LETTERS TO L.A. LIFE : INVENTORS SHOULDN'T RELY ON SKETCHY KNOWLEDGE OF LAW.

As a retired professional inventor, a holder of many patents and a former lecturer on the subject, I must say the otherwise interesting article ``Invention Intention'' is grossly misleading and over two years behind the times on who gets rightful patent protection on an idea.

Effective June 7, 1995, all this patent rights protection has changed. In the face of legality, when the United States signed on to the new international trade treaty GATT, the first to conceive of an idea is no longer considered the true inventor ever if he is the junior applicant with a log to prove diligence to reduce to practice or not.

Under the new agreement, the first to file is the one who gets the patent rights and the protection accorded therewith, provided, of course, it passes muster with the PTO Examiner and is issued. Consistent with that, as the article goes on to say about keeping a log, while it may help one's ego, becomes academic and could create a false sense of security.

As a means of softening the GATT impact, the Patent and Trademark Office came up with a new form called the Provisional Patent Application. It is a new, one-year limited, front-end approach before filing for the final patent protection that this writer feels will take some time for case law to sort out the pros and cons.

John Todd 

- West Hills

`Touched' by an episode

Recently CBS aired a beautiful and moving ``Touched by an Angel'' about a middle-age couple who were expecting their first child.

However, the father-to-be doesn't really want it because he felt that their child was to be born retarded. But when the mother-to-be gets shot during a robbery attempt and has to be rushed to the hospital, a real-life actor with Down's syndrome (Chris Burke) comes to the father's aid.

The father has a change of heart and eagerly accepts their child by sharing it with his wife in the hospital.

I mention this story as I'm also handicapped, and I was delighted to see this actor with Down's syndrome playing such a positive role.

James Cady

- Rosemead

Ethnicity and the Emmys

In reading the letter regarding Latinos at the Emmys, it has become apparent and very boring for people to keep harping on the same thing about why my ethnic group wasn't given representation.

Yes, the Emmys were a dismal failure as far as the show goes. The producers could have found a better host than Bryant Gumbel, whose personality is fitting for a funeral. This was a real waste of our time.

But to hear why there wasn't any Latino representation, I didn't see American Indians, American Chinese, American Japanese, or was there any American Eskimos given any representation on the show?

The Emmys are given to people who made achievements in a TV show, not for the ethnic background they represent.

Benjamin Laufer

- Sherman Oaks

The dark side of Browne

Like Joni Mitchell needs defending. She's a woman's woman. She's an artist. She writes songs like ``For Free.'' Jackson Browne writes songs like ``Somebody's Baby.''

So she dissed him and doesn't want to be face to face with him. I don't blame her. Based on his track record with women, who would want to fuel his fire.

Some please get a doctor for his eyes. Apparently the only light this Neanderthal sees is from an imaginary torch he thinks someone is waving at him.

- Dylann Bralley

- Simi Valley

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Chris Burke's character helps a father-to-be in an episode of ``Touched by an Angel.''