under seal, with the Secretary of the Prefecture of his department, a packet containing, 1st, his petition; 2nd, a description of the discovery, invention, or application, constituting the object of the required brevet; 3rd, the drawings or specimens necessary for properly explaining the description; and 4th, an inventory of the papers or documents deposited.

6. Every application or petition must be confined to one distinct subject:

The petition shall not contain any restriction, condition, or reservation.

The description must be written upon paper bearing a stamp of 1 fr. 50 centimes, entirely in French, without alterations or additions,-words that are drawn through, not counted, the pages and references underlined. It must not contain the names of any weights or measures, except those mentioned in the table annexed to the law of the 4th July, 1837.

The drawings shall be drawn in ink, and at the metrical scale. A duplicate of the description and drawings must be attached to each application. All the documents must be signed by the applicant, or his representative, whose power of attorney must be annexed to the demand.

7. No deposit of documents shall be received without producing a receipt, proving the payment of the sum of 200 fr., in part payment of the whole tax for the patent.

A procès verbal, drawn up, without cost, by the Secretary General of the Prefecture, and signed by the applicant, shall prove the deposit of the papers on the day and hour such deposit shall be made. A copy of the procès verbal shall be sent to the depositor on payment of the cost of stamp and registration.

The date of the deposit shall constitute the period from which the rights, obligations, and duration of the brevet shall commence.

SECTION II.

Of the Delivery of Brevets.

ART. 9. Immediately after the registration of the demand, and within ten days of the date of the deposit, the prefects shall transmit the papers to the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce under the seal of the inventor, annexing thereto the procès-verbal of the deposit, the receipt proving the payment of the tax, and the power mentioned in article 6.

10. On the arrival of the papers at the office of the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, he shall proceed to open, register, and expedite, the demands in the order of their reception.

11. The brevets, of which the demand shall have been in proper form, shail be delivered, without previous examination, at the risk and peril of the applicants, and without guarantee as to the reality, novelty, or merit of the invention, or the sufficiency and exactness of the description. A document from the minister, proving the regularity of the application, shall be delivered to the applicant, and constitute the brevet of invention. To this document shall be annexed the certified duplicate of the description and drawings mentioned in article 6, after the copy has been examined with the original, and thereby recognized and established.

The first copy of the brevet shall be delivered free of expense, but all future copies shall pay a tax of 50 fr.

12. All petitions drawn up in an irregular manner shall be considered null and void; the money paid shall be forfeited to the treasury, but it shall be placed to the credit of the applicant, if he presents an amended petition within the space of three months.

13. After the delivery of the brevet, and within two years from the date of the procès-verbal of the deposit, mentioned in article 7, the petitioner shall declare to the Secretary of the Prefecture, who shall have received the deposit, the number of years for which he wishes to retain his brevet, within the limits fixed by article 4.

This declaration must be accompanied by a receipt proving the payment of the full tax for the brevet, and the declaration shall be verified by a procès-verbal, in the form prescribed in article 7.

The brevets, with regard to which these forms shall not have been complied with before the expiration of the above term, shall have no effect for the future, and the invention, which has been the subject of it, shall be open to public use.

14. A royal ordinance, inserted in the "Bulletin des lois," shall publish every three months the names of all brevets, of which the term shall have been fixed by the preceding declaration. An extract of this ordinance shall be transmitted to every patentee whom it may concern.

15. The duration of brevets, for which a definite term has been granted, cannot be prolonged in any case.

VOL. XXII.

SECTION III.

Of Certificates of Addition.

ART. 16. An inventor shall have the right, during the whole duration of his brevet, to make alterations, improvements, or additions to his invention, on observing the proper formalities on depositing the papers necessary for making his demand, as prescribed by articles 5, 6, and 7.

These alterations, improvements, or additions, shall be verified by certificates delivered in the same form, and having the same duration as the first brevet.

A duty of 20 fr. shall be paid on every demand for a certificate of addition.

17. No one, except the patentee, can, during the term of the provisional brevet, obtain a valid patent for any alteration, improvement, or addition, made in, or to, the object of the original brevet.

