Source: https://ask.aboutlaw.com/2019/12/patent-form-of-patent.html
Timestamp: 2020-04-09 16:15:50
Document Index: 608767564

Matched Legal Cases: ['§1', 'Art. 1', '§21', '§2', '§3', '§5', '§6', '§7', '§8', '§9', '§10', '§1', '§2', 'art.\n4', '§3', '§1', '§2', '§3', '§4']

PATENT... Form of the patent - Aboutlaw.com Dictionary and documents
3. A patent ambiguity -is one which is produced by the uncertainty, contradictoriness or deficiency of the language of an instrument, so that no discovery of facts or proof of declaration can restore the doubtful or smothered sense without adding ideas which the actual words will not of themselves sustain. Bac. Max. 99 T. Raym. R. 411; Roberts on Fr. 15.
4. A latent ambiguity may be explained by parol evidence, but the rule is, different with regard to a patent abiguity, which cannot be explained by parol proof. The following instance has been proposed by the court as a patent ambiguity: " If A B, by deed, give goods to one of the sons of J S, who has several sons, he shall not aver which was intended; for by judgment of law upon this deed, the gift is void for uncertainty, which cannot be supplied by averment." 8 Co. 155 a. And no difference exists between a deed and a will upon this subject. 2 Atk. 239.
5. This rule, which allows an explanation of latent ambiguities, and which forbids the use of parol evidence to explain a patent ambiguity, is difficult of application. It is attended, in some instances, with very minute nicety of discrimination, and becomes a little unsteady in its application. When a bequest is made " to Jones, son of, Jones," or " to Mrs. B," it is not easy to show that the ambiguity which this imperfect designation creates, is not ambiguity arising upon the face of the will, and as such, an ambiguity patent, yet parol evidence is admitted to ascertain the persons intended by those ambiguous terms.
PATENT, contracts. A patent for an invention is a giant made by the government of the United States to the inventor of any new or useful art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement in any art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter not known or used by others before his or their discovery or invention thereof, and not, at the time of his application for a patent, in public use or on sale, with his consent or allowance, as the inventor or discoverer; securing to him for a limited time, therein expressed, the full and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using, and vending to others to be used, the said invention or discovery, on certain conditions, among which is the one of at once giving up his secret and making public his discovery or invention, and the manner of making and using the same, so that at the expiration of his privilege, it may become public property. The instrument securing this grant is also called a patent. The subject will be considered by taking a succint view of, 1. The legislation of the United States on the subject. 2. The patentee. 3. The subject to be patented. 4. The caveat and preliminary proceedings. 5. The proceedings to obtain a patent. 6. The patent. 7. The duty or tax on patents. 8. Courts having jurisdiction in patent cases. 9. Actions for violations of patents. §1. Legislation of the United States. 2. The constitution of the United States authorizes congress to pass laws " to, promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right of their respective writings and discoveries." Art. 1, s. 8, n. 8. By virtue of this authority congress can grant patents to inventors, and it rests in the sound, discretion of the legislature to say when, and for what length of time, and under what circumstances the patent for an invention shall be granted. Congress may, therefore, grant a patent which shall operate retrospectively by securing to the inventor the use of his invention, though it was in public use and enjoyed by the community at the time this act was passed . 3 Sumn. 535; 2 Story, R. 164. The first act passed under this power is that which established the patent office on the 10th of April, 1790, 1 Story, L. U. S. 80. There were several supplements and modifications to this first law, namely, the acts passed February 7, 1793, Idem, 300; June 7, 1794, Idem, 363; April 17, 1800, Idem, 753; July 3,1832, 4 Sharsw. cont. of Story, L. U.S. 2300; July 13, 1832, Idem, 2313.
§21. That all acts and parts of acts theretofore passed on this subject be, and the same are hereby repealed: Provided, however, That all actions and processes, in law or equity sued out prior to the passage of this act, may be prosecuted to final judgment and execution, in the same manner as though this act had not been passed, excepting and saving the application to any such action, of the provisions of the fourteenth and fifteenth sections of this act, so far as they maybe applicable thereto. And provided, also, That all applications and petitions for patents, pending at the time of the passage of this act, in cases where the duty has been paid, shall be proceeded with and acted on in the same manner as though filed after the passage thereof.
4. The existing laws on the subject of patents are the act of July 4, 1836, already mentioned; the acts of March 3, 1837; Idem, 2546; March 3, 1839; 9 Laws U. S, 1019; August29,1842; ch. 263, Pamph. Laws, 171; May 27, 1848. Minot's Stat. at Large, U. S. 231. §2. Of the patentee.
