c. Any person who has made or hereafter makes any invention or discovery useful in the production or utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy, shall file with the Commission a report containing a complete description thereof unless such invention or discovery is described in an application for a patent filed with the Commissioner of Patents by such person within the time required for the filing of such report. The report covering any such invention or discovery shall be filed on or before the one hundred and eightieth day after such person first discovers or first has reason to believe that such invention or discovery is useful in such production or utilization.

d. The Commissioner of Patents shall notify the Commission of all applications for patents heretofore or hereafter filed which, in his opinion, disclose inventions or discoveries required to be reported under subsection 151 c, and shall provide the Commission access to all such applications.

e. Reports filed pursuant to subsection c. of this section, and applications to which access is provided under subsection d. of this section, shall be kept in confidence by the Commission, and no information concerning the same given without authority of the inventor or owner unless necessary to carry out the provisions of any Act of Congress or in such special circumstances as may be determined by the Commission.

42 U.S.C. 2182 (sec. 152). Inventions made or conceived during Commission contracts. Any invention or discovery, useful in the production or utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy, made or conceived in the course of or under any contract, subcontract, or arrangement entered into with or for the benefit of the Commission, regardless of whether the contract, subcontract, or arrangement involved the expenditure of funds by the Commission, shall be vested in, and be the property of, the Commission, except that the Commission may waive its claim to any such invention or discovery under such circumstances as the Commission may deem appropriate, consistent with the policy of this section. No patent for any invention or discovery, useful in the production or utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy, shall be issued unless the applicant files with the application, or within thirty days after request therefor by the Commissioner of Patents (unless the Commission advises the Commissioner of Patents that its rights have been determined and that accordingly no statement is necessary) a statement under oath setting forth the full facts surrounding the making or conception of the invention or discovery described in the application and whether the invention or discovery was made or conceived in the course of or under any contract, subcontract, or arrangement entered into with or for the benefit of the Commission, regardless of whether the contract, subcontract, or arrangement involved the expenditure of funds by the Commission. The Commissioner of Patents shall as soon as the application is otherwise in condition for allowance forward copies of the application and the statement to the Commission.

The Commissioner of Patents may proceed with the application and issue the patent to the applicant (if the invention or discovery is otherwise patentable) unless the Commission, within 90 days after receipt of copies of the application and statement, directs the Commissioner of Patents to issue the patent to the Commission (if the invention or discovery is otherwise patentable) to be held by the Commission as the agent of and on behalf of the United States.

If the Commission files such a direction with the Commissioner of Patents, and if the applicant's statement claims, and the applicant still believes, that the invention or discovery was not made or conceived in the course of or under any contract, subcontract or arrangement entered into with or for the benefit of the Commission entitling the Commission to the title to the application or the patent the applicant may, within 30 days after notification of the filing of such a direc

tion, request a hearing before a Board of Patent Interferences. The Board shall have the power to hear and determine whether the Commission was entitled to the direction filed with the Commissioner of Patents. The Board shall follow the rules and procedures established for interference cases and an appeal may be taken by either the applicant or the Commission from the final order of the Board to the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in accordance with the procedures governing the appeals from the Board of Patent Interferences.

If the statement filed by the applicant should thereafter be found to contain false material statements any notification by the Commission that it has no objections to the issuance of a patent to the applicant shall not be deemed in any respect to constitute a waiver of the provisions of this section or of any applicable civil or criminal statute, and the Commission may have the title to the patent transferred to the Commission on the records of the Commissioner of Patents in accordance with the provisions of this section. A determination of rights by the Commission pursuant to a contractual provision or other arrangement prior to the request of the Commissioner of Patents for the statement, shall be final in the absence of false material statements or nondisclosure of material facts by the applicant.

