the benefit of the same privileges and proceedings as are provided by law in the case of original applications for patents.

SECTION 9. And be it further enacted, any thing in the fifteenth section of the act to which this is additional to the contrary notwithstanding, That, whenever by mistake, accident, or inadvertence, and without any wilful default or intent to defraud or mislead the public, any patentee shall have in his specification claimed to be the original and first inventor or discoverer of any material or substantial part of the thing patented, of which he was not the first and original inventor, and shall have no legal or just right to claim the same, in every such case the patent shall be deemed good and valid for so much of the invention or discovery as shall be truly and bonâ fide his own; Provided, It shall be a material and substantial part of the thing patented, and be definitely distinguishable from the other parts so claimed without right as aforesaid. And every such patentee, his executors, administrators, and assigns, whether of the whole, or of a sectional interest therein, shall be entitled to maintain a suit at law or in equity on such patent for any infringement of such part of the invention or discovery as shall be bona fide his own as aforesaid, notwithstanding the specification may embrace more than he shall have any legal right to claim. But, in every such case in which a judgment or verdict shall be rendered for the plaintiff, he shall not be entitled to recover costs against the defendant, unless he shall have entered at the Patent Office, prior to the commencement of the suit, a disclaimer of all that part of the thing patented which was so claimed without right. Provided however, That no person bringing any such suit shall be entitled to the benefits of the provisions contained in this section, who shall have unreasonably neglected or delayed to enter at the Patent Office a disclaimer as aforesaid.

SECTION 10. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner is hereby authorized and empowered to appoint agents, in not exceeding twenty of the principal cities or towns in the United States as may best accommodate the different sections of the country, for the purpose of receiving and forwarding to the Patent Office all such models, specimens of ingredients

and manufactures, as shall be intended to be patented or deposited therein, the transportation of the same to be chargeable to the patent fund.

SECTION 11. And be it further enacted, That, instead of one examining clerk, as provided by the second section of the act to which this is additional, there shall be appointed, in manner therein provided, two examining clerks, each to receive an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars; and also, an additional copying clerk, at an annual salary of eight hundred dollars. And the Commissioner is also authorized to employ, from time to time, as many temporary clerks as may be necessary to execute the copying and draughting required by the first section of this act, and to examine and compare the records with the originals, who shall receive not exceeding seven cents for every page of one hundred words, and for drawings and comparison of records with originals, such reasonable compensation as shall be agreed upon or prescribed by the Commissioner.

SECTION 12. And be it further enacted, That, wherever the application of any foreigner for a patent shall be rejected and withdrawn for want of novelty in the invention, pursuant to the seventh section of the act to which this is additional, the certificate thereof of the Commissioner shall be a sufficient warrant to the treasurer to pay back to such applicant two thirds of the duty he shall have paid into the treasury on account of such application.

SECTION 13. And be it further enacted, That in all cases in which an oath is required by this act, or by the act to which this is additional, if the person of whom it is required shall be conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, affirmation may be substituted therefor.

SECTION 14. And be it further enacted, That all moneys paid into the treasury of the United States for patents and for fees for copies furnished by the Superintendent of the Patent Office prior to the passage of the act to which this is additional, shall be carried to the credit of the patent fund created by said act; and the moneys constituting said fund shall be, and the same are hereby, appropriated for the payment of the salaries

of the officers and clerks provided for by said act, and all other expenses of the Patent Office, including all the expenditures provided for by this act; and also for such other purposes as are or may be hereafter specially provided for by law. And the Commissioner is hereby authorized to draw upon said fund, from time to time, for such sums as shall be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this act, governed, however, by the several limitations herein contained. And it shall be his duty to lay before Congress, in the month of January, annually, a detailed statement of the expenditures and payments by him made from said fund; And it shall also be his duty to lay before Congress, in the month of January, annually, a list of all patents which shall have been granted during the preceding year, designating, under proper heads, the subjects of such patents, and furnishing an alphabetical list of the patentees, with their places of residence; and he shall also furnish a list of all patents which shall have become public property during the same period; together with such other information of the state and condition of the Patent Office as may be useful to Congress or the public.