5. Any person or persons having discovered or invented the thing to be pa-tented, whether he be a citizen of the United States or an alien, is entitled to a patent on fulfilling the requirements of the law. Act of July 4, 1836, s. 6.
§3. The subject to be patented
10. - 1. The invention or discovery must be something which the inventor has himself found out; some peculiar device or manner of producing any given effect. A patent cannot, therefore, be taken out for the elementary principles of motion, which philosophy and science have discovered, but only for the manner of applying them. 1 Gallis. 478; 2 Gallis. 51.
13. And by the act of March 3, 1837, s. 8, that, whenever application shall be made to the commissioner for any addition of a newly discovered improvement to be made on an existing patent, or when ever a patent shall be returned for correction, and re-issue, the specification of claim annexed to every such patent shall be subject to revision and restriction, in the same manner as are original applications for patents; the commissioner, shall not add any such improvement to the patent in the one case, nor grant the re-issue in the other case, until the applicant shall have entered a disclaimer, or altered his specification of claim in accordance with the decision of the commissioner; and in all such cases the applicant, if dissatisfied with such decision, shall have the same remedy and be entitled to the benefit of the same privileges and proceedings as are provided by law in the case of original applications for patents.
14. - 2. The thing patented must be a new and useful invention, discovery or improvement.
16. But by the act of March 3, 1839, sect. 7, it is provided, that every person or corporation who has, or shill have, purchased or constructed any newly invented machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, prior to the application by the inventor or discoverer for a patent, shall be held to possess the right to use, and vend to others to be used, the specific machine, manufacture, or composition of matter so made or purchased, without liability therefor to the inventor, or any other person interested in such invention; ana no patent shall be held to be invalid by reason of such purchase, sale, or use, prior to the application for a patent as aforesaid, except on proof of abandonment of such invention to the public; or that such purchase, sale, or prior use has been for more than two years prior to such application for a patent.
17. By the term useful invention is meant an invention which may be applied to some beneficial use in society, in contradistinction to an invention which is injurious to morals, to the health, or good order of society. 1 Mason, C. C. R. 302; 4 Wash. C. C; R. 9. The term is also opposed to that which is frivolous or mischievous. 1 Mason, C. C. R. 182; Renouard, 177; Perpigna, Man. des Inv. c. 2, s. 1, page 50. See 3 Car. & P. 502; 1 Pet. C. C. R. 480; 1 U. S. Law Journ. 563; 1 Paine, 203; 2 Kent, Com. 368, Dr; Phill. on Pat. c. 7, s. 14.
18. The act of August 29, 1842, sect, 3, provides that any citizen or citizens, or alien or aliens, having resided, one year in the United States, and taken the oath of his or their intention to become a citizen or citizens, who by his, her, or their own industry, genius, efforts, and expense, may have invented or produced any new and original design for a manufacture, whether of metal, or other material or materials, or any new and original design for the printing of woolen, silk, cotton, or other fabrics, or any new and original design for a bust, statue, or has relief or composition in alto or basso relievo, or any new and original impression or ornament, or to be placed on any article of manufacture, the same being formed in marble or other material, or any new and useful pattern, or print, or picture, to be either worked-into or worked on, or printed, or painted, or cast, or otherwise fixed on, any article of manufacture, or any new and original shape or configuration of ally article of manufacture not known or used by others before his, her, or their invention or production thereof, and prior to the time of his, her, or their application for a patent therefor, and who shall desire or obtain an exclusive Property or right therein to make, use, and sell and vend. the same, or copies of the same, to others, by them, made, used, and sold, may make application in writing to the commissioner of patents, expressing such desire, and the commissioner, on due proceedings had, may grant a patent therefor, as in the case. now of application for a patent: Provided, That the fee in such cases which by the now existing laws would be required of the particular applicant shall be one-half the sum, and that the duration of said patent shall be seven years, and that all the regulations and provisions which now apply to the obtaining or protection of patents not inconsistent with the provision's of this act, shall apply to applications under this section.
