding the registration of applications and non-disclosure of information about the inventions being developed ^[8].

By 1965, the work carried out led to significant results – more than 3,000 patent divisions were created throughout the country ^[9].

The creation of patent and licensing bodies was also actively carried out at the level of the Council of National Farms. Thus, on the basis of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated June 14, 1962 No. 607 "On improving the protection of state interests in the field of inventions and further improvement of Invention in the USSR", the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR in the West Siberian Economic Region established a group of patent examination of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of State Patent Examination, which was entrusted with the tasks of providing methodological guidance to the patent divisions of enterprises and organizations, as well as monitoring their work to verify the patent purity of Soviet industrial supplies abroad ^[10].

In accordance with the "Regulations on the Patent Examination Group of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of State Patent Examination (VNIIGPE) of the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR", approved on May 7, 1964, the group was headed by a chief appointed by the Chairman of the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries on the recommendation of the Director of VNIIGPE.  The Patent Examination Group controlled the activities of enterprises located on the territory of the economic region and interacted with the patent examination groups of VNIIGPE located in other economic regions on issues of ensuring timely examination of the patent purity of export objects ^[11].

One of the most important issues in the organization of regulation of patent legal relations was the issue of ensuring patentability and patent purity of inventions produced in the USSR. In this regard, on February 5, 1962, the Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries at the Council of Ministers of the USSR E. Artemyev sent instructions to all territorial administrative bodies on the need to be guided in practice by specially developed "Methodological guidelines on measures to ensure the patentability and patent purity of Soviet industrial supplies abroad" ^[12].

These instructions, introduced by the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of State Patent Examination and approved by the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the Council of Ministers of the USSR on June 23, 1962, were put into effect on March 1, 1962. The main task of the instructions was not only to clarify some theoretical and legal issues of patent law of foreign countries (the concept of a patent, license, types of legal liability, etc.), but primarily to establish standardized mechanisms of action in the field of protection of state interests with an increase in scientific and technical exports of the USSR.

To ensure patent purity and patentability, design organizations, research institutes, design bureaus and manufacturing plants were recommended:

1. to study in advance not only the main provisions of the patent laws of the countries for which projects and equipment are being prepared, but also descriptions of Soviet and foreign inventions;

2. check the patent purity of machines, devices, equipment, substances and technological processes (by individual parts, elements and methods) according to the current patent funds of the country where they are supplied;

3. apply for patenting abroad of original machines, devices, equipment, substances, technological processes and their elements.

Paragraph 7 of the guidelines obliged the designing organizations to check the patent purity from the very beginning of the project development, in the absence of the possibility of such verification by means of the patent fund of the organization itself, it was necessary to use the descriptions of Soviet and foreign inventions and other materials available in the All-Union Patent and Technical Library of the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries ^[13].

All information of a patent nature had to be entered into a patent form signed by the chief engineer of the enterprise or organization, the engineer who compiled the form and the engineer of the patent office (group) who carried out its verification. In the case when the organization responsible for ensuring the patent purity of products intended for export could not independently decide whether the export object falls under the current patent, it had to promptly apply to the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries for help and advice. At the same time, the Committee itself was given the right to conduct a control examination for the patent purity of any objects of export supplies ^[14].

When implementing export supplies, it was necessary to take into account the status of the country of supply, the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries recommended a list of 37 countries to which export supplies could be sent without conducting an examination for patent purity. This list included third world countries where patent law issues did not have priority, this included, for example, Afghanistan, the Gabonese Republic, Cambodia, Nepal, the Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Togo, the Somali Republic, etc. ^[15].

On March 2 , 1965 , Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR Ye . Artemyev, in his letter, pointed out to the chairman of the Council of Economic Affairs of the West Siberian Economic District And, A. Salashchenko, to the shortcomings in the activities of organizations in the field of checking the patent purity of export objects about the need to carry out inspections without going to Moscow ^[16].  This problem was of a significant nature, and the State Committee took active administrative measures to organize the patent examination on the ground. In the first half of 1964, the State Committee prepared bibliographic collections of patent funds of Iraq, Bulgaria, Romania, the UAR, India, Ceylon, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the GDR and Finland (most of the countries of primary export) for publication and sent to the sovnarhoz ^[17]. In addition, in order to organize the patent examination on the ground, the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR approved on July 1, 1964 "Temporary instructions on preliminary preparation on the ground for patent examination and on the procedure for providing assistance to specialists of organizations and enterprises staying in the All-Union Patent and Technical Library (VPTB)" ^[18]. The purpose of this instruction was to create a methodology for the work of organizations and enterprises that would allow for the verification of patent purity in the shortest possible time and with minimal time and money in conditions where the creation of industrial patent funds in the field has not yet been completed. It was specifically stipulated that it was "well-done work on the spot in many cases can completely eliminate the need for specialists to travel to Moscow to work in the All-Union Patent and Technical Library, and in cases where the secondment of specialists is necessary, - to reduce their work exclusively to the study of descriptions of inventions to patents and other materials missing on the spot" ^[19].