42 U.S.C. 2457. (sec. 305, National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958) Property rights in inventions. (a) Exclusive property of United States; issuance of patent. Whenever any invention is made in the performance of any work under any contract of the Administration, and the Administrator determines that

(1) the person who made the invention was employed or assigned to perform research, development, or exploration work and the invention is related to the work he was employed or assigned to perform, or that it was within the scope of his employment duties, whether or not it was made during working hours, or with a contribution by the Government of the use of Government facilities, equipment, materials, allocated funds, information proprietary to the Government, or services of Government employees during working hours; or

(2) the person who made the invention was not employed or assigned to perform research development, or exploration work, but the invention is nevertheless related to the contract, or to the work or duties he was employed or assigned to perform, and was made during working hours, or with a contribution from the Government of the sort referred to in clause (1),

such invention shall be the exclusive property of the United States, and if such invention is patentable a patent therefor shall be issued to the United States upon application made by the Administrator, unless the Administrator waives all or any part of the rights of the United States to such invention in conformity with the provisions of subsection (f) of this section.

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(c) Patent application. No patent may be issued to any applicant other than the Administrator for any invention which appears to the Commissioner of Patents to have significant utility in the conduct of aeronautical and space activities unless the applicant files with the Commissioner, with the application or within thirty days after request therefor by the Commissioner, a written statement executed under oath setting forth the full facts concerning the circumstances under which such invention was made and stating the relationship (if any) of such invention to the performance of any work under any contract of the Administration. Copies of each such statement and the application to which it relates shall be transmitted forthwith by the Commissioner to the Administrator.

(d) Issuance of patent to applicant; request by Administrator; notice; hearing; determination; review. Upon any application as in which any such statement has been transmitted to the Administrator, the Commissioner may, if the invention is patentable, issue a patent to the applicant unless the Administrator, within ninety days after receipt of such application and statement, requests that such patent be issued to him on behalf of the United States. If, within such time, the Administrator files such a request with the Commissioner, the Commissioner shall transmit notice thereof to the applicant, and shall issue such patent to the Administrator unless the applicant within thirty days after receipt of such notice requests a hearing before a Board of Patent Interferences on the question whether the Administrator is entitled under this section to receive such patent. The Board may hear and determine, in accordance with rules and procedures established for interference cases, the question so presented, and its determination shall be subject to appeal by the applicant or by the Administrator to the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in accordance with procedures governing appeals from decisions of the Board of Patent Interferences in other proceedings.

(e) False representations; request for transfer of title to patent; notice; hearing; determination; review. Whenever any patent has been issued to any applicant in conformity with subsection (d) of this section, and the Administrator thereafter has reason to believe that the statement filed by the applicant in connection therewith contained any false representation of any material fact, the Administrator within five years after the date of issuance of such patent may file with the Commissioner a request for the transfer to the Administrator of title to such patent on the records of the Commissioner. Notice of any such request shall be transmitted by the Commissioner to the owner of record of such patent, and title to such patent shall be so transferred to the Administrator unless within thirty days after receipt of such notice such owner of record requests a hearing before a Board of Patent Interferences on the question whether any such false representation was contained in such statement. Such question shall be heard and determined, and determination thereof shall be subject to review, in the manner prescribed by subsection (d) of this section for questions arising thereunder. No request made by the Administrator under this subsection for the transfer of title to any patent, and no prosecution for the violation of any criminal statute, shall be barred by any failure of the Administrator to make a request under subsection (d) of this section for the issuance of such patent to him, or by any notice previously given by the Administrator stating that he had no objection to the issuance of such patent to the applicant therefor.

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THE APPLICATION

51. General requisites of an application. Applications for patents must be made to the Commissioner of Patents. A complete application comprises:

77.

(a) A specification, including a claim or claims, see rules 71 to

(b) An oath or declaration, see rules 65 and 68.

(c) Drawings, when necessary, see rules 81 to 88.

(d) The prescribed filing fee. (See 35 U.S.C. 41 for filing fees.) (Amended July 2, 1971.)

35 U.S.C. 111. Application for patent. Application for patent shall be made by the inventor, except as otherwise provided in this title, in writing to the Com

missioner. Such application shall include: (1) a specification as prescribed by section 112 of this title; (2) a drawing as prescribed by section 113 of this title; and (3) an oath by the applicant as prescribed by section 115 of this title. The application must be signed by the applicant and accompanied by the fee required by law.

