In other respects my order cited above shall remain in force without any modification.

SEC. 2. This ordinance shall go into force from the date of its publication (published Dec. 25, 1915).

(The limit set in the last order was subsequently extended.)

The extensions indicated therein are believed to conform fully with the requirements of the act of August 17, 1916, that reciprocal privi leges be granted to citizens of this country.

The showing made is held to establish that the failure to pay the fee within the six months was due to the existing and continuing state of war, and it is directed that it be accepted.

INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

- APPLICATIONS FEES RECIPROCAL EXTENSION OF TIME UNDER ACT OF AUGUST 17, 1916, TO ITALY-NOTE OF MARCH 24, 1917, AND COMMISSIONER'S DECISION OF OCTOBER 16, 1916.

[Translation.]

THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE TO THE AMBASSADOR OF ITALY AT WASHINGTON.

MARCH 24, 1917.

We reply to your note of February 19 last, along with which you send us a copy of the decree of the Lieutenant General of the Kingdom of Italy prolonging the terms for the payment of fees in industrial property matters, at the same time asking us to advise you whether the Government of the United States has promulgated analogous dispositions, and whether they are applicable to Itaiian subjects, this to the end that the Royal Italian Government may proceed to the promulgation of a decree acknowledging that reciprocal advantages are granted to subjects of the two countries. I have the honor to send you herewith for your information a copy of the letter addressed to the undersigned department by the Commissioner of Patents and explaining the point of view adopted by the Patent Office of the United States on this question.

In this decision, rendered in the case of Feroci, the Commissioner assumes that the law of August 17, 1916, puts subjects of the United States in the position as provided for by the provisions of the above mentioned decree. We are sending with the present for the information of your Government a copy of the law of August 17, 1916, and a copy of the decision rendered by the Commissioner of Patents in the Feroci case.

(From 33 La Propriété Industrielle, 106.)

EX PARTE FEROCI.

[Decided October 16, 1916.]

1. Extension of Time Under Act of August 17, 1916-Reciprocal Privileges.

The decree of the Italian Government published in La Propriété Industrielle (1915, p. 113), Held to grant "substantially similar privileges" to citizens of this country within the meaning of the act of August 17, 1916, extending the time for payment of fees, etc., where the delay is due to the state of war.

2. Same Same-Act Liberally Construed.

The act of August 17, 1916, is remedial and should be liberally construed to cover cases where the foreign Government grants to citizens of this country relief from forfeiture under its laws without specific reference to the form in which relief is granted.

On petition.

Automatic railway-car and compressed-air and steam-pipe coupling device.

Mr. Wm. Wallace White for the applicant.

EWING, Commissioner:

This is a petition that the rejection upon applicant's Italian patent, the application for which was filed in Italy on April 30, 1914, be withdrawn.

Applicant is a subject of the King of Italy. Two questions arise on the petition under the provisions of the act of August 17, 1916, namely, first, whether the Kingdom of Italy has granted "substantially similar privileges" to citizens of the United States, and second, whether the failure to file the application in this country within 12 months of the filing of the application abroad was due to the existing and continuing state of war. The Italian Government has issued a decree (La Propriété Industrielle, 1915, p. 113) a portion of which is as follows:

ARTICLE 1. Persons in active military service, employees of the army and navy, and persons who for reasons of service are in the train of the army and navy, are authorized to defer the payment of fees upon applications for patents and for industrial designs and models, and upon the registration of trademarks to the sixtieth day after the date of the proclamation of peace. Applications presented by said persons, when not accompanied by the acknowledgment of receipt of the fee, shall be held in suspense until the above-mentioned term shall have expired.

ART. 2. The persons referred to in the foregoing article are authorized to defer the payment of taxes and the performance of the acts prescribed by law for keeping patents in force and for applying for an extension of the same, to the last day of the three-month term following the one during which peace will be proclaimed, provided the time limits for such acts or payments had not

expired at the time of the declaration of war. The same advantages shall be enjoyed by citizens holding "certificates of privileges" who may be prevented by circumstances due to the state of war from effecting the payments and performing the necessary acts within the time limits prescribed by law in order to keep in force or extend their privileges.

ART. 3. The provisions of the foregoing article shall be applicable likewise to foreign holders of patents who are subjects of countries which guarantee like advantages to Italian holders of patents. The existence of reciprocity of treatment shall be recognized by decree of the Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce.

