"$191. Republication of defective applications "(a) Whenever any published and pending or patented application is, through error without any deceptive intention, found to be misleading or incomplete, by reason of a defective disclosure or drawing, or by reason of the applicant claiming other than he had a right to claim, the Commissioner shall, upon the petition of the owner and the payment of the fee required by law, republish the application for the invention disclosed in the original application to be effective in accordance with the republished application, for the term measured by the original application. No new matter shall be introduced into the republished application. "(b) The provisions of this title relating to original applications for patent shall be applicable to republished applications. "(c) A petition to republish an application may be filed at any time within twenty-six years of the earliest priority date claimed under section 118 of this title in the original application. If a patent has been granted upon the original application, the petition shall reopen the republished application for examination in all respects. “§192. Effect of republication "(a) Every republished application shall have the same effect and operation in law, on the trial of actions for causes thereafter arising, as if the same had been originally published in such amended form, but insofar as the claims of the original and republished applications are identical, such republication shall not affect any action then pending nor abate any cause of action then existing, and the republished application, to the extent that its claims are identical with the original application, shall constitute a continuation thereof and have effect continuously from the date of the original application. (b) No republished application shall abridge or affect the right of any person or his successors in business who made, purchased or used prior to the republication anything claimed by the republished application, to continue the use of, or to sell to others to be used or sold, the specific thing so made, purchased or used, unless the making, using or selling of such thing infringes a valid claim of the republished application which was in the original application. The court before which such matter is in question may provide for the continued manufacture, use or sale of the thing made, purchased or used as specified, or for the manufacture, use or sale of which substantial preparation was made before the republication, and it may also provide for the continued practice of any process claimed by the republished application, practiced, or for the practice of which substantial preparation was made, prior to the republication, to the extent and under such terms as the court deems equitable for the protection of investments made or business commenced before the republication and in reasonable reliance on the text of the original application. "$193. Disclaimer "(a) Whenever, without any deceptive intention, a claim of a published application or patent is invalid the remaining claims shall not thereby be rendered invalid. The owner, whether of the whole or any sectional interest therein, may, on payment of the fee required by law, make disclaimer of any complete claim, stating therein the extent of his interest in such published application or patent. Such disclaimer shall be in writing and recorded in the Patent Office. It shall thereafter be considered as part of the original published application or patent to the extent of the interest possessed by the disclaimant and by those claiming under him. (b) In like manner any patentee or applicant may disclaim or dedicate to the public the entire term, or any terminal part of the term, of the patent granted or to be granted. "$194. Certificate of correction of Patent Office mistake "Whenever a mistake in a published application or patent, incurred through the fault of the Patent Office, is clearly disclosed by the records of the Office, the Commissioner may issue a certificate of correction stating the fact and nature of such mistake, under seal, without charge, to be recorded in the records of the Patent Office. A printed copy thereof shall be attached to each printed copy of the published application and patent, and such certificate shall be considered as part of the original published application and patent. Every 23-932-7442 such published application and patent, together with such certificate, shall have the same effect and operation in law on the trial of actions for causes thereafter arising as if the same had been originally issued in such corrected form. The Commissioner may issue a corrected published application or patent without charge in lieu of and with like effect as a certificate of correction. "§195. Certificate of correction of applicant's mistake "Whenever a mistake of a clerical or typographical nature, or of minor character, which was not the fault of the Patent Office, appears in a published application or patent and a showing has been made that such mistake occurred in good faith,the Commissioner may, upon payment of the required fee, issue a certificate of correction, if the correction does not involve such changes in the published application or patent as would constitute new matter or would require re-examination. Such published application or patent, together with the certificate, shall have the same effect and operation in law on the trial of actions for causes thereafter arising as if the same had been originally issued in such corrected form. "§196. Correction of named inventor "Omission of an inventor's name or inclusion of the name of a person not an inventor or both, without deceptive intent, shall not affect validity of a published application or patent, and may be corrected at any time by the Commissioner in accordance with regulations established by him or upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction before which the matter is called in question. Upon such correction the Commissioner shall issues a certificate accordingly. "PART III-PATENTS AND PROTECTION OF PATENT RIGHTS "Chapter Sec. "25. Ownership, assignment, and abandonment "26. Government interests in patents "27. Infringement of patents "28. Remedies for infringement of patent, and other actions "29. Preservation of other rights 251 261 271 271 291 "CHAPTER 25.