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be notified thereof, with an indication of the grounds, and with a request to reply within a certain time.

If the applicant do not answer the preliminary notification (clauses 2 and 3) within the prescribed time, the application shall be considered as withdrawn; if he reply within the time, the application department shall come to a decision in the matter.

SEC. 22. If the application do not comply with the prescribed requirements (sec. 20), or if it be found that no patentable invention exists according to sections 1, 2, and 3, clause 1, the application shall be refused by the department. The member who gave the preliminary decision shall not take part in the final decision.

If the refusal of the application be based upon circumstances that were not already communicated to the applicant in the preliminary notification, he shall first be afforded the opportunity of making a statement with regard thereto within a certain time.

SEC. 23. If the Patent Office consider the application to be in order, and the grant of a patent to be possible, it shall determine on the publication of the application. Upon publication, the legal effects of the patent (secs. 4 and 5) shall provisionally come into force, to the benefit of the inventor, in respect of the subject matter of the invention.

The publication shall be effected by publishing once in the Imperial Gazette the name of the applicant and the essential features of the subject matter contained in his application. The publication shall include a notice that the subject matter of the application is provisionally protected against infringement.

At the same time the application, together with all the accompanying documents, shall be laid open to public inspection at the Patent Office. The publication may also be effected in other places besides Berlin, according to the provisions of section 17.

On the demand of the applicant the publication may be postponed for a time not exceeding six months reckoned from the date of notification of the publication. The application for postponement for three months may not be refused.

In the case of a patent being applied for in the name of the Imperial Administration, for the purposes of the Army or Navy, the patent may, on demand, be granted without any publication. In this case, moreover, the entry in the patent registry shall not take place.

SEC. 24. Within a term of two months after the publication (sec. 23) the first yearly tax (sec. 8, clause 1) must be paid. If the payment be not made within that time the application shall be considered as withdrawn.

Within the same term opposition to the grant of the patent may be lodged. The opposition must be made in writing, and must be accompanied by grounds. It may only be based upon the assertion

that the subject matter is not patentable according to sections 1 and 2, or that the applicant is not entitled to a patent according to section 3. In the case of section 3, clause 2, the injured person only is entitled

to oppose.

After the expiration of the term the Patent Office shall decide as to the grant of the patent. The member who has given the preliminary decision (sec. 21) may not take part in this final decision.

SEC. 25. At the preliminary examination, and in the procedure in the application department, the parties interested may be summoned and heard, also witnesses and experts may be examined and any other inquiries necessary for elucidating the matter may be instituted.

SEC. 26. Against the decision by which the application has been refused, the applicant may appeal within one month from the date of the notification, and against decisions on oppositions the applicant or the opponent may also appeal within the same time. On lodging the appeal twenty marks must be paid for the costs of the appeal procedure. If the tax be not paid the appeal shall be considered as not made.

If the appeal be informal or have been filed too late it shall be rejected as not admissible.

If the appeal be considered admissible, the further proceedings shall be determined according to section 25. The summoning and hearing of the parties interested shall take place on the demand of one of them. The demand may only be rejected if the summoning of the applicant have already taken place in the proceedings before the application department.

If the decision on the appeal be based on grounds different from those on which the decision which is appealed against was based, the parties shall first have the opportunity of making a statement thereon.

The Patent Office has the power to decide how far the costs of the appeal shall be borne by the losing side, as also to order that the party whose appeal is considered justified shall have the tax (par. 1) repaid to him.

SEC. 27. If the grant of the patent be finally decided upon, the Patent Office shall cause a notification thereof to be published in the Imperial Gazette, and shall then issue a document for the patentee.

If the application be withdrawn after publication (sec. 23), or if the patent be refused, this shall also be published. The annual tax already paid shall in these cases be refunded. If the patent be refused, the operation of the provisional protection shall cease. SEC. 28. The institution of proceedings for declaration of nullity or for revocation of the patent takes place only on demand.

In the case of section 10, No. 3, the aggrieved party is alone entitled to apply.

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In the case of section 10, No. 1, the application is not allowable if made after the expiration of five years from the date on which the publication of the grant of the patent was effected (sec. 27, clause 1).

The application must be made in writing to the Patent Office, and must state the facts upon which it is based. With the application a fee of fifty marks must be paid. If the payment be not made, the application shall be considererd as not having been lodged. The fee shall be refunded if the procedure be carried out without hearing the parties interested.

If the applicant be domiciled abroad, he shall be required to give the other party, on demand, security as to the costs of the proceedings. The amount of security shall be determined by the Patent Office alone. The applicant shall be notified of a time within which the security must be paid, at the time of determining the security. If the security be not paid in before the end of the term, the application shall be considered as withdrawn.

SEC. 29. After the institution of the proceedings has been ordered, the Patent Office on informing the patentee of the application shall require him to answer the same within one month.