18. Any patentee, who wishes to obtain a new brevet for 5, 10, or 15 years, for any alteration, improvement, or addition, instead of a certificate of addition, which would expire with the original patent, must observe the formalities prescribed by articles 5, 6, and 7, and pay the tax mentioned in article 4, according to the term for which he may require the brevet.

19. Whoever shall have obtained a brevet for a discovery, invention, or application, infringing upon the object of another brevet, shall have no right to work the invention already protected, and on the other hand, the holder of the first brevet cannot work the invention which forms the subject of the new brevet.

SECTION IV.

Of the Working and Transfer of Brevets.

ART. 20. Every inventor, holding a brevet, shall be bound to work the invention forming the subject of his brevet in France, in an effective manner, and for some length of time, within two years from the date of the procès-verbal of the deposit.

21. A patentee can transfer the whole or part of his right. The total or partial transfer of a brevet, whether such transfer be gratuitous, or for a consideration, can only be effected by a deed drawn up by lawyers.

No transfer shall be valid, with regard to a third party, until it has been registered with the Secretary of Prefecture of each of the departments, in which the respective parties reside.

This registration shall be made on the production and deposit of an authentic extract from the deed of transfer, and a tax of 20 fr. shall be paid on each such registration.

22. A copy of each procès-verbal of registration, accompanied by the extract of the deed of transfer, above mentioned, shall be transmitted by the Prefects to the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, within ten days from the date of the procès-verbal.

A register shall be kept by the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, in which shall be entered the transfers belonging to each brevet, and every three months an ordinance shall announce, in the form prescribed by article 14, the transfers registered during the last three months.

23. The assignees of the total right of a brevet, or their assignees, acting together, or a single assignee, acting for all, shall enjoy the benefits of articles 16 and 17.

24. The assignees of a brevet, and those who shall have obtained from the patentee a license for the working of his discovery or invention, shall profit by the certificates of addition, which shall subsequently be granted to him. They can, for that purpose, present a memorial to the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, by payment of a tax of 20 fr.

Unless there be agreements to the contrary, the purchasers of patented articles shall have an equal right of applying or causing to be applied to these objects, the alterations, improvements, or additions granted by the before mentioned certificate.

SECTION V.

Of the Communication and Publication of the
Descriptions and Drawings.

ART. 25. The descriptions, drawings, specimens, and models, shall remain deposited with the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, where they may be seen, without expense, by all applicants. No copy, sketch, or notes, can be taken of these papers, specimens, or models.

26. The descriptions and drawings of brevets, of which the term is fixed, agreeably to article 13, and also the descriptions and drawings of inventions which have become public property,

according to the terms of the same article, will be published either verbatim, or by copious extracts.

At the commencement of every year, a catalogue of brevets, delivered during the preceding year, will also be published.

27. The collection of descriptions and drawings, and the catalogue, published according to the preceding article, shall be deposited at the ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, with the Secretary of each Prefecture, where they can be consulted without charge.

THIRD HEAD.

Of the Rights of Foreigners.

ART. 28. Foreigners residing in France, may obtain brevets of invention.

29. Any foreigner who has obtained, in his own country, a patent for a discovery or invention, capable of being patented according to the terms of articles 1, and 2, can obtain a brevet in France for the same invention or discovery, if the same privilege be granted to natives of France by the laws of the country to which he belongs.

The duration of the brevet, in the case above mentioned, shall not exceed that of the foreign patent, nor extend beyond the term of 15 years.

The tax, to be paid by the applicant, shall be fixed at the rate of 100 fr. for every year.

The applicant must annex to his petition, besides the documents named in article 5, an authentic copy of his foreign patent.

30. The forms and conditions, prescribed by the present law, shall be applicable to brevets, demanded or delivered, in conformity with the two preceding articles.

FOURTH HEAD.

Of Nullity and Forfeiture, and of the Actions relative thereto.

SECTION I.

Of Nullity and Forfeiture.

Art. 31. Brevets shall be void in the following cases :1st. If the discovery, invention, or application, is not new;