sale.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That all patentees Patentees, &c., requirand assignees of patents hereafter granted, are hereby ed to mark required to stamp, engrave, or cause to be stamped or articles ofengraved, on each article vended or offered for sale, the fered for date of the patent; and if any person or persons, paten- Penalty tees or assignees, shall neglect to do so, he, she, or they for neglect. shall be liable to the same penalty, to be recovered and disposed of in the manner specified in the foregoing fifth section of this act.

Approved August 29, 1842.

CHAP. XLVII.—AN ACT to provide additional examiners in the
Patent Office, and for other purposes.

the Patent

Extension

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- May 28, tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 1848. bled, That there shall be appointed, in the manner provided in the second section of the act entitled "An act to promote the progress of useful arts, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts heretofore made for that purpose,' approved July fourth, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, two principal examiners, and two assistant examiners, in addition to the number of examiners now employed in 357. Addi1836, ch. the Patent Office; and that hereafter each of the princi- tional expal examiners employed in the Patent Office shall receive aminers in an annual salary of twenty-five hundred dollars, and Office. each of the assistant examiners an annual salary of Salaries. fifteen hundred dollars: Provided, That the power to extend patents, now vested in the board composed of the of patents. Secretary of State, Commissioner of Patents, and Solicitor of the Treasury, by the eighteenth section of the Act approved July fourth, eighteen hundred and thirtysix, respecting the Patent Office, shall hereafter be vested solely in the Commissioner of Patents; and when an application is made to him for the extension of a patent according to said eighteenth section, and sixty days' notice given thereof, he shall refer the case to the principal examiner having charge of the class of inventions to which said case belongs, who shall make a full report to said commission of the said case, and particularly whether the invention or improvement secured in the patent was new and patentable when patented; and thereupon the said commissioner shall grant or refuse the extension of said patent, upon the same principles and rules that have governed said board; but no patent shall be extended for a longer term than seven years.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That hereafter the

Fee for recording

conveyances of patents.

Two

Commissioner of Patents shall require a fee of one dollar for recording any assignment, grant, or conveyance, of the whole or any part of the interest in letters-patent, or power of attorney, or license to make or use the things patented, when such instrument shall not exceed three hundred words; the sum of two dollars when it shall exceed three hundred and shall not exceed one thousand words; and the sum of three dollars when it shall exceed one thousand words; which fees shall in all cases be paid in advance.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That there shall copying be appointed in manner aforesaid two clerks to be eming clerks ployed in copying and recording, and in other services in authorized. the Patent Office, who shall be paid a salary of one thou

and record

Commis

sand two hundred dollars per annum.

Franking SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Commis privilege of sioner of Patents is hereby authorized to send by mail, sioner of free of postage, the annual reports of the Patent Office, Patents. in the same manner in which he is empowered to send letters and packages relating to the business of the Patent Office.

Approved May 27, 1848.

INDEX.

ABANDONMENT.

1. If, before the patent is taken out, the inventor looks on and sees his inven-
tion going into general use without objection, the Court will treat his con-
duct as an abandonment or dedication of his right to the exclusive use, to
the public. Treadwell et al. v. Bladen, I. 531; Mellus v. Silsbee, I. 506.
2. And this holds, although such use was by a particular person authorized by
the patentee. Pennock et al. v. Dialogue, I. 466.

3. And it will be presumed by a public use of the invention before application,
if acquiesced in by the inventor. Shaw v. Cooper, I. 643; Pennock et al. v.
Dialogue, I. 466.

4. A knowledge without immediate assertion of the right, will amount to an
acquiescence. Ib.

5. Such knowledge may be presumed from circumstances. 16.

6. The question of abandonment does not depend upon the intention of the
inventor, for whatever may be the intention, if he suffers his invention to go
into public use, through any means whatever, without an immediate asser-
tion of his right, he is not entitled to a patent. Ib.

7. Voluntarily permitting the invention to be on public sale or use, or acqui-
escing in such sale or use, creates a disability to comply with the terms of
the statute on which alone the Secretary of State is authorized to grant a
patent. Pennock et al v. Dialogue, I. 542.

8. The question whether certain acts or acquiescence furnish satisfactory proof
of abandonment, is one of fact rather than law. Ib.

9. Whether the delay to take out a patent, and allowing it to go into use by
others, should be considered as an abandonment, is a question that should
always be submitted to the jury. Morris v. Huntington, I. 448.

