France. Property. (1) certificates of petitions for Patents were ordered to be signed by the Minister of the Interior, Patents to be issued every three months by the First Consul, and published in the Bulletin des Lois; and (2) a clause was directed to be inserted that the government in granting the Patent guaranteed neither the priority, merit nor success of the invention. (5) The Decree of November 25th, 1806, repealed the provision of the Law of May 25th, 1791, which forbade the working of the Patent by Joint Stock Companies, and directed inventors desirous of adopting this mode of working their Patent to apply for the sanction of the government. (6) The Decree of January 25th, 1807, by which Patents were to date from the delivery of the certificate, and which made the privilege between rival Patentees dependent on the deposit of their Specifications, &c. (7) The Decree of August 13th, 1810 (not inserted in the Bulletin des Lois), by which Patents of importation were placed on the same footing with those of invention or improvement. The necessity at length felt for a modern legislation in harmony with the requirements of the times, which should embody the results of the experience acquired in the development of the original Law of 1790, resulted in the enactment of the Law of July 5th, 1844, which at present forms the main portion of French legislation with regard to Patents. The subsequent Law on the subject is contained in Ordonnances Ministerielles of the respective dates of July 5th, 1848, and October 26th, 1848; the former prescribing the formalities attendant on assignment of Patent interests, the latter extending the Law of 1844 to all French colonies. The property conferred by the Patent is thus defined by Article 1 of the Law of 1844:-" Every new dis covery or invention, in any branch whatever of industrial France. pursuits, confers on its author, under the conditions and for the term hereinafter named, the exclusive right of practising for profit the said invention or discovery." "The Patent right extends over both the utensils and the article manufactured, in cases where the use of the utensil patented is intimately and indissolubly incorporated with the manufacture, so as to change its form, its character or its intrinsic value." "The author of a principal invention preserves throughout the entire term of his Patent the right of preventing persons, unless licensed by him, from adopting modifications and improvements which necessarily involve the application and use of his own invention, and from producing the same results by means and processes, the working of which he is exclusively entitled to." A Patentee may transfer the whole or any part of his interest under the Letters-patent, or grant licences for any department, or the whole of France. Such transfer can be effected only by means of a public deed, and after payment of the entire tax prescribed by Art. 4. To be valid it must be registered at the Office of the Secretary of the Prefecture in which the deed is executed. For the purpose of such registration an authenticated abstract of the deed must be produced. Copies of the deed are within six days forwarded to the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce." Notice of the transfer or licences must be inserted in the margin of the original Patent.* Decree of the Imperial Court of Amiens, July 15th, 1853. Extract from the Judgment of the Civil Court on Appeal from the Court of First Instance, in the case of Elkington's and De Ruolz' Patents (electro-gilding, &c.), February, 1852. The fee for Registration of such transfer is one per cent. on the consideration money. u Law of 1844, Art. 20. These provisions are only a re-enactment of those of the Law of May 25, 1791. * Circulaire Ministerielle, 1848. BB France. Proceedings to obtain a Patent. Specification, drawings, &c. Patents of improvement and addition. No preliminary inquiry is instituted into the novelty or utility of the Patent, the Government expressly disavowing any intention of guaranteeing the right of the Patentee in either respect. According to the terms of Art. 5 of the Law of 1844, every application must be accompanied with a duplicate of the Specification and drawings. This duplicate is verified by comparison with the original, and is annexed to the Ministerial Decree, which constitutes the Patent. The original is deposited at the Office of the Minister of Trade, there to lie open for inspection, and to be published either entire or in abstract, after the payment of the second annuity." The responsibility as to the correctness of the copies rests with the applicant. Samples of the patented article cannot be sent with the Specification as a substitute for drawings." Copies of the Specifications, when published, are sent to all Chambers of Commerce and public Libraries. By the old Law (1791) publication was reserved till the expiration of the Patent. Indexes of all Patents granted since 1844 are in preparation. Specifications, models and drawings lie open to public inspection at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, after a period of two years from the date of the grant. A French