INFORMATION

TO PERSONS HAVING BUSINESS TO TRANSACT AT THE

'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SEC. 1. OF THE FORMS PRESCRIBED BY LAW, AND THE RULES ADOPTED BY THE OFFICE.

The following forms and rules are founded, the first upon positive law, and the second upon the constructive power the Commissioner has to issue such orders as will secure impartial justice to applicants and facilitate the transac<tion of business.

The laws now in force relative to patents are those approved July 4, 1836; March 3, 1837; March 3, 1839; August 29, 1842; May 27, 1848; March 3, 1849; and March 3, 1851.

The forms resting upon these are fixed, and cannot, of course, be varied without the intervention of Congress; but rules, having their origin in the Commissioner, can be revised or modified at his discretion.

SEC. II. FOR WHAT PATENTS MAY BE GRANTED.

By the act of 1836, section 6, patents were granted for 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 by others before the applicant's discovery or invention thereof, and not, at the time of his application for a patent, in public use, or on sale, with his consent or allowance as the inventor or discoverer; but, by the act of 3d March, 1839, no patent is held to be invalid by reason of the purchase, sale, or use [of the invention] prior to the application for a patent, except on proof of abandonment of such invention to the public, or that such purchase, sale, or public use has been for more than two years prior to such application for a patent.

By the 3d section of the act of 1842, patents are also granted for new and original designs:

1. For a manufacture, whether of metal or other material.

2. For the printing of woollen, silk, cotton, or other fabrics.

3. For busts, statues, or bas reliefs, or composition in alto or basso relievo. 4. For any impression or ornament (whether complete in itself, or) to be placed on any article of manufacture in marble or other material.

5. For any new and original pattern, or print, or picture, to be either worked into or worked on, or printed or painted, or cast or otherwise fixed on, any article of manufacture.

6. For any new shape or configuration of any article of manufacture.

All such designs not being previously known or used by others.

SEC. III. TO WHOM PATENTS MAY BE GRANTED.

Patents are granted to citizens of the United States; to aliens who shall have been resident in the United States one year next preceding, and shall have made oath of their intention to become citizens thereof; to one or more assignees of entire patent rights; to administrators and executors, and to foreign inventors or discoverers, but the law makes no provision for granting to the latter patents for new and original designs.

In case of the decease of an inventor, before he has obtained a patent for his invention, "the right of applying for and obtaining such patent shall devolve on the administrator or executor of such person in trust for the heirs at law of the deceased, if he shall have died intestate; but if otherwise, then in trust for his devisees, in as full and ample manner, and under the same conditions, limitations, and restrictions, as the same was held, or might have been claimed or enjoyed. by such person in his or her lifetime; and, when application for a patent shall be made by such legal representatives, the oath or affirmation shall be so varied as to be applicable to them."

Joint inventors are entitled to a joint patent; but neither can claim one separately.

SEC. IV. OF APPLICATIONS FOR PATENTS.

Of the propriety of making an application for a patent, the inventor or his agent must be the sole judge. The Patent Office is open, the records and models may be consulted during office hours, and the applicant can personally, or by attorney, satisfy himself of the expediency of filing his papers.

Further than the facilities thus afforded, the office can yield no assistance until the case is regularly before it in manner prescribed by law.

By the act of July 4, 1836, entitled "An act to promote the useful arts, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts heretofore made for that purpose," a principle entirely new was engrafted upon the system under which patents had been previously granted.

Under the provisions of this act it was made the duty of the Commissioner of Patents, on the receipt of any application for a patent, to institute "an examination of the alleged new invention or discovery," with a view to determine whether the same had been before "invented or discovered by any other person in this country," or "patented or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country." Thus was the grant of patents in future restricted to such "inventions or discoveries" as were new, in the most absolute

sense of the term, and a very laborious and responsible duty imposed upon this office. In aid of the solution of the question of novelty, thus raised on every application, the applicant was required to furnish a full and clear description of his invention, signed, witnessed, and verified by his oath, accompanied by a model and drawings of the same; all being deemed necessary in order to illustrate his claim to a patent. Furnished with these illustrations, the office was then required to go into a rigorous and extended examination, taking in the whole range of history on the given subject, whether its evidences were to be found in patents granted, caveats filed, or descriptions published, in this or in any foreign country, in any period of time.

In the conduct of these examinations, it is necessary to keep in constant and laborious employment a number of persons specially selected for their knowledge and skill in the arts; to refer with guarded care to caveats filed in the secret archives of the office, and which can only come into view on such occasions; to patents already granted, and to such works on the arts as have been published here or elsewhere; and also to keep pace with the current of invention throughout the world, by a constant and copious supply of such publications, in this country and in Europe, as are devoted to this object.

It will readily be seen that this office cannot undertake to respond to the numerous inquiries CONSTANTLY addressed to it, whether such or such an invention is new, and whether a patent can be obtained for it; because every such inquiry involves the whole question of novelty; and before the office could express, or even form, an opinion, the same range of rigorous examination now required by law on a regular application would be necessary, and this, too, without illustration. Such inquiries are based on very imperfect general descriptions; while, in applications for patents, the law requires that the office shall have the aid, not only of clear and full description, under oath, but also accurate drawings and models, before it shall decide the question whether, in any given case, the invention be new, &c. The attempt to answer such interrogatories would effectually interrupt the business of the office, and be a direct infringement on the rights of those who apply for patents, as the examinations of their applications must necessarily be suspended; moreover, it would be prejudging cases, and be a violation of law.

There is another class of inquiries which, for the reasons above enumerated, cannot meet with a response from this office, viz: inquiries founded upon brief and imperfect descriptions, propounded with a view to ascertain whether such alleged improvements have been patented, and, if so, to whom; nor can the office respond to inquiries touching pending or rejected applications (unless they have been withdrawn) without the consent of the applicants in writing.

The office is frequently called upon to explain certain principles of Patent law, to give information as to modes of procedure in the protection of patents, and suits for infringements, and also as to the value of a patented invention, and upon a variety of topics concerning the rights of patentees and others. The office cannot act as counsellor for individuals, nor as an expounder of law, except in reference to questions arising within the office; and the extent of information that can be given in these cases, is to forward a copy of Patent laws and the usual printed official circular.

It is hoped that this information will prove satisfactory. It will be distinctly understood that, in declining to respond to the class of inquiries above stated, this office acts under the necessity of the case, and not from any disposition to withhold information.

In presenting an application for a patent, much disappointment and delay will be avoided by attending to the following directions: 1st. The petition should be made to the Commissioner, praying that a patent may be granted for the invention. 2d. The specification should be filed, describing, as clearly and concisely as possible, the improvement made. 3d. The oath or affirmatio