with the laws of the country into which he introduces the patented object. Fourth, the several states agree to grant temporary protection to patentable inventions for articles appearing at officially recognised International Exhibitions. The states which are parties to this Convention are indicated by an asterisk: thus: *Brazil.

The following summaries of Foreign Patent Laws have been carefully revised by patent agents and lawyers practising in the respective states.

* UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

The existing laws of patents in the United States, comprising various Acts of Congress passed from time to time, have been collected and embodied in the Revised Statutes, approved June 4, 1874. There is now no difference in fees paid by citizens and foreigners.

Probably in no country in the world are the rights of inventors more cherished than in the United States, and the number of patents issued there annually far exceeds that granted in any other country.

The facilities for obtaining patents have been largely increased of late years, and no application for an invention possessing any features of novelty and utility is refused, if perseveringly and skilfully prosecuted.

Every original and first inventor, whether native or foreign, may obtain a patent for his invention, provided only it has not been in public use or on sale in the United States for more than two years previously to his application. The application must be in the name of and be executed by, the inventor himself, and must be confined strictly to a single invention.

Patentable invention includes new and useful arts, new machines and implements, new chemical compounds, and new manufactures, but mere applications involving no new results cannot be patented.

By executing and recording in the Patent Office an assignment, the patent may be issued to an assignee.

The petition to the Commissioner of Patents must be accompanied by the first fee of 15 dollars, a specification fully explaining the nature of the invention and the best mode known to the inventor of carrying the same into effect; drawings, if the invention be susceptible of such illustration, and an oath in the prescribed form. The requirement of a model is now practically abolished, being only insisted on in cases where, by reason of its compli

cated nature, the invention cannot be understood without such aid.

The prosecution of cases before the United States Patent Office is conducted under a complex system of rules, constantly revised by the Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner of Patents, which renders such prosecution difficult and uncertain, and requires the exercise of great care and skill on the part of applicants and their attorneys.

In the order of their filing applications are taken up for examination by one of a corps of thirty skilled examiners, each of whom has under him four assistants and a number of clerks. Precedence is given to applications for inventions that have been patented abroad.

A thorough investigation is then conducted to ascertain the novelty of the invention claimed, the search extending through domestic and foreign patents, and the scientific and industrial publications of different countries bearing on the invention under examination.

If the invention is found to be wholly or partly wanting in novelty, or if the application includes more than one invention, or if any formal defects are discovered, the application is rejected, the reasons therefor being clearly pointed out.

The application may be again presented, either with or without amendment, and a reconsideration obtained. If the applicant is dissatisfied with the final action of the examiner he may appeal upon the points of disagreement to the Board of Examiners-inChief. From their decision appeal lies to the Commissioner of Patents in person, and from his to the supreme court of the district of Columbia. For such appeals additional fees are required.

It often happens that two or more applicants before the Patent Office claim the same invention, or that an applicant claims to be the prior inventor of a thing already patented to another. In such case the Commissioner declares an interference, which is a proceeding to determine which of the rival claimants is in law the prior inventor of the thing in dispute. This question is determined, from proofs taken in writing, in the first instance by the Examiner of Interferences. Appeals may be taken the same as in uncontested cases, except that no appeal lies to the supreme court of the district.

Provision is made by law for the reissue of a patent in case of an insufficient or defective specification, or where the patentee has claimed more than is new. Owing to abuse of this privilege, whereby patents have been unduly expanded and made to cover

different inventions from that originally patented, the courts have of late years been very severe in dealing with reissued patents, invariably declaring invalid all those that appear to have been unwarrantably broadened in scope. For this reason reissues are now looked upon with distrust and disfavour, and it becomes of great importance to the inventor that his patent should be taken out in the first instance in such shape as to fully protect the invention, thus avoiding the necessity of a reissue.

The protection afforded by caveats is now generally regarded as of little importance, and is seldom sought. The protection is only open to citizens.

All patents are issued for a term of seventeen years, but if the invention has been previously patented abroad, the patent expires with the foreign patent, or if there be more than one, with that having the shortest term. Under this provision an inventor suffers great disadvantage by delaying his United States application. The practice prevails in America, when an invention is to be patented in several countries, to first file the United States application and prosecute it to allowance. The day for issue of the patent can then be definitely fixed, and the patents in other countries are so obtained as to bear the same date with the United States patent. By this simultaneous issue the inventor may enjoy the full term of all his patents. This course of proceeding is not generally pursued by foreign inventors, who naturally apply in the first instance for the home patent as being of most consequence to them.

