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but for term of one and twenty years only, and as if this act had never been had or made, and of none other.

6. That any declaration before-mentioned shall not extend to any letters patents and grants of privilege for the term of fourteen years or under, hereafter to be made, of the sole working or making of any manner of new manufactures, within this realm, to the true and first inventor and inventors, of such manufactures, which others at the time of making such letters patents and grants shall not use, so as also they be not contrary to the law, nor mischievous to the state, by raising prices of commodities at home, or hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient: the said fourteen years to be accounted from the date of the first letters patents, or grant of such privilege hereafter to be made, but that the same shall be of such force as they should be, if this act had never been made, and of none other.

An Act to amend the law touching Letters-Patent for Inventions. 2 Stat. 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 83. Sept. 10, 1835.

Sec. 1. Disclaimer of a part of the | Sec. 3. Certificate of a verdict in faspecification.

Entry of a memorandum of
an addition to the specifi-
cation.

Caveat.

Disclaimer not to affect
pending actions.
Disclaimer to be advertised

in case, &c.

2. Mode of proceeding where
the patentee proves not
to be the original invent-
or, though he believed
himself to be so.

vor of a patentee in a former suit to entitle him to treble costs.

Prolongation of the term of

4.

5.

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tent, to be given before trial.

6. Costs in actions for infringe

ment.

7. Penalty for using unauthorized the name of patentee, his stamp or mark.

Whereas it is expedient to make certain additions to and alterations in the present law touching letters patent for inventions, as well for the better protecting of patentees in the rights intended to be secured by such letters patent, as for the more ample benefit of the public from the same: be it enacted by the king's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the

same, that any person who, as grantee, assignee, or otherwise, hath obtained or who shall hereafter obtain letters patent, for the sole making, exercising, vending, or using of any invention, may, if he think fit, enter with the clerk of the patents of England, Scotland, or Ireland, respectively, as the case may be, having first obtained the leave of his majesty's attorney general or solicitor general in case of an English patent, of the lord advocate or solicitor general of Scotland in the case of a Scotch patent, or of his majesty's attorney general or solicitor general for Ireland in the case of an Irish patent, certified by his fiat and signature, a disclaimer of any part of either the title of the invention or of the specification, stating the reason for such disclaimer, or may, with such leave as aforesaid, enter a memorandum of any alteration in the said title or specification, not being such disclaimer or such alteration as shall extend the exclusive right granted by the said letters patent; and such disclaimer or memorandum of alteration being filed by the said clerk of the patents, and enrolled with the specification, shall be deemed and taken to be part of such letters patent or such specification in all courts whatever': provided always, that any person may enter a caveat, in like manner as caveats are now used to be entered, against such disclaimer or alteration; which

1 The nature of the mischiefs to be remedied in this section will be very clearly understood by a reference to the extracts from the evidence of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Farey, given in this Appendix: they consisted mainly in the necessity under which inventors found themselves of keeping their inventions secret until the scaling of the patent, which, coupled with the difficulty of specifying correctly without the aid of experiments incompatible with the secrecy observed up to the time of sealing, and equally incompatible with the shortness of the time allowed for specifying after the sealing, occasioned sometimes deficiencies in the specification, sometimes discrepancies between it and the title, either of which faults was sufficient to avoid the patent. It was held even before the passing of this act, that the inventor might embody in his specification any improvements which occurred to him between the periods of sealing the patent and enrolling the specification. Crossley v. Beverley, 9 B. & C. 63. But then the improvements must not have been such as to render the title in the patent inapplicable to the specification, for that would have been fatal to the rights of the patentee. [Smith's Epitome of Law relating to Pat. Ed. 1836. Lond. p 42, n.]

caveat being so entered shall give the party entering the same a right to have notice of the application being heard by the attorney general, or solicitor general, or lord advocate, respectively provided also, that no such disclaimer or alteration shall be receivable in evidence in any action or suit (save and except in any proceeding by scire facias) pending at the time when such disclaimer or alteration was enrolled, but in every such action or suit the original title and specification alone shall be given in evidence, and deemed and taken to be the title and specification of the invention for which the letters patent have been or shall have been granted: provided also, that it shall be lawful for the attorney general, or solicitor general, or lord advocate, before granting such fiat, to require the party applying for the same to advertise his disclaimer or alteration in such manner as to such attorney general, or solicitor general, or lord advocate shall seem right, and shall, if he so require such advertisement, certify in his fiat that the same has been duly made.