-OWNERSHIP, ASSIGNMENT, AND ABANDONMENT "Sec. "251. Ownership, assignment, and abandonment. "252. Joint owners. "253. Determination of title disputes. "$251. Ownership, abandonment, and assignment "(a) Subject to the provisions of this title, inventions, applications, and patents shall have the attributes of personal property. "(b) Inventions are the property of their inventors when made, subject to any preexisting rights and duties with respect thereto created by contract or operation of law. Unless an invention is made the subject of an application pursuant to this title or is caused to become a part of the prior art to such an application, it is abandoned for the purposes of this title only, subject however to the defense provided in section 282 (b) of this title. "(c) Applications for patent, patents, or any interest therein, shall be assignable in law by an instrument in writing. An applicant or a patentee may in like manner grant and convey an exclusive right under his application for patent, or patent, to the whole or any specified part of the United States for the whole or any specified part of the right secured thereby. "(d) A certificate of acknowledgement under the hand and official seal of a person authorized to administer oaths within the United States, or in a foreign country, of a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States or an officer authorized to administer oaths whose authority is provided by a certificate of a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States, shall be prima facie evidence of the execution of an assignment, grant or conveyance of a patent or application for patent. "(e) An assignment, grant, or conveyance, and any license or waiver, such as an easement, quitclaim, covenant not to sue, release, or the like, purporting to operate in any manner after its own date shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee for a valuable consideration, without notice, unless it is recorded in the Patent Office within three months from its date or prior to the date of such subsequent purchase or mortgage. "252. Joint owners "In the absence of any agreement to the contrary recorded in the Patent Office, each of the joint owners of a published application or patent may make use, or have use made for him, of the invention claimed without the consent of and without accounting to the other owners, but, except with the consent of the other owners, the interest of a joint owner of a published application or patent may be transferred only to another joint owner or by inheritance or bequest, and a license or waiver of a right conferred by a jointly-owned patent or application can be made only by all the joint owners. "S253. Determination of title disputes "Title to any invention, application, or patent may be determined by civil action or other appropriate proceeding in any court of competent jurisdication and the Commissioner shall give effect to final judgment in such proceeding as required by law and in accordance with the principles of equity. "Sec. "CHAPTER 26.-GOVERNMENT INTERESTS IN PATENTS "261. Time for taking action in Government applications. “§261. Time for taking action in Government applications "Notwithstanding the provisions of Chapter 12 of this title, the Commissioner may extend the time for taking any action to three years, when an application has become the property of the United States and the head of the appropriate department or agency of the Government has certified to the Commissioner that the invention disclosed therein is important to the armament or defense of the United States. "SEC. "CHAPTER 27.-INFRINGEMENT OF PATENTS "271. Infringement of patent. "272. Temporary presence in the United States. “§271. Infringement of patent "(a) Except as otherwise provided in this title, whoever without authority of the patentee makes use within the United States in the useful arts of any patented invention during the term of the patent therefor infringes the patent. Without limitation on the generality of the foregoing, a person makes use of a patented invention within the United States, inter alia, if he: "(i) practices within the United States a process defined by a claim of the patent; "(ii) makes, uses, or sells within the United States a machine, manufacture, or composition of matter defined by a claim of the patent; "(iii) imports into the United States a product made outside the United States by a process defined by a claim of the patent; "(iv) makes, uses, or sells within the United States a component of a machine, manufacture, or composition of matter defined by a claim of the patent, or a material or apparatus for practicing a process defined by a claim of the patent, knowing the same to be especially made or adapted for making use within or without the United States of the subject matter so defined if such component or material or apparatus is not a staple article or commodity of commerce suitable for substantial other use. "(b) Whoever actively induces infringement of a patent shall be liable as an infringer. "(c) No patent owner otherwise entitled to relief under subsections (a) or (b) of this section shall be denied relief or deemed guilty of misuse or illegal extension of the patent right by reason of his having done one or more of the following: (1) derived revenue from acts which it performed by another without his consent would establish liability under subsections (a) or (b) of this section; (2) licensed or authorized another to perform acts which if performed without his consent would establish liability under subsections (a) or (b) of this section; (3) sought to enforce his patent rights under subsections (a) or (b) of this section. "(d) Whoever, during the interim period after an application is laid open to public inspection under section 120 of this title and before issue of a patent, performs acts which, if performed after issue of the patent, would make him liable for infringement of a valid claim of the patent shall be liable for those acts as an infringer is that claim appears in the application as laid open to public inspection and in the issued patent. "S272. Temporary presence in the United States "The use of any invention in any vessel, aircraft, or vehicle of any country which affords similar privileges to vessels, aircraft, or vehicles of the United. States, entering the United States temporarily or accidentally, shall not constitute infringement of any patent, if the invention is used exclusively for the needs of the vessel, aircraft, or vehicle and is not sold in or used for the manufacture of anything to be sold in or exported from the United States. "CHAPTER 28.