2. Patents-for importations.
19. It is enacted by the act of March 3, 1839, s. 6, that no person shall be debarred from receiving a patent for any invention or discovery, as provided in the act approved on the fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, to which this is additional, by reason of the same having been patented in, a foreign country, more than six months prior to his application: Provided, That the same shall not have been introduced into public and common use, in the United States, prior to the application for such patent: And provided, also, That in all cages every such patent shall be limited to the term of fourteen years from the date or publication of such foreign letters-patent. 20. And by the act of July 4, 1836, s. 8, it is provided, that nothing in this act contained shall be, construed to deprive an origisal and true inventor of the right to a patent for his invention, by reason of his having previously taken out letters-patent therefor in a foreign country, and the same having been published at any time within six mouths next preceding the filing of his specification and drawing.
21. The act of July 4, 1836, s. 12, provides that any citizen of the United States, or alien who have been resident in the United States one year next preceding, and shall have made oath of his intention to become a citizen thereof, who shall have invented any new art, machine, or improvement thereof, and shall desire further time to mature the same, may, on paying to the credit of the treasury, in manner as provided in the ninth section of this act, the sum of twenty dollars, file in the patent office a caveat, setting forth the design and purpose thereof, and its principal and distinguishing characteristics, and praying protection of his right, till he shall have matured his invention - which sum of twenty dollars, in case the person filing such caveat shall afterwards take out a patent for the invention therein mentioned, shall be considered a part of the sum herein required for the same. And such caveat shall be filed in the confidential archives of the office, and preserved in secrecy. And if application shall be made by any other person within one year from the time of filing such caveat, for a patent of any invention with which it may in any respect interfere, it shall be the duty of the commissioner to deposit the description, specifications, drawings, and model, in the confidential archives of the office, and to give notice, by mail, to the person filing the caveat, of such application, who shall, within three months after receiving the notice, if he would avail himself of the benfit of his caveat, file his description, specifications, drawings, and model: and if, in the opinion of the commissioner, the specifications of claim interfere with each other, like proceeding& may be had in all respects as are in this act provided in the case of interfering applications: Provided, however, That no opinion or decision of any board of examiners, under the provisions of this act, shall preclude any person interested in favor of or against the validity of any patent which has been or may hereafter be granted, from the right to contest the same in any judicial court in any action in which its, validity may come in question.
§5. Of the proceedings to obtain a patent.
23 . This section will be divided by considering the proceedings when there is no opposition, and when there are conflicting claims.
24. The sixth section of the act of July 4, 1836, directs, that before any inventor shall receive a patent for any such new invention or discovery, he shall deliver a written description of his invention or discovery, and of the manner and process of making, constructing, using, and compounding the same, in such full, clear, and exact terms, avoiding unnecessary prolixity, as to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which it appertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make, construct, compound, and use the same; and in case of any machine, he shall fully explain the principle and the several modes in which he has contemplated the application of that principle or character by which it may be distiguished from other inventions and shall particularly specify and point out the part, improvement, or combination, which he claims as his own invention or discovery. He shall, furthermore, accompany the whole with a drawing, or drawings, and written references, where the nature of the case admits of drawings, or with specimens of ingredients, and of the composition of matter, sufficient in quantity for the purpose of experiment, where the invention or discovery is of a composition of matter; which descriptions and drawings, signed by the inventor and attested by two witnesses; shall be filed in the patent office; and be shall, moreover, furnish a model of his invention, in all cases which admit of a representation by model, of a convenient size to exhibit advantageously its several parts. The applicant shall also make oath or affirmation that he does verily believe that he is the original and first inventor or discoverer of the art, machine, composition, or improvement, for which he solicits a patent, and that he does not know or believe that the same was ever known or used; and also of what country he is a citizen; which oath or affirmation may, be made before any person authorized by law to administer oaths.
25. The fourth section of the act of August 29, 1842, provides that the oath required for applicants for patents, may be taken, when the applicant is not, for the time being, residing in the United States, before any minister pleni-potentiary, charge d affaires; consul, or commercial agent, holding a commission under the government of the United States, or before any notary public of the country in which such applicant may be.
26. And the act of March 3, 1837, sect. 13, provides that in all cases in which an oath is required by this act, or by the act to which this is additional, if the person of whom it is required shall be conscientiously scru-pulous of taking an oath, affirmation may be substituted therefor.