As the stages of preparatory work on the ground during the patent examination, the following were distinguished:

- thorough study of all guidance and reference materials and instructions;

- establishment of a list of countries in respect of which verification is carried out;

- study of patent legislation and patent practice of these countries;

- selection of necessary technical documentation;

- establishing the availability of patent materials on the ground;

- determination of the scope of verification based on the number of countries of supply, the availability of their patent funds and the volume of supply;

- identification of technical solutions, nodes, mechanisms that in this object were subject to verification by patent funds;

- determination of the procedure for verification by classifiers available on the ground and materials on the status of patent funds;

- conducting a check of the patent purity of the object in all countries for which collections of their patent funds are available locally.

The Sovnarkhoz, ministries and departments, before giving permission to send a specialist to Moscow, had to establish the need for specialists to travel to work on the funds of the VTB and check whether all the preparatory work had been done on the spot. Sovnarkhoz of economic districts where there were patent examination groups of VNIIGPE (Leningrad, Riga, Minsk, Kharkiv, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk) could send specialists to the VTB to check patent purity only after consultation in these groups of VNIIGPE. 

The specialists who arrived in Moscow interacted with the control and consulting department of VNIIGPE, which, if it was established that the work done on the ground was insufficient and this entailed an unreasonably long stay of the seconded specialists in Moscow, reported this to the State Committee, which in turn made a presentation to the relevant ministries, departments and sovnarkhoz. In order to reduce the time spent in Moscow, it was recommended to draw up the results of the inspection (drawing up an expert opinion) on the spot, after returning from a business trip ^[20].

Simultaneously with checking the patentability and patent purity of Soviet exports, organizations were obliged to carry out work on the identification of inventions and their protection by patents in the countries of supply. At the same time, it was determined that the main tasks of patenting Soviet inventions abroad were:

1. protection of the priority of Soviet inventions in solving important technical problems, export protection when exporting Soviet industrial goods abroad;

2. sale of licenses to foreign firms for the right to use certain Soviet inventions;

3. protection of complete supplies of equipment and technical documentation in which new inventions are used when providing technical assistance to foreign countries;

4. protection of inventions during demonstration at international exhibitions and fairs ^[21].

A special rule was established according to which patenting abroad had to be preceded by filing an application with the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries during the development of the project, before the implementation of any publications on the essence of the invention.

The next significant innovation in the administrative and legal regulation of the patent case in the USSR, related to the activities of the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, were the "Instructions for the Protection of State priority for Inventions made in the USSR", approved on July 25, 1962 and put into effect on September 1, 1962 ^[22].

In part of the general provisions, it was pointed out that the high technical level of Soviet industrial products caused an increasing demand for them on the world market, which could bring significant benefits to the Soviet state through the sale of licenses for inventions.  Therefore, state interests in the field of scientific and technical achievements could be most fully protected only by obtaining copyright certificates in the USSR in accordance with the established procedure, and, if necessary, patents abroad ^[23]. In this connection, the obligation of organizations was established to carry out activities to identify works performed at the level of inventions, within the framework of creating new or improving existing machines, devices, equipment, technological processes, substances, methods of treating diseases, breeding new breeds of farm animals and birds, varieties of agricultural crops ^[24]. When identifying works performed at the level of inventions, it was necessary to be guided by the "Regulations on Discoveries, Inventions and Rationalization Proposals" approved by Resolution No. 435 of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of April 24, 1959, and Resolution No. 607 of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of June 14, 1962 "On Improving the Protection of State Interests in the Field of Inventions and on Further Improvement organizations of invention in the USSR". To control the completeness of the identification of works performed at the level of inventions, it was indicated to use the patent form, which was an integral part of the technical and accounting documentation submitted to the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries for registration of completed works.

  Separately, the document characterized the unified procedure for registration of inventions in the USSR through registration of applications for the issuance of copyright certificates, established in accordance with the "Instructions for drawing up an application for inventions" approved by the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the Council of Ministers of the USSR on March 3, 1961. The requirement to submit applications immediately upon completion of the development of each individual solution performed at the invention level, before the completion of the project as a whole, was emphasized. This requirement was determined by the need to maintain priority for the invention in the conditions of global technical competition.