-REMEDIES FOR INFRINGEMENT OF PATENT, AND OTHER ACTIONS "Sec. "281. Remedy for infringement of patent. "282. Defenses. "283. Injunction. "284. Damages. "285. Attorney fees. "286. Time limitation on damages. "287. Mitigation of damages; marking and notice. "288. Action for infringement of a patent containing an invalid claim. "289. Additional remedy for infringement of design patent. "290. Notice of patent suit. "291. False marking. "292. Nonresident applicant and patentee; service and notice. "293. Presumptions and estoppels; cancellation. “§281. Remedy for infringement of patent "A patentee shall have remedy by civil action for infringement of his patent. "$282. Defenses "(a) The following shall be defenses in any action involving the validity or infringement of a patent and shall be pleaded: “(1) Noninfringement, absence of liability for infringement, or unem-forceability. "(2) Invalidity of the patent or any claim in suit on any ground specified in part II of this title as a condition for patentability. "(3) Invalidity of the patent or any claim in suit for failure to comply with any requirement of sections 112 or 191 of this title. "(4) Any other fact or act made a defense by this title. "(b) There is an absence of liability for infringement of a patent by any person who, in the United States, on or before the effective filing date of the application for the patent was, in good faith commercially manufacturing the product or using the process claimed, or had made substantial preparation especially for such manufacture or use, and such person shall have the right to continue such manufacture or use despite the patent and to sell the products thereof, but such right shall be personal and nontransferable except with the person's entire business in the manufacture or use involved. "(c) In actions involving the validity or infringement of a patent the party asserting invalidity or noninfringement shall give notice in the pleadings or otherwise in writing to the adverse party as required by operation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, but in no event less than thirty days before the trial, of the prior art to be relied upon as affecting the validity or scope of the patent, setting forth specific identification of every exhibit and every witness to be relied upon in proof thereof. In the absence of such notice proof of said matters may not be made at the trial except on such terms as the court requires. "(d) A patent though otherwise found valid and infringed shall be unenforceable so long as it is serving as a material aid in effecting a violation of the antitrust laws culpably involving the patentee. "(e) The burden of establishing invalidity of a patent or any claim thereof, infringement, absence of liability for infringement, or unenforceability shall rest on the party asserting it. "§283. Injunction “(a) The several courts having jurisdiction of cases under this title may grant injunctions in accordance with the principles of equity to prevent the violation of any right secured by patent, on such terms as the court deems reasonable. "(b) No injunction shall be granted with respect to subsequent use or sale of machines, manufactures, or compositions of matter made prior to the grant of the patent and for which damages are awarded under section 284 (b) of this title. "S284. Damages “(a) Upon finding for the claimant, the court shall award the claimant damages adequate to compensate for the infringement but in no event less than the infringer's profits attributable to the infringement or less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by the infringer, together with interest and costs as fixed by the court. "(b) Damages for acts set forth in section 271(d) of this title shall be awarded only for acts occurring after actual notice to the infringer stating how his acts are considered to infringe a claim of an application laid open to public inspection. "(c) When the damages are not found by a jury, the court shall assess them. The court may increase the damages up to three times the amount found or assessed. "(d) The court may receive expert testimony as an aid to determination of damages or of what royalty would be reasonable under the circumstances. "S285. Attorney fees "The court in appropriate cases may award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party. “§286. Time limitation on damages "(a) Except as otherwise provided by law, no recovery shall be had for any infringement committed more than six years prior to the filing of the complaint or counterclaim for infringement in the action. "(b) In the case of claims against the United States Government for use of a patented invention, the period before bringing suit, up to six years, between the date of receipt of a written claim for compensation by the department or agency of the Government having authority to settle such claim, and the date of mailing by the Government of a notice to the claimant that his claim has been denied shall not be counted as part of the period referred to in the preceding paragraph. "S287. Mitigation of damages; marking and notice "Patentees, applicants, and persons making use of any patented invention for or under them that is the subject of a patent or a published application therefor. may give notice to the public thereof either by fixing to an article the word 'patent' or the abbreviation ‘pat.' or the words 'patent applied for' or the abbreviation 'pat. app. for,' together with the number of the patent or application related thereto, or when, from the character of the article, this can not be done, by fixing to it, or to the package wherein one or more of them is contained, a label containing a like notice. The failure so to mark may be proved as an element in mitigation of damages or diminution of what royalty would be reasonable prior to the date when the infringer was notified of the infringement. Filing of an action for infringement shall constitute such notice. "288. Action for infringement of a patent containing an invalid claim "Whenever, without deceptive intention, a claim of a patent is invalid, an action may be maintained for the infringement of a claim of the patent which may be valid. The patentee shall recover no costs unless a disclaimer has been entered, or a proceeding under section 191 of this title commenced, in the Patent Office with respect to the invalid claim before the commencement of the suit. "$289. Additional remedy for infringement of a design patent "(a) Whoever during the term of a patent for a design, without license of the owner, (1) applies the patented design, or any colorable imitation thereof, |