27. The seventh section of the act of July 4, 1836, further enacts, that on the filing of any such application, description, and specification, and the payment of the duty hereinafter provided, the commissioner shall make or cause to be made, an examination of the alleged new invention or discovery; and if, on any such examination, it shall not appear to the commissioner that the same had been invented or discovered by any other person in this country prior to the alleged invention or discovery thereof by the applicant, or that it had been patented or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country, or had been in public use or on sale with the applicant's consent or allowance prior to the application, if the commissioner shall deem it to be sufficiently useful and important, it shall be his duty to issue a patent therefor. But whenever on such examination it shall appear to the commissioner that the applicant wag not the original and first inventor or discoverer thereof, or that any part of that which is claimed as new had before been invented or discovered, or patented, or described in any printed, publication in this or any foreign country, as aforesaid, or that the description is defective and insufficient, he shall notify the applicant thereof, giving him, briefly, such information and, references as may be useful in judging of the propriety of renewing his application, or of altering his specification to embrace only that part of the invention or discovery which is new. In every such case, if the applicant shall elect to withdraw his application, relinquishing his claim to the model, he shall be entitled to receive back twenty dollars part of the duty required by this act, on filing a notice in writing of such election in the patent office, a copy of which, certified by the commissioner, shall be a sufficient warrant to the treasurer for paying back to said applicant the said sum of twenty dollars. But if the said applicant in such case shall persist in his claim for a patent, with or without any alteration of his specification, he shall be required to make oath or affirmation anew in manner as aforesaid. And if the specification and claim shall not have been so modified as in the opinion of the commissioner, shall entitle the applicant to a patent, he may, on appeal, and upon request in writing, have the decision of the board of examiners, to be composed of three disinterested persons, who shall be appointed for that purpose by the secretary of state, one of whom at least, to be selected, if practicable and convenient, for his knowledge and skill in the particular art, manufacture, or branch of science to which the alleged invention appertains; who shall be under oath or affirmation for the faithful and impartial performance of the duty imposed upon them by said appointment. Said board shall be furnished with a certificate in writing, of the opinion and decision of the commissioner, stating the particular grounds of his objection, and the part or parts of the invention which he considers as not entitled to be patented. And the same board shall give reasonable notice to the applicant, as well as to the commissioner of the time and place of their meeting; that they may have an opportunity of furnishing them with such facts and evidence as they may deem necessary to. a just decision; and it shall be the duty of the commissioner to furnish to the board of examiners such information as he may possess relative to the matter under their consideration. And on an examination and consideration of the matter by such board, it shall be in their power, or of a majority of them, to reverse the decision of the commissioner, either in whole or in part; and their opinion being certified to the commissioner, he shall be governed therby, in the further proceedings to be had on such application: Provided, however, That before a board shall be instituted in any such case, the applicant shall pay to the credit of the treasury, as provided in the ninth section of this act, (see 47,) the sum of twenty-five dollars, and each of said persons so appointed shall be entitled to receive for his services in each case, a sum not exceeding ten dollars, to be determined and paid by the commissioner out of any moneys in his hands, which shall be in full compensation to, the persons who may be so appointed, for their examination and certificate as aforesaid.
29. And by the same act, sect. 11, it is provided, that in all cases where an appeal is now. allowed by law from the decision of the commissioner of patents to a board of examiners provided for in the seventh section of the act to which this is additional, the party, instead thereof, shall have a right to appeal to the chief justice of the district court of the United States for the district of Columbia, by giving notice thereof to the commissioner, and filing in the patent office, within such time as the commissioner shall appoint, his reasons of appeal, specifically set forth in writing, and also paying into the patent office, to the credit of the patent fund, the sum of twenty-five dollars. And it shall be the. duty of said chief justice, on petition, to hear and determine all such appeals, and to revise such decisions in a summary manner, on the evidence produced before the commissioner, at such early and convenient time as he may appoint, first notifying the commissioner of the time and place of hearing, whose duty it shall be to give notice thereof to all parties who appear to be interested therein, in such manner as said judge shall prescribe. The commissioner shall also lay before the said judge all the original papers and evidence in the case, together with the grounds of his decision, fully set forth in writing, touching all the points involved by the reasons of appeal, to which the revision shall be confined. And at the request of any party interested, or at the desire of the judge, the commissioner and the examiners in the patent office, may be examined under oath, in explanation of the principles of the machine, or other thing for which a patent, in such case, is prayed for. And it shall be the duty of said judge after a hearing of any such case, to return all the papers to the commissioner, with a certificate of his proce edings and decision, which shall be entered of record in the patent office; land such decision, so certified, shall govern the further proceedings of the commissioner in such case, Provided, however, That no opinion or decision of the judge in any such case, shall preclude any person interested in favor or against the validity of any patent, which has been or way hereafter be granted, from the right to contest the same in any judicial court, in any action in which its validity may come in question.