2. That if in any suit or action it shall be proved or specially found by the verdict of a jury that any person who shall have obtained letters patent for any invention or supposed invention, was not the first inventor thereof, or of some part thereof, by reason of some other person or persons having invented or used the same, or some part thereof, before the date of such letters patent, or if such patentee or his assigns shall discover that some other person had, unknown to such patentee, invented or used the same, or some part thereof, before the date of such letters patent, it shall and may be lawful for such patentee or his assigns to petition his majesty in council to confirm the said letters patent or to grant new letters patent, the matter of which petition shall be heard before the judicial committee of the privy council; and such committee, upon examining the said matter, and being satisfied that such patentee believed himself to be the first and original inventor, and being satisfied that such invention or part thereof had not been publicly and generally used before the date of such first letters patent, may report to his majesty their opinion that the prayer of such pe

tition ought to be complied with, whereupon his majesty may, if he think fit, grant such prayer; and the said letters patent shall be available in law and equity to give to such petitioner the sole right of using, making, and vending such invention as against all persons whatsoever, any law, usage or custom to the contrary thereof notwithstanding: provided, that any person opposing such petition shall be entitled to be heard before the said judicial committee: provided also, that any person, party to any former suit or action touching such first letters patent, shall be entitled to have notice of such petition before presenting the same.'

3. That if any action at law or any suit in equity for an account shall be brought in respect of any alleged infringement of such letters patent heretofore or hereafter granted, or any scire facias to repeal such letters patent, and if a verdict shall pass for the patentee or his assigns, or if a final decree or decretal order shall be made for him or them, upon the merits of the suit, it shall be lawful for the judge before whom such action shall be tried to certify on the record, or the judge who shall make such decree or order to give a certificate under his hand, that the validity of the patent came in question before him, which record or certificate being given in evidence in any

1 Hitherto, if an inventor could have managed to use his discovery in such a manner as to enjoy the benefit of it without laying his process open to discovery, he might have enjoyed all the advantages of a patentee without obtaining a patent, and of course without putting the public in possession of his discovery through the medium of a specification; and yet although the same idea might subsequently occur to some other person, who might be anxious to obtain a patent for it, the previous user by the first discoverer would have been sufficient to prevent the grant or to avoid the instrument if granted, so that the public would have been altogether deprived of the advantage arising from a specification. A singular instance of this kind of mischief seems to have occurred in Mr. Watt's case, whose specification, though upheld by the courts, is stated in the evidence before the select committee to have been totally useless and unintelligible in practice. The consequence of which was, that the enjoyment of Mr. Watt's exclusive privileges continued for nearly thirty years after the expiration of the patent. [Smith's Epitome of Law relating to Pat. Ed. 1835. Lond. p. 44, n.]

other suit or action whatever touching such patent, if a verdict shall pass, or decree or decretal order be made, in favor of such patentee or his assigns, he or they shall receive treble costs in such suit or action, to be taxed at three times the taxed costs, unless the judge inaking such second or other decree or order, or trying such second or other action, shall certify that he ought not to have such treble costs.

4. That if any person who now hath or shall hereafter obtain any letters patent as aforesaid, shall advertise in the London Gazette three times, and in three London papers, and three times in some country paper published in the town where or near to which he carried on any manufacture of any thing made according to his specification, or near to or in which he resides, in case he carried on no such manufacture, or published in the county where he carries on such manufacture, or where he lives, in case there shall not be any paper published in such town, that he intends to apply to his majesty in council for a prolongation of his term of sole using and vending his invention, and shall petition his majesty in council to that effect, it shall be lawful for any person to enter a caveat at the council office; and if his majesty shall refer the consideration of such petition to the judicial committee of the privy council, and notice shall first be by him given to any person or persons who shall have entered such caveats, the petitioner shall be heard by his counsel and witnesses to prove his case, and the persons entering caveats shall likewise be heard by their counsel and witnesses; whereupon, and upon hearing and inquiring of the whole matter, the judicial committee may report to his majesty that a further extension of the term in the said letters patent should be granted, not exceeding seven years; and his majesty is hereby authorized and empowered, if he shall think fit, to grant new letters patent for the said invention for a term not exceeding seven years after the expiration of the first term, any law, custom, or usage to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding provided that no such extension shall be granted, if the application by petition shall not be made and prosecuted with

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