"Sec. "CHAPTER 3.-PRACTICE BEFORE THE PATENT OFFICE "31. Regulations for agents and attorneys. "32. Suspension or exclusion from practice. “33. Unauthorized representation as practitioner. "§ 31. Regulations for agents and attorneys "The Commissioner may prescribe regulations governing the recognition and conduct of agents, attorneys, or other persons representing applicants or other persons before the Patent Office, and may require them, before being recognized as representatives of applicants or other persons, to show that they are of good moral character and reputation and are possessed of the necessary qualifications to render to applicants or other persons valuable service, advice, and assistance in the presentation or prosecution of their applications or other business before the Office. "§ 32. Suspension or exclusion from practice "The Patent Office may, pursuant to such rules and regulations as the Commissioner shall prescribe, suspend, or exclude, either generally or in any particular case, from further practice before the Office, any person, agent, or attorney shown to be incompetent or disreputable, or guilty of gross misconduct, or who does not comply with the regulations established under section 31 of this chapter, or section 115 of this title, or who shall, by word, circular, letter, or advertising, with intent to defraud in any manner, deceive, mislead, or threaten any applicant or prospective applicant, or other person having immediate or prospective business before the Office. The decision of the agency shall be determined on the record after notice and opportunity for an agency hearing, and shall be subject to the provisions of sections 551-559 of title 5, United States Code. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia, under such conditions and upon such proceedings as it by its rules determines, may review the final action of the agency upon the petition of the person so suspended or excluded, and such suspension or exclusion shall be set aside if unsupported by substantial evidence or otherwise not in accordance with law. "§ 33. Unauthorized representation as practitioner "(a) Whoever, not being recognized to practice before the Patent Office, holds himself out or permits himself to be held out as so recognized, or as being qualified to prepare or prosecute an application for patent, shall be fined not more than $1,000 for each offense. "(b) Where an agent, attorney, or firm recognized to practice before the Patent Office, assumes responsibility for the service of preparing or prosecuting a patent application at the time such service is rendered, the service shall be considered as performed by such agent, attorney, or firm within the meaning of this section. "Sec. "41. Patent Office fees. "CHAPTER 4.-PATENT OFFICE FEES "42. Payment of fees; return of excess amounts; review of budget. "$ 41. Patent Office fees "(a) The Commissioner shall prescribe by regulations the fees to be paid in connection with the filing and examination of patent and trademark applications, the issuance of patents, the maintenance of patents in force, the supply of copies of records, the furnishing of publications or other services furnished by the Patent Office, and any other matters set forth in this title or in the Trademark Act of 1946 (60 Stat. 427; 15 U.S.C. 1051), as amended, requiring a fee; and the time within which such fees shall be paid. "(b) (1) Fees shall be designed to affect an overall recovery in the range of 65 to 75 per centum of the costs of operation of the Patent Office: Provided, however, for a patent with one claim in independent form, and with no more than nine additional dependent claims, the application fee, issue fee, and annual maintenance fee (for the first three years thereof) shall not exceed $100. "(2) The Commissioner shall by regulation prescribe fee exemptions on a progressively graduated basis, not to exceed 50 per centum of filing and exami nation fees and 80 per centum of maintenance fees, to benefit and encourage individual inventors and small businessmen. "(e) (1) Beginning the fourth year after a patent issues, the maintenance fee thereon shall be no less than $1,000, and shall increase annually by at least 25 per centum each year, except as may be provided pursuant to subsection (b) (2) of this section. (2) The Commissioner by regulation may in whole or in part defer payment of accrued maintenance fees for up to four years from the date of issuance, and he may waive such fees if such patent is disclaimed or canceled before the commencement of the fifth year. Additionally, a member of the Board of Appeals, pursuant to section 5(c) of this title, may extend such four-year period up to ten years, in individual cases, if the patentee establishes, by a preponderance of proof that he "(A) has made a good faith effort commercially to work the subject matter patented and that such efforts were without success due solely to circumstances beyond his control; or "(B) is otherwise unable to pay any fee charged for maintaining an issued patent in force. (d) If payment of the fees in connection with the examination, publication, or issuance of a patent application, or the maintenance of a patent, are not timely made, the application shall be regarded as abandoned, or the patent canceled (and notice of such cancellation shall be endorsed on copies of the specification of the patent thereafter distributed by the Patent Office). An applicant shall be given at least thirty days, and no more than six months, following notice of a fee due in which to pay the fee, except as otherwise provided in this title. "(e) Except as otherwise provided in this title, the fees established under the authority of this section shall apply to any other Government department or agency, or officer thereof, except that the Commissioner may waive the payment of any fee for services or materials in cases of occasional or incidental requests by a Government