30. It is enacted by the 8th section of the act of July 4, 1836, that whenever an application shall be made for a patent, which, in the opinion of the commissioner, would interfore with any other patent for which an application may be pending, or with any unexpired patent which shall have been granted, it shall be the duty of the commissioner to give notice thereof to such appli-cants or patentees; as the case maybe; and if either shall be dissatisfied with the decision of the commissioner on the question of priority, right or invention, on a hearing thereof, he may appeal from such decision, on the like terms and conditions as are provided in the preceding section of this act and like proceedings, shall be had, to determine which, or whether either of the applicants is entitled to receive a patent as prayed for.
§6. Of the patent.
35. It is provided by the thirteenth section of the act of July. 4, 1836, that whenever any patent which has heretofore been granted, or which shall hereafter be granted, shall be inoperative or invalid, by reason of a defective or insufficient description or specification, or by reason of the patentee claiming in his specification as his own invention, more than he had or shall have a right to claim as new; if the error has, or shall have arisen b y inadvertency, accident or mistake, and without any fraudulent or deceptive intention, it shall be lawful for the c6mmissioner, upon the surrender to him of such patent, and the payment of the further duty of fifteen dollars, to cause a new patent to be issued to the said inventor, for the same invention, for the residue of the period then unexpired for which the original patent was granted, in accordance with the patentee's corrected description and specification. And in the event of his death, or any assignment by him made of the original patent, a similar right shall vest in his executors, administrators, or assignees. And the patent, so reissued, together with the corrected description and specification, shall have the same effect and operation in law, on the trial of all actions, hereafter commenced for causes subsequently accruing, as though the same had been originally filed in such corrected form, before the issuing out of the original patent. And whenever the original patentee shall be desirous of adding the description and specification of any new improvement of the original invention or discovery which shall have been invented or discovered by him subsequent to the date of his patent, he may, like proceedings being had in all respects as in the case of original applications, and on the payment of fifteen dollars, as hereinbefore provided, have the same annexed to the original description and specification; and, the commissioner shall certify, on the margin of such annexed description and specification, the time of its being annexed and recorded; and the same shall thereafter have the same effect in law, to all intents and purposes, as though it had been embraced in the original description and specification.
36. And it is enacted by the act of March 3, 1837, section 5, that, whenever a patent shall be returned for correction and reissue under the thirteenth section of the act to which this is additional, and the patentee shall desire several patents to be issued for distinct and separate parts of the thing patented, he shall first pay, in manner and in addition to the sum provided by that act, the sum of thirty dollars for each additional patent so to be issued; Provided, however, that no patent made prior to the aforesaid fif-teenth day of December, 1836, shall be corrected and reissued until a duplicate of the model and drawing of the thing as originally invented, verified by oath as shall be required by the commissioner, shall be deposited in the patent office: Nor shall any addition of an improvement be made to any patent heretofore granted, nor any new patent to be issued for an improvement made in any machine, manufacture, or process, to the original inventor, assignee or possessor, of a patent therefor, nor any disclaimer be admitted to record, until a duplicate model and drawing of the thing originally intended, verified as aforesaid, shall have been deposited in the patent office, if the commissioner shall require the same; nor shall any patent be granted for an invention, improvement, or discovery, the model or drawing of which shall have been lost, until another model and drawing, if required by the commissioner, shall, in like manner, be deposited in the patent office:
39. - Sect. 1. That any person who may be in possession of, or in any way interested in, any patent for an invention, disocovery, or improvement, issued prior to the fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thosand eight hundred and thirty-six, or in an assignment of any patent, or interest therein, executed, and recorded prior to the said fifteenth day of December, may, without charge, on presentation or transmission thereof to the commissioner of patents, have the same recorded anew in the patent office, together with the descriptions, specifications of claim and drawings annexed or belonging to the same; and it shall be the duty of the commisioner to cause the same, or any authenticated copy of the original record, specification, or drawing which he may obtain, to be transcribed and copied into books of record to be kept for that purpose; and wherever a drawing was not originally annexed to the patent and referred to in the specification and drawing produced as a delineation of the invention, being verified by oath in such manner as the commissioner shall require, may be transmitted and placed on file, or copied as aforesaid, together with the certificate of the oath; or such drawings may be made in the office, under the direction of the commisioner, in conformity with the specification. And it shall be the duty of the commissioner to take such measures as may be advised and determined by the board commissioners provided for by the fourth section, of this act, to obtain the patents, specifications, and copies aforesaid, for the purpose of being so transcribed and recorded. And it shall be the duty of each of the several clerks of the judicial courts of the United States, to transmit, as soon as may be, to the commissioner of the patent office, a statement of all the authenticated copies of patents, descriptions, specifications, and drawings of inventions and discoveries made and executed prior to the aforesaid fifteenth day of December, which may be found on the files of his office; and also to make out and transmit to said commissioner for record as aforesaid, a certified copy of every such patent, description, specification, or drawing, which shall be specially required by such commissioner.
