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(ACT of February 21st, 1793.)

vention is of a composition of matter; which description, signed by himself, and attested by two witnesses, shall be filed in the of fice of the secretary of state; and certified copies thereof shall be competent evidence in all courts where any matter or thing, touching such patent right, shall come in question. And such inventor shall, moreover, deliver a model of his machine, provided the secretary shall deem such model to be necessary.

4. SEC. IV. It shall be lawful for any invertor, his executor, or administrator, to assign the title and interest in the said invention, at any time; and the assignee, having recorded the said assignment in the office of the secretary of state, shall thereafter stand in the place of the original inventor, both as to right and responsibility; and so the assignees of assigns, to any degree.

SEC. V. [Repealed, see infra, 14.]

5. SEC. VI. Provided always, That the defendant in such action shall be permitted to plead the general issue, and give this act, and any special matter, of which notice in writing may have been given, to the plaintiff or his attorney, thirty days before trial, in evidence, tending to prove that the specification filed by the plaintiff does not contain the whole truth relative to his 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 thing, thus secured by patent, was not originally discovered by the patentee, but had been in use, or had been described, in some public work, anterior to the supposed discovery of the patentee, or that he had surreptitiously obtained a patent for the discovery of another person: in either of which cases, judgment shall be rendered for the defendant; with costs, and the patent shall be declared void.

6. SEC. VII. Where any state, before its adoption of the present form of government, shall have granted an exclusive right to any invention, the party claiming that right shall not be capable of ob taining an exclusive right under this act but on relinquishing his right under such particular state; and of such relinquishment, his obtaining an exclusive right under this act shall be sufficient evidence.

7. SEC. IX. In case of interfering applications, the same shall be submitted to the arbitration of three persons, one of whom shall be chosen by each of the applicants, and the third person shall be appointed by the secretary of state; and the decision or award of such arbitrators, delivered to the secretary of state, in writing and subscribed by them, or any two of them, shall be final, as far as respects the granting of the patent: And if either of the applicants shall refuse or fail to choose an arbitrator, the patent shall issue to the opposite party. And where there shall be more than two interfering applications, and the parties applying shall not all unite

(ACT of February 21st, 1793.)

in appointing three arbitrators, it shall be in the power of the secretary of state to appoint three arbitrators for the purpose.

8. SEC. x. Upon oath or affirmation being made before the judge of the district court, where the patentee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, reside, that any patent, which shall be issued in pursuance of this act, was obtained surreptitiously, or upon false suggestion, and motion made to the said court, within three years after issuing the said patent, but not afterwards, it shall and may be lawful for the judge of the said district court, if the matter alleged shall appear to him to be sufficient, to grant a rule, that the patentee, or his executor, administrator, or assign, show cause why process should not issue against him to repeal such patent. And if sufficient cause shall not be shown to the contrary, the rule shall be made absolute, and thereupon the said judge shall order process to be issued against such patentee, or his executors, administrators, or assigns, with costs of suit. And in case no sufficient cause shall be shown to the contrary, or if it shall appear that the patentee was not the true inventor or discoverer, judgment shall be rendered by such court for the repeal of such patent; and if the party, at whose complaint the process issued, shall have judgment given against him, he shall pay all such costs as the defendant shall be put to in defending the suit, to be taxed by the court, and recovered in due course of law.

9. SEC. XI. Every inventor, before he presents his petition to the secretary of state, signifying his desire of obtaining a patent, shall pay into the treasury thirty dollars, for which he shall take duplicate receipts, one of which receipts he shall deliver to the secretary of state, when he presents his petition; and the money, thus paid, shall be in full for the sundry services to be performed in the office of the secretary of state, consequent on such petition, and shall pass to the account of clerk hire in that office. Provided, nevertheless, That for every copy, which may be required at the said office, of any paper respecting any patent that has been granted, the person obtaining such copy shall pay at the rate of twenty cents for every copy sheet of one hundred words; and for every copy of a drawing, the party obtaining the same shall pay two dollars; of which payments an account shall be rendered annually to the treasury of the United States; and they shall also pass to the account of clerk hire in the office of the secretary of state.

11. SEC. XI. The act, passed the tenth day of April, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety, entitled "An act to promote the progress of useful arts," is hereby repealed. Provided always, That nothing contained in this act shall be construed to invalidate any patent that may have been granted under the authority of the said act; and all patentees under the said act, their executors, administrators, and assigns, shall be considered within the purview of this act, in respect to the violation of their rights:

(ACT of April 17th, 1800.)

Provided, such violations shall be committed after the passing of

this act.

ACT of April 17, 1800. 3 Bioren, 342.

An act to extend the privilege of obtaining patents for useful discoveries and inventions, to certain persons therein mentioned, and to enlarge and define the penalties for violating the rights of patentees.

11. SEC. I. All and singular the rights and privileges given, intended, or provided, to citizens of the United States, respecting patents for new inventions, discoveries, and improvements, by the act, entitled "An act to promote the progress of useful arts, and to repeal the act heretofore made for that purpose," shall be, and hereby are, extended and given to all aliens who, at the time of petitioning in the manner prescribed by the said act, shall have resided for two years within the United States, which privileges shall be obtained, used, and enjoyed, by such persons, in as full and ample manner, and under the same conditions, limitations, and restrictions, as by the said act is provided and directed in the case of citizens of the United States. Provided, always, That every person petitioning for a patent for any invention, art, or discovery, pursuant to this act, shall make oath or affirmation, before some person duly authorised to administer oaths, before such patent shall be granted, that such invention, art, or discovery, hath not, to the best of his or her knowledge or belief, been known or used either in this or any foreign country; and that every patent which shall be obtained pursuant to this act, for any invention, art, or discovery, which it shall afterwards appear had been known or used previous to such application for a patent, shall be utterly void.