The procedure for submitting applications was also strictly regulated:

1. the application could be submitted only through the company or organization where the author worked;

2. the deadline for filing an application for an invention with an opinion on the usefulness and possibility of its introduction to the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries was determined in one month (the deadline for consideration of the application was four months ^[25]);

3. the priority date of the invention was established from the date of receipt of the application to the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries, and in the presence of a dispute – from the date of submission of the application to the enterprise (organization);

4. Inventors who did not work at enterprises (organizations) had to submit applications through the local bodies of the All-Union Society of Inventors and Innovators or independently directly to the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries (the application review period in this case was 6 months) ^[26].

Due to the need to acquire exclusive rights to a Soviet invention in different states, the Instructions established the requirement to ensure the possibility of patenting abroad. The initiative in patenting inventions abroad had to be taken by enterprises and organizations in which the invention was made, proposals on this issue had to be stated already in the application for the invention. Preparation for patenting abroad was to be carried out in accordance with the "Instructions on the procedure for preparing patenting of Soviet inventions abroad" approved by the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries on October 17, 1961 ^[27]. At the same time, a rule was established according to which the possibility of patenting an invention abroad was excluded in the presence of any publications about the invention, even those that did not prevent the issuance of an author's certificate in the USSR.

If organizations sent proposals for the sale of licenses to the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, they had to submit a technical description capable, without disclosing the essence of the invention, to interest a foreign firm in buying a license, to which photographs, catalogs, brochures illustrating the subject of the license were attached. The description should have contained information allowing to determine the specific technical and economic advantages of the subject of the license in comparison with similar foreign or domestic samples. The information included in the technical description was divided into categories:

1. the names of the inventions that make up the subject of the license, the indication of the authors of the inventions, the exact data of the copyright certificates;

2. description of the technical problem that can be solved by applying the subject of the license and what technical effect is possible;

3. description of the economic effect obtained from the use of the subject of the license;

4. information about the purpose of the license subject, scope and scope of application;

5. guaranteed indicators, dimensions, weight;

6. if the subject of the license was a technological process, then information about the process technology (briefly) and the equipment used was additionally indicated;

7. if the subject of the license was medicines or medical equipment, it was necessary to specify the formulation, data on the results of clinical trials and applications.

In addition to the technical description, organizations had to provide information about the degree of technical readiness of the invention:

1. the list and the deadline for the production of technical documentation, which must be licensed to a foreign company, indicating the organization responsible for its production and the estimated cost;

2. the possibility of transferring samples of the subject of the license to a foreign company, the term and cost of their manufacture;

3. the degree of mastering the subject of the license, indicating the enterprises where it was mastered, the test results, the estimated period of serial production;

4. enterprises where the subject of the license can be demonstrated to representatives of foreign firms;

5. the possibility of accepting specialists from foreign companies to familiarize themselves with the subject of the license and for training;

6. costs incurred in developing the subject of the license;

7. a list of literature in which data on the subject of the license are published, as well as exhibitions where samples or models of the subject of the license were exhibited ^[28].

The next initiative of the State Committee within the framework of administrative and organizational activities for the regulation of patent and licensing relations was the recommendation to hold a competition for patent activities of enterprises and organizations. In order to improve the entire patent licensing work, in order to identify enterprises and organizations where this work was performed at a high level, the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR in April 1964 took the initiative to hold a competition for the best formulation of patent work in organizations and enterprises. The competition was proposed to be held within the framework of each sovnarkhoz from May 1 to November 1, 1964 ^[29]. The terms of the competition were developed by the Upper Volga State Economic Council and approved by the State Committee.

All design and research organizations of the Council of National Economy, as well as various industrial enterprises engaged in the development of new and improvement of existing equipment and supplying products for export could take part in the competition.

For organizational and explanatory work on the competition at enterprises and organizations under the leadership of the chief engineer, commissions were to be created consisting of employees of patent groups, as well as representatives of party and trade union organizations.

The chief engineer, together with the engineer for patent work of the branch department, had to give an opinion on the submitted competitive materials of enterprises and transfer them to the competition commission at the Council of National Economy. The materials submitted for the competition had to consist of an explanatory note and technical documentation confirming the formulation of the patent work.

Enterprises and organizations had to submit materials to the branch office by November 10, 1964. The branch departments had to give appropriate conclusions to the commission under the Council of National Economy by December 1, 1964.

For the best organization of patent and inventive work, the winners of the competition were awarded: one first (300 rubles), three second prizes (200 rubles each) and five third prizes (150 rubles each). The monetary prizes awarded following the results of the review were to be intended for awarding engineering and technical workers and inventors who were directly involved in the organization and conduct of patent and inventive work. The decision on awarding these employees had to be made by the company's directorate together with the party and trade union organizations ^[30].