APPROVED March 3, 1837.

Repealed July 8, 1870. 16 Statutes at Large, Chap. 230, Section 111, p. 216.

PATENT ACT OF 1839.

5 STATUTES AT LARGE, 353.

An Act in addition to "An act to promote the progress of the useful arts."

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be appointed, in manner provided in the second section of the act to which this is additional, two assistant examiners, each to receive an annual salary of twelve hundred and fifty dollars.

SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner be authorized to employ temporary clerks to do any necessary transcribing, whenever the current business of the office requires

it; Provided however, That instead of salary, a compensation shall be allowed, at a rate not greater than is charged for copies now furnished by the office.

SECTION 3. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner is hereby authorized to publish a classified and alphabetical list of all patents granted by the Patent Office previous to said publication, and retain one hundred copies for the Patent Office and nine hundred copies to be deposited in the library of Congress, for such distribution as may be hereafter directed; and that one thousand dollars, if necessary, be appropriated, out of the patent fund, to defray the expense of the same.

SECTION 4. And be it further enacted, That the sum of three thousand six hundred and fifty-nine dollars and twentytwo cents be, and is hereby, appropriated from the patent fund, to pay for the use and occupation of rooms in the City Hall by the Patent Office.

SECTION 5. And be it further enacted, That the sum of one thousand dollars be appropriated from the patent fund, to be expended under the direction of the Commissioner, for the purchase of necessary books for the library of the Patent Office.

SECTION 6. And be it further enacted, That no person shall be debarred from receiving a patent for any invention or discovery, as provided in the act approved on the fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, to which this is additional, by reason of the same having been patented in a foreign country more than six months prior to his application: Provided, That the same shall not have been introduced into public and common use in the United States, prior to the application for such patent: And provided also, That in all cases every such patent shall be limited to the term of fourteen years from the date or publication of such foreign letters-patent.

SECTION 7. And be it further enacted, That every person or corporation who has, or shall have, purchased or constructed any newly invented machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, prior to the application by the inventor or discoverer for a patent, shall be held to possess the right to use, and vend to others to be used, the specific machine, manufacture, or

composition of matter so made or purchased, without liability therefor to the inventor, or any other person interested in such invention; and no patent shall be held to be invalid, by reason of such purchase, sale, or use prior to the application for a patent as aforesaid, except on proof of abandonment of such invention to the public; or that such purchase, sale, or prior use has been for more than two years prior to such application for a patent.

SECTION 8. And be it further enacted, That so much of the eleventh section of the above recited act as requires the payment of three dollars to the Commissioner of Patents for recording any assignment, grant, or conveyance of the whole or any part of the interest or right under any patent, be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and all such assignments, grants, and conveyances shall, in future, be recorded, without any charge what

ever.

SECTION 10. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the sixteenth section of the before-recited act shall extend to all cases where patents are refused for any reason whatever, either by the Commissioner of Patents or by the Chief Justice of the District of Columbia, upon appeals from the decision of said Commissioner, as well as where the same shall have been refused on account of, or by reason of, interference with a previously existing patent; and in all cases where there is no opposing party, a copy of the bill shall be served upon the Commissioner of Patents, when the whole of the expenses of the proceeding shall be paid by the applicant, whether the final decision shall be in his favor or otherwise.

SECTION 11. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where an appeal is now allowed by law from the decision of the Commissioner of Patents to a board of examiners, provided for in the seventh section of the act to which this is additional, the party, instead thereof, shall have a right to appeal to the Chief Justice of the district court of the United States for the District of Columbia, by giving notice thereof to the Commissioner, and filing in the Patent Office, within such time as the Commissioner shall appoint, his reasons of appeal specifically set forth in writing, and also paying into the Patent Office, to