12. SEC. 11. Where any person hath made, or shall have made, any new invention, discovery, or improvement, on account of which a patent might, by virtue of this or the above mentioned act, be granted to such person as shall die before any patent shall be granted therefor, the right of applying for and obtaining such patent, shall devolve on the legal representatives of such person, in trust for the heirs at law of the deceased, in case he shall have died intestate; but if otherwise, then in trust for his devisees, in as full and ample manner, and under the same conditions, limitations, and restrictions, as the same was held, or might have been claimed or enjoyed, by such person, in his or her life time; and when application for a patent shall be made by such legal representatives, the oath or affirmation, provided in the third section of the before mentioned act, shall be so varied as to be applicable to them.

13. SEC. III. Where any patent shall be, or shall have been, granted pursuant to this or the above mentioned act, and any person, without the consent of the patentee, his or her executors, ad

(ACT of February 7th, 1815.)

ministrators, or assigns, first obtained, in writing, shall make, devise, use, or sell, the thing whereof the exclusive right is secured to the said patentee by such patent, such person, so offending, shall forfeit and pay to the said patentee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, a sum equal to three times the actual damage sustained by such patentee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, from or by reason of such offence, which sum shall and may be recovered, by action on the case, founded on this and the above mentioned act, in the circuit court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof.

14. SEC. IV. [Repeals SEC. v. of the act of February 21, 1793.]

ACT of January 21, 1808. 4 Bioren, 135.

15. SEC. I. It shall and may be lawful for the secretary of state, on application, in writing, by Oliver Evans, to cause letters patent to be made out in the manner and form prescribed by the act, entitled "An act to promote the progress of useful arts, and to repeal the act heretofore made for that purpose," thereby granting to said Oliver Evans, his heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, for a term not exceeding fourteen years, the full and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using, and vending, to be used his invention, discovery, and improvements, in the art of manufacturing flour and meal, and in the several machines which he has discovered, invented, improved, and applied to that purpose: Provided, That no person who may have heretofore paid the said Oliver Evans for license, to use his said improvements, shall be obliged to renew said license, or be subject to damages for not renewing the same: And provided also, That no person who shall have used the said improvements, or have erected the same for use, before the issuing of the said patent, shall be liable to damages therefor.

ACT of February 7, 1815. 4 Bioren, 792.

SEC. 1. All the rights and privileges of Oliver Evans, under a patent issued from the department of state, on the fourteenth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and four, for his im provements on steam engines, hereby are, extended to the said Oliver Evans, his heirs, administrators, or assigns, for and during the term of seven years, to commence from, and immediately after, the expiration of the term of fourteen years, granted by said patent as aforesaid, subject to all the provisions of the act, entitled, "An act to promote the progress of the useful arts, and to repeal the act heretofore made for that purpose," excepting so far as regards the extension of the term of his said patent herein authorised: Provided, That it shall not be lawful for the said Oliver Evans, his heirs, administrators, or assigns, to charge or receive from any person or persons, a greater sum for the privilege of constructing or using his said improvements on steam engines, during the term for which said patent is hereby extended, than he

(ACT of March 23d, 1796.)

has hitherto charged and received for a like privilege, under his said patent as now in force.

ACT of February 15, 1819. Pamphlet edit. 13.

An act to extend the jurisdiction of the circuit courts, &c. to cases arising under the law relating to patents.

[See title JUDICIARY, 127, ante page, 424.]

NOTES.

Under the sixth section of the patent law of 1793, the defendant pleaded the general issue, and gave notice that he would prove at the trial, that the machine for the use of which without license the suit was brought, had been used previous to the alleged invention of the plaintiff, in several places, which were specified in the notice, or in some of them, "and also at sundry other places in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and elsewhere in the United States." The defendant having given evidence as to some of the places specified, offered evidence as to others not specified. Held that this evidence was admissable. But the powers of the court in such a case are sufficient to prevent, and will be exercised to prevent, the patentee from being injured by surprise. Testimony on the part of the plaintiff, that the persons of whose prior use of the machine, the defendant had given evidence, had paid the plaintiff for license to use the machine, since his patent ought not to be absolutely rejected, although entitled to very little weight. 3 Wheaton, 454. Oliver Evans may claim under his patent the exclusive use of his inventions, and improvements, in the art of manufacturing flour and meal, and in the several machines which he has invented, and in his improvements on machines previously discovered. But when his claim is for an improvement on a machine, he must show the extent of his improvement, so that a person understanding the subject, may comprehend distinctly in what it consists. id. ib.

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ACT of May 8, 1792. 2 Bioren, 296.

1. SEC. IX. [See title MILITIA 9, ante page, 599.]

ACT of February 21, 1795. 2 Bioren, 470.

2. SEC. 11. No commissioned officer, who has received commutation of half pay, shall be paid a pension as an invalid, until he shall return his commutation into the treasury of the United States, except where special provision has been made in particular cases, for allowing pensions on the return only of certain portions of the commutation.

ACT of March 23, 1796. 2 Bioren, 514.

3. SEC. t. Every commissioned, noncommissioned officer, private, or musician, who has been wounded or disabled, while in the

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