Patent must be worked within two years.c By Art. 18 no other person than the Patentee or his assign can, during a year from the date of the grant, take out a Patent of improvement or addition. Any one may, nevertheless, in the course of such year, apply for The number of Patents issued in France during the year 1847 was 2,132; in 1848, 852, and in 1849, 1,484. (1851) Evid. 1022. The inconvenience arising at this period from the necessary withdrawal of the instrument, either for the purpose of its being transcripted or transmitted to the printer, has induced the Commission to recommend the forwarding of three copies at the period of application. Report of the Commission of 1849, Answer to Question 1. a Ibid. to Question 3. such Patent-the application remaining sealed at the France. Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Trade. On the expiration of the year the seal is broken, and the grant made. In case of conflicting applications preference is to be given to the original Patentee. The payment for a Patent of improvement by the original Patentee is fixed at 20 francs. Against the policy of this Regulation the Commission of 1849 expressed themselves very strongly, as calculated, if not to paralyze, very materially to discourage all applications. They proposed the reduction of the term to six months, during which the original Specification was to remain under seal, unless made public by the desire of the Patentee; such publication to confer upon any party an equal right to a Patent of improvement with the Patentee himself. A suggestion was at the same time made that the Comité Consultatif des Arts et Manufactures should, on the removal of the seals, decide as to the proper connection of the additional matter with that forming the subject of the original Patent. If the matter be then deemed more proper for an original Patent, application for such Patent to date from the period of application for the Patent of addition or improvement.d e Answer of the Commission to Question 4. The tribunals to which Patent causes should be referred occupied a considerable share of the attention of the Commission of 1849. The questions proposed for their consideration were: 1. Whether a central jury or departmental juries were the proper arbiters in questions of infringement and disputes arising out of Patents. 2. What should be the composition of such juries? Should their decision be without appeal, or subject to the reversal of the Cour de Cassation? The following lively picture of the state of Patent Law in France, given by the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, is cited in their Report:-" Le brevet d'invention a une valeur absolue qui s'étend à toutes les parties du territoire: toute annullation, toute extinction locale des droits qui en dérivent, répugne à sa nature. Or les tribunaux et les cours d'appel étant souverains appréciateurs des faits de leur compétence, leurs décisions se heurtent souvent et consacrent les anomalies les plus choquantes. Tel brevet déclaré valable dans un res France. If the Patent right be invaded the Patentee may institute proceedings before the Juge correctionnel. Such action must be commenced within three years of the commission of the act complained of. Mere possession of the counterfeit does not constitute infringement, unless the possessor be the manufacturer or salesman of the article. The counterfeit may be seized by the Patentee, without prejudice to any question between such possessor and the person by whom the counterfeit was supplied. In case, however, of the possessor being declared guilty of infringement, his remedy against the party manufacturing the article is gone. Importation of counterfeits for sale is infringement.f It is competent for the person accused to adduce evidence impugning the novelty of the invention, or establishing a breach of the conditions of the Patent. He cannot, however, plead ignorance of the Patent; their publication in the Bulletin des Lois being notice of them." An acquittal on these grounds operates only to relieve the accused; it does not necessarily avoid the Patent. Proceedings for that purpose are ordinarily instituted in sort judiciaire est frappé de nullité dans le ressort voisin: tel acte est qualifié de contrefaçon à Paris et ailleurs, ce même acte échappe à toute répression. D'un autre côté l'application des cas de déchéance et de nullité soulève à chaque instant des problèmes delicats, dont la solution ne peut-être demandée qu'aux hommes nourris d'études scientifiques ou familiarisés avec la théorie et la pratique des arts industriels: aussi les magistrats, étrangers d'habitude à ces divers ordres de connaissances, sont-ils obligés de recouvrir à des experts pour la décision du plus grand nombre de litiges: de là des lenteurs et des frais excessifs." e Law of the 23rd May, 1838. Law of July 5th, 1844, tit. 5, Art. 41. Report of the Committee of 1849, Answer to Question 6. The tribunals of Police Correctionnelle have, however, under the Law of 1844, the power of giving a judgment in such proceedings which nullifies the Patent as effectually as would be done by the process of a Civil Court. |