Bonus issues were also specifically considered in relation to employees who took an active part in patenting and preparing licenses for Soviet inventions and scientific and technical achievements for sale abroad ^[31]. In June 1965, the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR, together with the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR, in coordination with the USSR State Committee for Labor and Wages and the Ministry of Finance of the USSR, approved a special Instruction on bonuses, according to which bonuses were to be carried out at the expense of funds allocated for this purpose in Soviet currency in the amount of up to 5% of the amounts received from the sale of licenses abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Trade had to make these deductions from both one-time and periodic payments for each license sold during the entire time of receipt of payments from foreign firms.

The number of works for which bonuses could be carried out included:

- work on the preparation of materials, technical and advertising documentation;

- work on the implementation of concluded licensing agreements with foreign firms ^[32].

Employees of research and design organizations and enterprises, industry and production state committees, ministries, departments and sovnarkhoz, as well as the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and their subordinate organizations and the All-Union Chamber of Commerce could be awarded for these types of work.

A special commission consisting of representatives of the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR and the Ministry of Foreign Trade, meeting at least once a quarter, was to determine:

 - percentage of bonus deductions for each case;

- a list of enterprises, organizations, state committees, ministries, departments and state farms, to which, depending on the degree of their participation in the implementation of licenses, the volume and quality of work performed, funds for awarding employees should have been transferred, indicating the amount to be transferred to each organization.

The Ministry of Foreign Trade, within 10 days after receiving the commission's decision, had to transfer to the relevant enterprises and organizations the approved amounts for awarding employees of these organizations and enterprises, whose managers, in agreement with the trade union organization, determined the number of employees to be awarded and the amount of the bonus to each. At the same time, it was particularly noted that directors and chief engineers of enterprises, heads of research, design and other institutions and organizations, as well as their deputies could be awarded only with the permission of a higher organization ^[33].

The analysis of the state of the organization of patent licensing activities in the USSR by the heads of patent divisions, allowed in 1965 during the All-Union Meeting to highlight the significant shortcomings of the organization of patent licensing work in the USSR, among which were indicated:

1. the heads of the union and regional levels do not pay due attention to the organization of patent work;

2. government agencies, organizations and enterprises poorly select and prepare proposals for patenting inventions abroad;

3. a number of state committees, ministries, departments, state farms, organizations and enterprises have not created patent services, and the existing ones are not fully staffed with qualified specialists;

4. insufficient work is being done to prevent premature information disclosing the essence of the inventions made;

5. there are still cases of export products being delivered without checking patent purity;

6. The State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR insufficiently provides methodological guidance to patent divisions of enterprises and organizations;

7. VNIIGPE is staffed with insufficiently qualified specialists, as a result of which there are a significant number of cases of unjustified refusal to issue copyright certificates for inventions ^[34].

As recommendations for overcoming shortcomings in the organization of patent and licensing work, the Meeting recommended, among others::

1. state committees, ministries, departments and state farms to take the necessary measures to improve patent licensing work;

2. to recognize the need to dramatically increase the requirements for the preparation of initial applications for alleged inventions in order to achieve the identity of the descriptions of the invention patented abroad and the descriptions of the copyright certificate in the USSR;

3. to request the State Committee for the Coordination of Scientific Research of the USSR to create divisions that manage territorial patent funds and provide enterprises with catalogs and brochures of products manufactured by foreign firms;

4. to request the State Committee of Standards, Measures and Measuring Instruments of the USSR to include in the newly developed GOST-5295 (drawing management system) the requirement for the mandatory availability of a patent form as part of technical documentation;

5. Request the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the USSR:

- to provide for the introduction of mandatory courses in patent science and inventive law in technical universities in the amount of at least 50-60 hours;

- to introduce a mandatory course of patent law in foreign countries in law institutes and law faculties of universities and, accordingly, to expand the scope of the course of Soviet inventive law;

- take measures for the urgent publication of a textbook on patenting for higher educational institutions;

6. To the State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR:

- to organize a department of patent work methodology, as well as a Scientific and Methodological Council on the problems of patent and licensing work with the broad involvement of practitioners from the field;

- to hold seminars for industry executives in 1965;

7. to hold an All-Union competition for the best organization of patent work at enterprises, organizations, ministries, departments, sovnarkhoz, state committees ^[35].

These recommendations identified the main directions for the development of patent and licensing work in the USSR not only for the coming year, but also in general for the next decades.

Thus, summing up, it can be concluded that the active formation of the system of patent licensing work in the USSR took place in 1960 - 1965, the main purpose of this activity was the need to ensure the protection of state interests in the field of invention, especially in matters of patentability and patent purity of Soviet industrial supplies abroad.

Patent divisions of research institutes and design organizations, patent examination groups of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of State Patent Examination, as well as patent divisions of enterprises and organizations formed the organizational basis of the patent licensing activity that was being formed.

The key regulatory and legal bases for the organization of patent and licensing activities were the directive and instructive provisions of the Committee for Inventions and Discoveries of the USSR.