ACT OF 1790, CHAP. 7, §§ 3, 4. OBSOLETE. the art or manufacture, whereof it is a branch, or wherewith it may be nearest connected, to make, construct, or use the same, to the end that the public may have the full benefit thereof, after the expiration of the patent term; which specification shall be filed in the office of the said Secretary, and certified copies thereof shall be competent evidence in all courts and before all jurisdictions, where any matter or thing, touching or concerning such patent, right, or privilege shall come in question. SECTION 3. And be it further enacted, That upon the application of any person to the Secretary of State, for a copy of any such specification, and for permission to have similar model or models made, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to give such copy, and to permit the person so applying for a similar model or models, to take, or make, or cause the same to be taken or made, at the expense of such applicant. SECTION 4. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall devise, make, construct, use, employ, or vend, within these United States, any art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, or any invention or improvement upon, or in any art, manufacture, engine, machine, or device, the sole and exclusive right of which shall be so as aforesaid granted by patent to any person or persons, by virtue and in pursuance of this act, without the consent of the patentee or patentees, their executors, administrators or assigns, first had and obtained in writing, every person so offending shall forfeit and pay to the said patentee or patentees, his, her, or their executors, administrators or assigns, such damages as shall be assessed by a jury, and moreover shall forfeit to the person aggrieved the thing or things so devised, made, con OBSOLETE. ACT OF 1790, CHAP. 7, § 5. structed, used, employed, or vended, contrary to the true intent of this act, which may be recovered in an action on the case founded on this act. SECTION 5. And be it further enacted, That upon oath or affirmation made before the judge of the district court, where the defendant resides, that any patent which shall be issued in pursuance of this act, was obtained surreptitiously by, or upon false suggestion, and motion made to the said court, within one year after issuing the said patent, but not afterwards, it shall and may be lawful to and 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 patentees, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, show cause why process should not issue against him, her, or them, to repeal such patents; 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 as aforesaid, against such patentee or patentees, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns. And in case no sufficient cause shall be shown to the contrary, or if it shall appear that the patentee was not the first and true inventor or discoverer, judgment shall be rendered by such court for the repeal of such patent or patents; 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 such manner as costs expended by defendants shall be recovered in due course of law. See notes to act of 1793, § 10; and also DIGEST PAT. CASES, title COURTS, B. 3. ACT OF 1790, CHAP. 7, §§ 6, 7. OBSOLETE. SECTION 6. And be it further enacted, That in all actions to be brought by such patentee or patentees, his, her, or their executors, administrators, or assigns, for any penalty incurred by virtue of this act, the said patents or specifications shall be prima facie evidence (a), that the said patentee or patentees was or were the first and true inventor or inventors, discoverer or discoverers of the thing so specified, and that the same is truly specified; but that nevertheless the defendant or defendants may plead the general issue, and give this act, and any special matter whereof notice in writing shall have been given to the plaintiff, or his attorney, thirty days before the trial, in evidence (b), tending to prove that the specification filed by the plaintiff does not contain the whole of the truth concerning his invention or discovery; or that it contains more than is necessary to produce the effect described; and if the concealment of part, or the addition of more than is necessary, shall appear to have been intended to mislead, or shall actually mislead the public, so as the effect described cannot be produced by the means specified, then, and in such cases, the verdict and judgment shall be for the defendant. (a) of the novelty and utility of an invention, the patent is prima facie evidence of a very slight character. Lowell v. Lewis, 1 Mass., 184. -STORY, J.; Mass., 1817. See also DIGEST PAT. CASES, title PATENT, P. 2. (b) As to General Issue, and notices with, see notes to act of 1793, § 6, and to act of 1836, § 15. SECTION 7. And be it further enacted, That such patentee as aforesaid, shall, before he receives his patent, pay the following fees to the several officers employed in making out and perfecting the same, to wit: For receiving and filing the petition, fifty cents; for filing specifica OBSOLETE. ACT OF 1793, CHAP. 11, § 1. tions, per copy-sheet containing one hundred words, ten cents; for making out patent, two dollars; for affixing great seal, one dollar; for indorsing the day of delivering the same to the patentee, including all intermediate services, twenty cents. Approved April 10th, 1790. ACT OF 1793, CHAPTER 11. 1 STATUTES AT LARGE, 318. [Obsolete: Repealed by Act of 1836, § 21.] An Act to promote the progress of useful arts, and to repeal the act heretofore made for that purpose. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That when any person or persons, being a citizen or citizens of the United States, shall allege that he or they have invented any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement on any art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, not known or used before the application (a), and shall present a petition to the Secretary of State, signifying a desire of obtaining an exclusive property in the same, and praying that a patent may be granted therefor, it shall and may be lawful for the said Secretary of State to cause letters patent to be made out in the name of the United States, bearing teste by the President of the United States, reciting the allegations and suggestions of the said petition (b), and giving a short description of the said invention or discovery, ACT OF 1793, CHAP. 11, § 1. OBSOLETE. and thereupon granting to such petitioner or petitioners, his, her, or their heirs, administrators, or assigns, for a term not exceeding fourteen years, the full and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using, and vending to others to be used, the said invention or discovery, which letters patent shall be delivered to the Attorney-General of the United States, to be examined; who, within fifteen days after such delivery, if he finds the same conformable to this act, shall certify accordingly, at the foot thereof, and return the same to the Secretary of State, who shall present the letters patent, thus certified, to be signed, and shall cause the seal of the United States to be thereto affixed: and the same shall be good and available to the grantee or grantees, by force of this act, and shall be recorded in a book, to be kept for that purpose, in the office of the Secretary of State, and delivered to the patentee or his order. (a) 1. This section is to be construed with the other parts of the act to imean that the discovery should be unknown, and not used as the invention of any other than the patentee, before the application for a pitent. Morris v. Huntington, 1 Paine, 353.-THOMPSON, J.; N. Y., 1824. 2. This section of the act is to be construed with section 6 of the same act, and means that the first inventor has a right to a patent, though there may have been a knowledge of the thing invented before the application for a patent, if such use or knowledge was not anterior to the discovery. Mellus v. Silsbee, 4 Mass., 111.-STORY, J.; Mass., 1825. Goodyear v Matthews, 1 Paine, 301.-LIVINGSTON, J.; Ct., Treadwell v. Bladen, 4 Wash., 707, 708.-WASHINGTON, J.; Pa., CONTRA, Whitney v. Emmett, Bald., 309.-BALDWIN, J.; Pa., 1831. Thompson v. Haight, 1 U. S. Law Jour., 573.—VAN Ness, J.; N. Y., 1822. 1814. 1827. 3. The meaning of the words "not known or used," &c., in this section, is that the invention must not have been known or used BY THE PUBLIC before the application. Pennock v. Dialogue, 2 Pet., 19.-STORY, J.; Sup. Ct., 1829. 4. The patent act of 1790 used the words "not known or used be. fore," without adding the words "the application:" in connection |