40. - Sect. 2. That copies of such record and drawings, certified by the commissioner, or, in his absence, by the chief clerk, shall be prima facie evidence of the particulars of the invention and of the patent granted therefore, in any judicial court of the United States, in all cases where copies of the original record or specification and drawings would be evidence, without proof of the loss of such originals and no patent issued therefor by the patentee or other person inprior to the aforesaid, fifteenth day of December, shall, after the first day of June next, be received in evidence in, any of the said courts in behalf of the patentee or other person who shall be in possession of the same, unless it shall have been so recorded anew, and a drawing of the invention, if separate from the patent, verified as, aforesaid, deposited in the patent office; nor shall any written assignment of any such patent, executed and, recorded prior to the said fifteenth day of December, be received in evidence in any of the said courts in behalf of the assignee or other person in possession thereof, until it shall have been so recorded anew.
41. - Sect. 3. That whenever it shall appear to the commissioner that any patent was destroyed by the burning of the patent office building on the aforesaid fifteenth day of December, or was otherwise lost prior thereto, it shall be his duty, on application terested therein, to issue a new patent for the same invention or discovery bearing the date of the original patent, with his certificate thereon that it was made and issued pursuant to the provisions of the third section of this act, and shall enter the same of record: Provided, however, That before such patent shall be issued, the applicant therefor shall deposit in the patent office a duplicate, as near as may be, of the original model, drawings, and description, with specification of the invention or discovery, verified by oath, as shall be required by the commissioner; and such patent and copies of such drawings and descriptions, duly certified, shall be admissible as evidence in any judicial court of the United States, and shall protect the rights of the patentee, his administrators, heirs and assigns, to the extent only in which they would have been protected by the original patent and specification.
44. By virtue of the act of July 4, 1836, sect. 11, every-patent shall be assignable in law, either as to the whole interest, or, any undivided part thereof, by any instrument in writing; which assignment, and also every grant and conveyance of the exclusive right under any patent, to make and use, and to grant to others to make and use, the thing patented within and throughout any, specified part or portion of the United States, shall be recorded in the patent office within three months from the execution thereof. This act required the payment of a fee of three dollars to be paid by the assignee, but this provison has been repealed by the act of March 3, 1839, s. 8, and such assignments, grants, and conveyances, shall, in future, be recorded without any charge whatever. But, by the act of May 27, 1848, Minot's. Stat. at Large, U. S. 231, it is enacted, That hereafter the commissioner of patents shall require a fee of one dollar for recording any assignment, grant or conveyance, of the, whole or any part of the interest in letters-patent, or power of attorney, or license to make or use the things patented, when such instrument shall not exceed three hundred words; the sum of two dollars when it shall exceed three hundred, and shall not exceed one thousand words and the sum of three dollars when it shall exceed one thousand words; which fees shall in all cases be paid in advance.
46. The act of August 29, 1842, section 6, requires, That all patentees and and assingees of patents hereafter granted, are hereby required to stamp, engrave, or cause to be stamped or engraved, on each article vended, or offered for sale, the date of the patent; and if any person or persons, patentees, or assignees, shall neglect to do so, he, she, or they, shall be liable to the same penalty, to be recovered and disposed of in the manner specified in the foregoing fifth section of this act. See 49.
§7. Duty or tax on patents.
47. The tax or duty on patents is not the same in all cases, foreigners being required to pay a greater sum than citizens, and the subjects of the king of Great Britain a greater sum than other foreigners. The ninth section of the act of July 4, 1836, requires, That before any application for a patent can be considered by the commissioner as aforesaid, the applicant shall pay into the treasury of the United States, or into the patent office, or into any of the deposit banks to the credit of the treasury, if he be a citizen of the United States, or an alien, and shall have been resident in the United States for one year next preceding, and shall have made oath of his intention to become a citizen thereof, the sum of thirty dollars; if a subject of the king of Great Britain, the sum of five hundred dol1ars; and all other persons the sum of three hundred dollars, for which payment duplicate receipts shall be taken, one of which to be filed in the office of the treasurer. And the moneys received into the treasury under this act, shall constitute a fund for the payment of the salaries of the officers and clerks herein provided for, and all other expenses of the patent office, and to be called the patent fund.