It has been recently decided by the Supreme Court U. S. that the United States patent continues in existence during the whole original term of the foreign patent, although the foreign patent may have lapsed.

Upon allowance of a patent the final fee of 20 dollars must be paid.

Applications not prosecuted for two years become abandoned. No prolongations of patents can be obtained except by special Act of Congress. Improvements upon the original invention must be protected by new patents.

After issue of the patent there are no further taxes required, and no conditions are imposed upon the inventor as to working of his invention.

As the novelty of a patented invention has been established by the Commissioner of Patents after a searching investigation, the presumption of law is that the patent is valid, and the courts will so construe it as to sustain it if possible.

Patents will, however, be declared void

1. If the specification was made misleading for the purpose of deceiving the public.

2. If the thing patented were really the invention of another than the patentee.

3. If the invention had been patented or described in a printed publication before the invention by the patentee.

4. If the invention had been in public use or on sale in the United States for more than two years previously to the filing of the application.

Goods made abroad according to the invention can be imported into the United States without invalidating the patent. All articles made under the patent must be marked 'patented,' with the date of the patent.

ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

This republic has established a Patent Office on the model of that of the United States, by a law dated October 11, 1864, and decrees and regulations of October 10, 1864, and November 8, 1866.

Patents are granted for terms of five, ten, or fifteen years for all new and useful inventions and discoveries excepting pharmaceutical compositions, providing that such inventions or discoveries have not been previously published in the republic.

Patents are granted to the inventor or to the assignees of his rights.

The Government fees on a patent are 80, 200, or 350 piastres (pesos fuertes), according to its term (in addition to sundry petty stamp duties), one-half of which amount has to be paid at the time of the application, and the remainder after the grant.

Certificates of addition or improvement are also granted both to the original patentee and to others. In the former case one-fourth of the fees required for an original patent have to be paid, and in the latter case one-half of the said fees.

Provisional patents are also granted for one year, the payment for which is 50 piastres. These patents are renewable at the expiration of each year.

Applications for patents are to refer to a single chief object with its accessories and applications.

Patents may be assigned. A patent is invalid if the drawing or specification is incorrect or incomplete. It also becomes void if not worked within two years from the date of issue, or if the working has been interrupted for a similar period, except by

circumstances beyond control or accident. In either case no special judicial decree is required to render the patent null and void.

Proceedings may be taken for infringement.

Articles made abroad according to the patent can be imported into the republic without invalidating the grant.

AUSTRIA.

The patent law of this empire, which has been in force since August 15, 1852, for Austria-Hungary and the principality of Liechtenstein (Germany), has been extended by additional decrees of June 27, 1878, and December 20, 1879, to Bosnia and Herzegowina, and establishes the following regulations throughout the empire :

Patents are not allowed for alimentary preparations, beverages, and medicines, nor for discoveries, inventions, or improvements which are contrary to public health, public welfare, morality, or the interest of the state. Scientific principles or purely scientific theories cannot be patented. With these exceptions, patents are granted for every new discovery, invention, or improvement, having for its object (a) a new industrial product, (b) a new means of producing, or (c) a new method of producingthat is to say, new within the empire.

An invention is deemed new when it has not been put into operation or been made public in the empire before the application for the patent is made.

Foreigners, as well as Austrian subjects, may be patentees; but with regard to inventions made by foreigners not resident in Austria, patents are only granted when a patent has been previously obtained in a foreign country for the same object, and then only to the original patentee, or his legal assignee, during the term of his foreign patent.

Two or more inventions cannot be included in a single patent, unless they refer to the same subject-matter, as essential parts of it.

The petition for a patent may be made either by the inventor, if he is a resident of the empire, or by his legal attorney. Foreigners not residing must have a legal attorney. It must state the exact title of the invention, and the number of years for which it is desired to pay the patent tax, as the maximum duration of all patents is fifteen years, provided the tax is paid at once for the entire number of years or by instalments; the term cannot be exceeded except by special imperial authority.