The act of August 17, 1916, is remedial and should be liberally construed. It is believed to be sufficient compliance with its requirement as to reciprocal rights or privileges if the Government of which the petitioner is a citizen grants to citizens of this country relief from forfeiture arising under its own laws without specific reference to the form in which relief is granted. The extensions indicated. in the foregoing quotation are believed to conform fully to the requirement of the statute as to reciprocity.

In explanation of the failure to file within 12 months of the filing of the Italian application the affidavit in support of the petition states that the application papers were received by the attorney in New York on April 15, 1915, accompanied by directions not to file. the papers until he received instructions by cable to do so; that no instructions were received, but that on May 28, 1915, he received a letter from applicant's Italian attorneys stating that on April 23, 1915, they had sent him a message by cable directing him to file the application. It is a fair assumption that the failure of the attorney to receive the cable message was due to the existing and continuing state of war, since no other reason is apparent why it was not received.

The petition is granted.

(From 231 Official Gazette, 1539.)

PATENTS.

EX PARTE HABENICHT AND BECKE.

[Decided March 15, 1917.]

1. Extension of Time, of Act August 17, 1916-Reciprocal Privileges-Time of Filing.

It is assumed that in view of the act of August 17, 1916, extending the time for filing an application where the failure to file it within 12 months was due to the state of war, a similar extension will be granted by the German Government to citizens of this country under the proclamation of May 7, 1915. (215 O. G., 979.)

93169-19-28

2. Same Same-Same-Delay Due to War.

The showing made Held sufficient to establish that the failure to file the application in this country within 12 months of the filing of the application in Germany was due to the existing and continuous state of war and Held that the grant of the German patent will not, therefore, bar the grant of a patent in this country.

On petition.

Carbureter for exploding motors.

Mr. B. Singer for the applicants. EWING, Commissioner:

This is a petition that applicants be accorded an extension under the provisions of the act of August 17, 1916. This application was filed February 28, 1917. It appears from the oath that the corresponding German application was filed January 27, 1916. This office has not been advised that the German Government is granting to citizens of this country similar extensions. The German ordinance of May 7, 1915 (215 O. G., 979), providing for an extension of the periods of priority, states that the provisions of the ordinance shall apply "in favor of subjects of foreign countries when and to the same extent as the priority time limits are prolonged in such countries in favor of German subjects, as shall be certified by proclamation published in the Reichsgesetzblatt.”

It is assumed that in view of the act of August 17, 1916, extending the time for filing an application where the failure to file it within 12 months was due to the "existing and continuing state of war," a similar extension will be granted by the German Government to citizens of this country.

The showing made is deemed sufficient to establish that the applicants were unable, on account of the "existing and continuing state of war," to file their application within the 12 months. The grant of the German patent will therefore not bar the grant of a patent in this country.

The petition is granted.

(From 236 Official Gazette, 1219.)

PATENTS-FEES AND TAXES IN GERMANY-PAYMENTS PERMITTEDPROCLAMATION OF MAY 24, 1917.

[By the President of the United States of America, a proclamation.]

Whereas the laws of the German Empire provide that letters patent granted or issued to citizens of other countries shall lapse unless certain taxes, annuities, or other fees are paid within stated periods; and

Whereas the interests of the citizens of the United States in such letters patent are of great value, so that it is important that such payments should be made in order to preserve their rights;

Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the powers vested in me as such, hereby declare and proclaim that citizens of the United States owning letters patent granted or issued by the German Empire are hereby authorized and permitted to make payment of any tax, annuity, or fee which may be required by the laws of the German Empire for the preservation of their rights in such letters patent.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this 24th day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and seventeen and of the independence of the United States, one hundred and forty-first.

[SEAL.]

By the President:

ROBERT LANSING,

Secretary of State.

(Signed)

WOODROW WILSON.

INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY-TRADING WITH THE ENEMY ACT OF OCTOBER

6, 1917.

[PUBLIC--No. 91-65TH CONGRESS.]

[H. R. 4960.]

An act to define, regulate, and punish trading with the enemy, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this act shall be known as the "trading with-the-enemy act."

SEC. 2. That the word "enemy," as used herein, shall be deemed to mean, for the purposes of such trading and of this act

(a) Any individual, partnership, or other body of individuals, of any nationality, resident within the territory (including that occupied by the military and naval forces) of any nation with which the United States is at war, or resident outside the United States and doing business within such territory, and any corporation incorporated within such territory of any nation with which the United States is at war or incorporated within any country other than the United States and doing business within such territory.

(b) The Government of any nation with which the United States is at war, or any political or municipal subdivision thereof, or any officer, official, agent, or agency thereof.

93169-18-28