§8. Penalty for use of patentee's marks.
§9. Courts having jurisdiction in patent cases.
§10. Actions for violation of patent rights.
52. - Sect. 15. That the defendant in any such action shall be permitted to plead the general issue, and to give this act, and any special matter in evidence, of which notice in writing may have been given to the plaintiff or his attorney, thiry days before trial, tending to prove that the description and specification filed by plaintiff does not contain the whole truth relative to his invention or discovery, or that it contains more than is necessary to produce the described effect; which concealment or addition shall fully appear to have, been made for the purpose of deceiving the public, or that the patentee was not, the original and first inventor or discoverer of the thing patented, or of a substantial and miaterial art thereof claimed as new, or that it had teen described in some public work anterior to the supposed discovery thereof by the patentee, or had been in public use, or on sale with the consent and allowance of the patentee before his application for a patent, or that, he had surreptitiously or unjustly obtained the patent for that which was in fact invented or discovered by another, who was using reasonable diligence in adapting and perfecting the same; or, that the patentee if an alien at the time the patent was grauted, had failed and neglected for the space of eighteen months from the date of the patent, to put and continue on sale to the public, on reasonable terms, the invention or discovery for which the patent issued; in either of which cases judgment shall be rendered for the defendant, with costs. And whenever the defendant relies in his defence on the fact of a previous invention, knowledge, or use of the thing patented, be shall state, in his notice of special matter, the names and places of residence of those whom he intends to prove to have possessed a prior knowledge of the thing and where the same had been used: Provided, however, that whenever it shall satisfactorily appear that the patentee, at the time of making his application for the patent, believed himself to be the first inventor or discoverer of the thing patented the same shall not be held to be void on account of the invention or discovery or any part thereof having been before known or used in any foreign country, it not appearing that the same or any substantial part thereof, had before been patented or described in any printed publication. And provided, also, that whenever the plaintiff shall fail to sustain his action on the ground that in his specification of claim is embraced more than that of which he was the first inventor, if it shall appear that the defendant had used or violated any part of the invention justly and truly specified and claimed as new, it shall be in the power of the court to adjudge and award as to costs as may appear to be just and equitable.
53. This last section has been modified by the act of March 3, 1837, which enacts as follows: Section 9, That anything in the fifteenth section of the act to which this is additional to the contrary notwithstanding That, whenever by mistake, accident, or inadvertence, and without any wilful default or intent to defraud or mislead the public, any patentee shall have in his specification claimed to be the original and first inventor or discoverer of any material or substantial part of the thing patented, of which he was not the first and original inventor, and shall have no legal or just right to claim the same in every such, case the patent shall be deemed good and valid for so much of the invention or discovery as shall be truly and bona fide his own: Provided, it shall be a material and substantial part of the thing patented, and be definitely distinguishable from the other parts so claimed without right as aforesaid. And every such patentee, his executors, administrators and assigns, whether of the whole or of a sectional interest therein, shall be entitled to maintain a suit at law or in equity on such patent for any infringement of such part of the invention or, discovery as shall be bona fide his own as aforesaid, notwithstanding the specification may embrace more than he shall have any legal right to claim. But, in every such case in which a judgment or verdict shall be rendered for the plaintiff he shall not be entitled to recover costs against the defendant, unless he shall have entered at the patent office, prior to the commencement of the suit, a disclaimer of all that part of the thing patented which were so claimed without right: Provided, however, That no person bringing any such suit shall be entitled to the benefits of the provisions contained in this section, who shall have unreasonably neglected or delayed to enter at the patent office a disclaimer as aforesaid. See Bac. Ab. Monopoly Id. Prerogative, F 4; Phill. on Pat.; Fessend. on Pat.; Carpm. on Pat.; Hand on Pat.; Webst. on Pat; Coll. on Pat.; Gods. on Pat.; Holr. on Pat.; Smith on Pat.; Drewry's Patent Law Abandonment Act; Davies' Collection of Cases on the Law of Patents; Rankin's Analysis of the Law of Patents. Among the French writers are Perpigna on Patents; written in English'; and the Manuel of the same author, in French; and the works of Renouard, Dalloz, Molard, and Regnault. See the various Digests h. t. and particularly Peters' Digest, h. t.
