IV. French Assignments and Powers of Attorney. SEC. 35. Legal formalities. 36. Object and effect of registry. 37. Formalities when the assignment is not drawn up in France. SEC. 38. Transfers by attorney. 39. Number of assignees unlimited. 41. Acte unilateral de cession. 35. LEGAL FORMALITIES.-Patents may be assigned by the patentees themselves, or by persons acting in their names with regular powers; the assignment may be of the whole or only of part; it may be for the time remaining, or for a portion of it. All deeds of assignment must be made in a particular manner, and according to forms prescribed by the French law. A notary public is the only person in France qualified to draw up a deed of assignment, which must afterwards be recorded in the office of the prefect of the department in which the parties reside, if they reside in the same department, or in the office of the prefects of their respective departments, if they do not reside in the same. Should both the parties reside outside of France, the recording may take place in Paris, at the prefect's office. Patentees forfeit all their rights unless they have paid in due time their annual patent fees, and no total or partial assignment can take place until the entire patent fees are paid. No assignment is to be registered, except on the production and delivery, 1st, of the receipt of the payment made in due time of the last annual patent fee, distinct from the first annual patent fee; 2d, of a receipt to the receiver general in the department of the central receiver at Paris for the entire payment of the complimentary patent fees; and, 3d, of an authentic abstract of the deed, executed before a notary of the department, and establishing the total or partial transfer of the patent, either gratuitously or for a consideration. The assignment, if regularly made, is registered in the same manner as the demand for the patent, and, provided the forms above stated have been regularly followed in the drawing up of the deed of assignment, the registering can never be refused. 36. OBJECT AND EFFECT OF REGISTRY.-The authenticity of the assignment, and the publicity given to it, have been required by law to preclude the possibility of fraud. Otherwise a patentee might have sold his patent to two or three different persons, and received the value of it twice or thrice over, if the public at large had not been officially informed that the rights of the patentee had passed into other hands. The law declares null all assignments with reference to which the above forms have not been followed. But this nullity, merely introduced for the protection of the public, cannot be opposed by one of the parties against the other, their heirs, or assigns, who would be estopped by their own acts from making such a defense. An irregular assignment, however, confers no right to the patent, as far as relates to a third party. And notwithstanding the first assignment, if the patentee make a second and regular one, it would stand good; but the first assignment, though it would not confer any legal right to the patent itself, would nevertheless enable the purchaser to recover from the original patentee the moneys paid, the expenses incurred, and also damages. A person holding an original patent, to which several other patents have been annexed for improvements, cannot transfer the original patent without the improvements, nor the improvements without the original patent; the whole being considered as only one patent. 37. FORMALITIES WHEN THE ASSIGNMENT IS NOT DRAWN UP IN FRANCE.-If the deed of assignment be drawn up in a foreign country, it still must be made by a notary public, whose signature must afterwards be certified by the French consul residing in the town where the transfer is executed. It may also be necessary to observe that the execution of the party assigning must be attested by the signature of two witnesses besides that of the notary. This deed must then be sent to France, and there, after being translated by a sworn interpreter, it must be deposited in a French notary's office, who will deliver a copy certified, which will be as legal and as binding as if made in France. This transfer must likewise be recorded and published in the same way above mentioned. It would be more expeditious and less expensive to have the deed drawn up in French, before a foreign notary public, whose signature should be afterwards certified by a French consul; there would then be no necessity for having the deed translated and deposited in a French notary's office, and it would be sufficient to get it recorded. 38. PATENTEE MAY AUTHORIZE TRANSFER BY POWER OF ATTORNEY.-The transfer of a French patent may be made in France for the patentee by the bearer of a regular power from him to that effect. The forms prescribed for the validity of the transfer of patents must likewise be followed with respect to the power; it must be drawn up by a notary public and not by an attorney, and the execution of the party must be witnessed, signed, and certified in the same manner as the deed of transfer. As the assignment of a patent must be accepted by the transferree, his presence and signature are required to make the transfer definitive; nevertheless, he may empower a person to accept in his name the assignment, and then the transfer is completely effected. The same forms. are required for this power as the preceding one. 39. NUMBER OF ASSIGNEES UNLIMITED.-Nothing in the French law limits the number of persons to whom a patent may be assigned; therefore, no authority from the legislature is required to make an assignment to more than five persons, as it was formerly by the English law. On the contrary, the number of persons who are able to take an interest in a patent is unlimited. All that has been said respecting the forms to be followed in the assignment of a patent is applicable to licenses, with the exception of the recording, which is not necessary. 40. Acte de Cession. 1 Par-devant moi notarie royal et public en la ville de- en présence des témoins ci-après dénommés, domiciliés et qualifiés. Est comparu en personne M. N-, mécanicien, demeurant à, lequel a par ces présentes, cédé et transporté, sans autre garantie que celle de ses faits et promesses personnelles, à M. N- demeurant à, Â ci presént et ce acceptant, le brevet d'invention (d'importation ou de perfectionnement,) pris en France, par le comparant, le mil huit cent pour cinq, dix, ou quinze années, pour (mettre ici le titre textuel du brevet.) Le présent transport est ainsi fait, moyennant la somme de mille francs que le sieur N— reconnait avoir reçu, et dont il donne quittance. Et en outre à la charge par le cessionnaire, qui s'y oblige, de payer les frais du présent acte, et de remplir les conditions imposées aux cessionnaires par les lois spéciales. Dont acte fait et passé en l'etude, lenégociant, demeurant à et M. S છે. en présence de M. R- Et ont les parties signé avec les témoins, et ledit notaire après lecture faite. 41. ACTE UNILATERAL DE CESSION. Par-devant moi notaire royal et public en la ville detémoins ci-après dénommés, domiciliés et qualifiés. en présence des Est comparu en personne M. N- -, mécanicien, demeurant à -lequel a, par ces présentes, cédé et transporté, sans autre garantie que celle de ses faits et promesses personelles, à M. N-, demeurant à le brevet d'invention (d'importation et de perfectionnement) pris en France par le comparant, le- mil huit cent , pour cinq, dix, ou quinz années pour (mettre le titre du brevet.) Le présent transport est fait moyennant la somme de mille francs, que le comparant reconnait avoir reçu des avant ce jour du sieur N il donne quittance. et dont Et en outre à la charge par le cessionnaire de payer les frais des présentes et tous autres frais et honoraires auxquels la régularisation des présentes pourra donner lieu, et enfin d'accomplir les formalités imposées aux cessionnaires de brevets par les lois spéciales. Le sieur N en acceptant la présente cession, devra s'obliger en même temps à accomplir toutes les conditions y stipulées. Dont acte fait et payé en l'étude, le en présence de M. R. negociant, demeurant à et de M. S. aussi negociant, demeurant a ———. Et a, le dit comparant, signé avec les temoins, et le notaire apres lecture faite. Lequel a, par ces présentes, constitué pour son mandataire général et spécial —, auquel il donne pouvoir de prendre, au nom du comparant, tous brevets d'invention pour découvertes qu'il peut avoir faites ou qu'il pourra faire; fixer la durée de ces brevets ainsi qu'il le jugera convenable; prendre pareillement tous certificats d'addition devant se rattacher, soit à des brevets obtenus par le comparant, soit à ceux qu'il pourra obtenir ultéri eurement. Aux fins que dessus, et dans les differents cas qui pourront se présenter, faire toutes déclarations, élire tous domiciles, signer et parapher toutes pièces, requérir tous proces-verbaux, signer et émarger tous registres, et en |