If the patentee do not answer within that time, the case may be decided without summoning and hearing the parties interested, and in such decision every assertion made by the applicant may be taken as proved.

SEC. 30. If the patentee reply within the prescribed time, or if, in the case of section 29, clause 2, the case be not decided immediately after the application, the Patent Office shall issue the necessary orders for investigating the matter, and, in the first case, communicate the patentee's answer to the applicant. The Patent Office may order the hearing of witnesses and experts. In this respect the regulations of the code of civil laws shall apply. The depositions must be taken down in writing by a sworn recorder.

The decision shall take place after a summons and hearing of the the parties.

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[NOTE. The third paragraph of this section was repealed by Article III of the law of the 6th of June, 1911.]

SEC. 31. In the decision (secs. 29 and 30) the Patent Office shall have power to decide what proportion of the costs of the proceedings shall be charged to the parties to the suit.

SEC. 32. It shall be the duty of the law courts to afford the Patent Office legal assistance. The determination of fines against witnesses or experts who do not appear when summoned, or who refuse to give evidence or to take the oath, as also the compulsory attendance of witnesses who fail to appear, shall be effected on demand through the law courts.

SEC. 33. Against the decision of the Patent Office (secs. 29 and 30) appeals may be lodged. The appeal is to the Imperial Court. It must be lodged in writing at the Patent Office within six weeks from the date of notification, and grounds of appeal must be given.

By the judgment of the court, the costs of the proceedings shall also be determined according to section 31.

In all other respects the proceedings of the court shall be determined by regulations to be drafted by the court and settled by Imperial Order, confirmed by the Federal Council.

SEC. 34. As regards the mode of conducting written and verbal communications before the Patent Office, the regulations in this respect holding good in the law courts shall apply. Communications that are not in the German language shall not be considered.

FOURTH SECTION.-FINES AND DAMAGES.

SEC. 35. Whoever knowingly or by gross negligence makes use of an invention contrary to the regulations of sections 4 and 5 is liable to pay damages to the injured party.

If the invention in question relate to a process for the production of a new substance, all substances of a like nature shall be considered as having been made by a patented process, until proof to the contrary be given.

SEC. 36. Whoever knowingly makes use of an invention against the regulations of sections 4 and 5 shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand marks, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year.

The penal proceedings shall only be instituted on application. This application may be withdrawn.

If punishment be awarded, the injured party shall be authorized to publish the sentence at the cost of the defendant. The mode of publication and the time within which it must be effected shall be determined in the sentence.

SEC. 37. In place of the damages awarded according to this law, the court may, at the request of the plaintiff, award, in addition to the fine or punishment, a penalty not exceeding ten thousand marks, to be paid to him. For this penalty all the defendants are liable as joint debtors.

The award of such penalty shall prevent any further action for damages being instituted.

SEC. 38. In a civil suit in which the plaintiff or defendant advances a claim based on the provisions of this law, the action shall be referred to the Imperial Court for trial and final decision according to section 8 of the regulations of the "Gerichts-VerfassungsGesetz."

SEC. 39. No action for infringement of patent right shall lie after the expiration of three years from the date on which any one of the alleged infringements was effected.

SEC. 40. A punishment by fine not exceeding one thousand marks shall be inflicted

(1) On any person who places upon articles or the packing thereof a mark or description which leads to the erroneous belief that the articles are protected by a patent according to this law;

(2) On any person who, in public advertisements, on signboards, business cards, or similar publications, employs a designation which is calculated to cause the erroneous impression that the articles mentioned therein are protected by a patent according to this law.

ART. II. The action of section 28, clause 3, of Article I shall extend to all patents now in force, with the condition that the application shall be made within three years from the date on which this law comes into force.

ART. III. This law shall come into force on the 1st day of October, 1891.

PATENT AGENTS ACTS OF THE 21ST OF MAY, 1900.

SECTION 1. The Patent Office shall keep a register of patent agents. In this register shall be entered at their request persons who, practicing on their own account, desire to represent others professionally in matters pertaining to the Patent Office.

SEC. 2. Registration shall only be allowed on the applicant proving his technical qualifications and legal knowledge according to sections 3 and 4.

Registration shall be refused

1. If the applicant be not resident in Germany;

2. If he have not completed his twenty-fifth year;

3. If by legal procedure he be restricted in the disposal of his personal property;

4. If he have been guilty of improper behavior—political, scientific, and religious beliefs and actions are not considered as such. If registration be refused according to No. 4 of section 2 an appeal may only be made according to the following regulations. The appeal must be left, in writing, at the Patent Office within one month of the delivery of the decision. The appeal shall be decided by a "Court of Honor." The procedure shall be determined by paragraphs 2 and 3 of section 9 and sections 10, 11, 12, and 13.

SEC. 3. Applicants shall be considered qualified as regards technical knowledge if they have regularly attended a university, technical high school, or school of mines, and, having there studied natural science and technical subjects, have passed either a State or academical examination, and have, in addition, worked practically

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