2. - §1, Of the persons who may obtain patents. Prussian citizens or subjects are alone entitled to a patent. Foreigners can not obtain one.
3. - §2. Nature of the patents. Patents are granted in Prussia for an invention when the thing has been discovered or invented by the applicant. For an improvement, when considerable improvement has been made to a thing before known. And for importation, when the thing has been brought from a foreign country and put in use in the kingdom. Patents may extend over the whole country or only over a particular part.
4. - §3. Duration of patents. The patent may at the choice of the applicant, be for any period not less than six months nor more than fifteen years.
PATENT-OFFICE. An office bearing this name was established by law, and by the act Of congress of July 4, 1836, which repeals all acts theretofore passed in relation to patents, 4 Sharsw. cont. of Story's L. U. S. 2504, it is provided, §1. That there shall be established and attached to the department of state, an office to be denominated the patent office; the chief officer of which shall be called the commissioner of patents, to be appointed by the president, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, whose duty it shall be, under the direction of the secretary of state, to superintend, execute, and perform, all such acts and things touching and respecting the granting and issuing of patents for new and useful discoveries, inventions, and improvements, as are herein provided for, or shall hereafter be, by law, directed to be done and performed, and shall have the charge and custody of all the books, records, papers, models, machines, and all other things belonging to said office. And said commissioner, shall receive the same compensation as is allowed by law to the commissioner of the Indian department, and shall be entitled to send and receive letters and packages by mail, relating to the businesss of the office, free of postage.
2. - §2. That there shall be in said office, an inferior officer, to be appointed by the said principal officer, with the approval of the secretary of state, to receive an annual salary of seventeen hundred dollars, and to be called the chief clerk of the patent-office; who in all cases during the necessary absence of, the commissioner, or when the said 'principal office shall become vacant, shall have the charge and custody of the seal, and of the records, books, papers, machines, models, and all other things belonging to the said office, and shall perform the duties of commissioner during such vacancy. And the, said commissioner may also, with like approval, Appoint an examining Clerk, at an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars; two other clerks at twelve hundred dollars each, one of whom shall be a competent draughtsman; one other clerk at one thousand dollars; a machinist at twelve hundred and fifty dollars; and a messenger at seven hundred dollars. And said commissioner, clerks, and every other person appointed and employed in said office, shall be disqualified, and interdicted from acquiring or taking, except by inheritance, daring the, period for which they shall hold their appointments, respectively, any right or interest, directly or indirectly, in any patent for an invention or discovery which has been, or may hereafter be granted.
3. - §3. That the said principal officer, and every other person to be appointed in the said office, shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office or appointment, make oath or affirmation, truly and faithfully to execute the trust committed to him. And the said commissioner and the chief clerk shall also, before entering upon their duties, severally give bond with sureties to the treasurer of the United States, the former in the sum of ten thousand dollars, and the latter, in the sum of five thousand dollars, with condition to render a true and faithful account to him or his successor in office, quarterly of all moneys which shall be by them respectively received for duties on patents, and for copies of records, and drawings, and all other moneys received by virtue of said office.
4. - §4. That the said commissioner shall cause a seal to be made and provided for the said office, with such device as the president of the United States shall approve, and copies of any records, books, papers, or drawings, belonging to the said office, under the signature of the said commissioner, or when the office shall be vacant, under the signature of the chief clerk, with the said seal affixed, shall be competent evidence in all, cases in which the original records, books, papers, or drawing, could be evidence. And any person making application therefor, may have certified copies of the records, drawings, and other papers deposited in said office, on paying, for the written copies, the sum of ten cents for, every page of one hundred words; and for copies of drawing, the reasonable expense of making the same.
PATENTEE. He to whom a patent has been granted. The term is usually applied to one who has obtained letters-patent for a new invention.
2. His rights are, 1. To make, sell and enjoy the profits, during the existence, of his rights, of the invention or discovery patented. 2. To recover damages for a violation of such rights. 3. To have an injunction to prevent any infringement of such rights.
3. His duties are to supply the public, upon reasonable terms, with the thing patented.
Business Law, Commercial Law, Copyright Law, P
CAUSE , civ. law. This word has two meanings. 1. It signifies the delivery of the thing, or the accomplishment of the act which is the...