10. But a public use, or a sale thereof by the inventor, is not conclusive here,
as it is in England. Mellus v. Silsbee, I. 506.

11. Public sale, or use with consent of patentee, is not evidence of abandon-
ment, since the Act of March 3d, 1839, unless more than two years before
application. Root v. Ball et al. II. 513.

12. This inchoate right thus lost, cannot afterwards be resumed at the plea-
sure of the inventor. Pennock et al. v. Dialogue, I. 466.

13. Of a patent-right will not arise from disuse, however long continued. Gray
et al v. James et al. I. 120.

ABATEMENT OF SUIT.

See ASSIGNEE.

ACTING COMMISSIONER.

1. Where evidence is offered to prove that the person who signs a patent as
such, was not appointed by the President, it is questionable whether it is
competent in cases where he is not a party. Woodworth v. Hall et al. II.
517.

2. Under the Patent Law of 1836, the chief clerk is held to be the acting com-
missioner, as well in the necessary absence of the head of the office as in
case of a vacancy de jure. Ib.

3. And the certificate of copies verified by a person so styling himself, is suffi-
cient on its face. Woodworth et al. v. Hall et al. II. 495.

ACTION.

If the patentee has sold a moiety of his patent-right, a joint action lies by him-
self and his assignee for a violation of it.

Whittemore v. Cutter, I. 28.

See ASSIGNEE.

ACTS OF CONGRESS.

See STATUTES.

ADMINISTRATOR.

1. Of a deceased patentee may apply for and obtain a renewal in his own
name. Brooks et al. v. Bicknell et al. II. 118.

2. And extensions of patents by the act of the Board of Commissioners may
be granted to the administrator of a deceased patentee — for the benefit of
the estate, although the patentee, in his lifetime, had disposed of all his
interest in the then existing patent, as such sale did not carry any thing be-
yond the original patent. Wilson v. Rousseau et al. II. 372.

AFFIDAVIT.

Of a single witness, not sufficient to outweigh the oath of the patentee on the
question of originality. Woodworth v. Sherman, II. 257.

AGREEMENT.

1. An agreement to assign his interest in the patent, will not bar the right of
the patentee to recover in his own name. Park v. Little et al. I. 17.
2. But after an agreement between an original inventor of a machine, and the
inventor of an improvement, that they would mutually use the same; the
patent should have issued in the names of both inventors. And the plaintiff
taking out patent in his own name to be considered as trustee. Rutgen v.
Kanowrs et al. I. 1.

ALIENAGE.

May be given in evidence under the general issue, without notice and without
pleading it. Kneass v. The Schuylkill Bank, I. 303.

ALIENS.

By the provisions of the Act of 1800, aliens, as to patent-rights, are placed sub-
stantially on the same ground with citizens. Shaw v. Cooper, I. 643.

ALTERATIONS.

See IMPROVEMENT.

AMBIGUITY.

1. The patentee must describe in his patent in what his invention consists, with
reasonable certainty, otherwise it will be void. Lowell v. Lewis, I. 131.
2. But the patent and specification may be explained by the affidavit an-
nexed to the specification. Pettibone v. Derringer, I. 152.

ANSWER.

To a bill for injunction, though filed before the time for answering, will be
treated as an answer on the interlocutory motion. Brooks et al. v. Bicknell
et al. II. 118.

See NOTICE; See PRACTICE.

APPEAL.

See JURISDICTION.

APPLICATION.

See PATENT.

ART.

1. May be subject of a patent, but it must be practical and referrible to some-
thing which may prove it to be useful. Evans v. Eaton, I. 68.

2. Copperplate printing on the back of bank-notes is an art for which a patent
may issue. Kneass v. The Schuylkill Bank, I. 303.

ASSIGNEE.

1. Of a part of a patent-right cannot maintain an action [under the Act of
1793,] on the case, for a violation of the patent. Tyler et al. v. Tuel, I. 14.
See note.

2. But of part of a patent circumscribed as to the interest, by local limits, he
can maintain a suit in equity for an injunction. But whether he can sue at
law, in his own name or jointly with the patentee. Quære. Ogle et al. v.
Ege, I. 516.

3. Of a moiety of a patent-right, may maintain an action jointly with the pa-
tentee for a violation of it, under the Act of February 21, 1793. Whittemore
V. Cutter, I. 28.

4. Of the exclusive right to use ten machines within the city of Louisville, or
ten miles around, may join his assignor in a suit with him for infringement,