52. Language, paper, writing, margins. (a) The specification and oath or declaration must be in the English language. All papers which are to become a part of the permanent records of the Patent Office must be legibly written or printed in permanent ink or its equivalent in quality. All of the application papers must be presented in a form having sufficient clarity and contrast between the paper and the writing or printing thereon to permit the production of readily legible copies in any number by use of photographic, electrostatic, photooffset, and microfilming processes. If the papers are not of the required quality, substitute typewritten or printed papers of suitable quality may be required.

(b) The application papers (specification, including claims, oath, or declaration, papers as provided for in rules 42, 43, 47, etc.) and also papers subsequently filed, must be plainly written on but one side of the paper. The size of all sheets of paper should be 8 to 812 by 1012 to 13 inches (20.3 to 21.6 cm. by 26.6 to 33.0 cm.). A margin of 12 inches (3.8 cm.) must be reserved on the left-hand side and on the top of each page of the specification, including claims. The lines must not be crowded too closely together; typewritten lines should be double spaced. The pages of the specification, including claims, should be numbered consecutively, starting with 1, the numbers being placed in the center of the bottom margins.

(c) Any interlineation, erasure, or cancellation or other alteration of the application papers as filed must have been made before the application was signed and sworn to or declaration made, and should be dated and initialed or signed by the applicant in a marginal note or footnote on the same sheet of paper to indicate such fact. No such alterations are permissible after execution of the application papers. (See rule 56.) (Amended January 1, 1973)

35 U.S.C. 111. Application for patent. Application for patent shall be made by filed in the Patent Office to be printed or typewritten.

53. Application accepted and filed for examination only when complete. (a) An application for a patent will not be accepted and placed upon the files for examination until all its required parts, complying with the rules relating thereto, are received, except that certain minor informalities may be waived subject to subsequent correction whenever required.

(b) If the papers and parts are incomplete, or so defective that they cannot be accepted as a complete application for examination, the applicant will be notified; the papers will be held six months for com

pletion and, if not by then completed, will thereafter be returned or otherwise disposed of; the fee, if submitted, will be refunded.

54. Parts of application to be filed together. It is desirable that all parts of the complete application be deposited in the Office together; otherwise a letter must accompany each part, accurately and clearly connecting it with the other parts of the application.

55. Serial number and filing date of application. (a) Complete applications are numbered in regular order, and the applicant will be informed of the serial number and filing date of the application by a filing receipt. The filing date of the application is the date on which the complete application, acceptable for placing on the files for examination, is received in the Patent Office; or the date on which the last part completing such application is received in the case of an incomplete or defective application completed within six months.

(b) An applicant may claim the benefit of the filing date of a prior foreign application under the conditions specified in 35 U.S.C. 119. The claim to priority need be in no special form and may be made by the attorney or agent if the foreign application is referred to in the oath or declaration as required by rule 65. The claim for priority and the certified copy of the foreign application specified in the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 119 must be filed in the case of interference (Rule 224); when necessary to overcome the date of a reference relied upon by the examiner; or when specifically required by the examiner; and in all other cases they must be filed not later than the date the issue fee is paid. If the papers filed are not in the English language, a translation need not be filed except in the three particular instances specified in the preceding sentence, in which event a sworn translation or a translation certified as accurate by a sworn or official translator must be filed.

(c) An applicant may under certain circumstances claim priority on the basis of an application for an inventor's certificate in a country granting both inventor's certificates and patents. When an applicant wishes to claim the right of priority as to a claim or claims of the application on the basis of an application for an inventor's certificate in such a country under 35 U.S.C. 119, last paragraph (as amended July 28, 1972), the applicant or his attorney or agent, when submitting a claim for such right as specified in paragraph (b) of this rule, shall include an affidavit or declaration including a specific statement, that upon an investigation, he has satisfied himself that to the best of his knowledge the applicant, when filing his application for the inventor's certificate, had the option to file an application either for a patent or an inventor's certificate as to the subject matter of the identified claim or claims forming the basis for the claim of priority. (Amended August 25, 1973.)