department or agency, or officer thereof. (f) The Commissioner may prescribe by regulations that copies of Patent Office records and publications may be provided without charge, or at reduced or nominal fees, to libraries or other similar bodies, or in exchange for records or publications of foreign countries. "$42. Payment of fees; return of excess amounts; review of budget "(a) All fees shall be paid to the Commissioner who shall deposit the same in the Treasury of the United States in such manner as the Secretary of the Treasury directs. (b) The Commissioner may refund any sum paid by mistake or in excess of the fee required. "(e) The Office of Management and Budget shall not inspect, examine, audit, or review the subpenas, orders, records, work, congressional recommendations, or testimony of the Patent Office or the Public Counsel or comment on any budget request made by the Office, any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding. The Comptroller General shall conduct such reviews, audits, and evaluations of the Office as he deems necessary. All accounts, budgets, and records of the Office shall be submitted to the General Accounting Office from time to time as the Comptroller General may require, and the Office shall maintain, preserve, and make available for inspection by the General Accounting Office such records as the Comptroller General may require. "PART II- PATENTABILITY OF INVENTIONS AND GRANT OF PATENTS "CHAPTER 10.-PATENTABILITY OF INVENTIONS "Sec. "100. Definitions. "101. Subject matter patentable. "102. Conditions for patentability; novelty and bars to patent. "103. Conditions for patentability; nonobvious subject matter. "104. Date of invention; priority. "§ 100. Definitions "When used in this title, unless the context otherwise indicates"(a) The term 'invention' means invention or discovery. "(b) The term 'process' means process, art, or method and includes a new use of a known process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or material. "(c) The terms 'United States' and 'this country' mean the United States of America, its territories, and possessions, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. "(d) The term 'applicant' means any person who owns an application for a patent, as provided in this title. "(e) The term 'patentee' includes not only the person to whom the patent was issued but also the successors in title to such person. "(f) The term 'actual filing date in the United States' includes the filing date to which an application or patent, or the subject matter of any claim thereof, may be entitled under the provisions of section 120 of this title (and excludes any date under section 119 of this title). An application or the resulting patent may contain separate claims for subject matter having different actual filing dates in the United States by virtue of the provisions of section 120 of this title or may contain claims entitled to the benefit of a prior date under the provisions of section 119 of this title, in addition to claims not so entitled. "(g) The terms 'manufacture', 'composition of matter', and 'new and useful improvement thereof' do not include any known manufacture or composition of matter, any obvious variation of or on such known composition of matter or the structure thereof, or any conventional formulation or preparation of any of the foregoing or of any material, whether or not the same is adapted for practicing a new use thereof. "(h) The term 'party' includes any agency (as that term is defined in 5 U.S.C. 551(a)), the United States, the Public Counsel, the government of the District of Columbia, any State or political subdivision thereof, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, and any person who is or may be adversely affected by any action (as that term is defined in 5 U.S.C. 551(g)), of the Patent Office. "§ 101. Subject matter patentable "Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manu facture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, or his successor in title, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title. "§ 102. Conditions for patentability; novelty and bars to potent "A person shall not be entitled to a patent if the subject matter sought to be patented "(a) was known or used by others in this or a foreign country, or was patented or described in printed or other tangible form in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the inventor named in the application, or "(b) was patented or described in printed or other tangible form in this or a foreign country, or was in public use or on sale in this or a foreign country, more than one year prior to the actual filing date of the application for the patent in the United States, or "(c) was forfeited, suppressed, or concealed by him, or "(d) was first patented or caused to be patented by, or was the subject of an inventor's certificate issued to, the applicant or his legal representatives, assigns, or predecessors in title in a foreign country prior to the actual filing date of the application for patent in the United States, on an application for patent or inventor's certificate filed more than twelve months before the actual filing date of the application in the United States, or "(e) was described in a published or publicly available United States patent application or United States patent, which has an actual filing date in the United States (or a prior filing date arising under section 119 of this title) before the invention thereof by the inventor named in the application, or "(f) was not invented by the person named as inventor in the application, or "(g) was invented by another person before the alleged invention thereof by the inventor named in the application, unless such other person himself suppressed or concealed it or has terminated activity with respect to the subject matter in circumstances establishing his intent not to resume such activity. "§ 103. Conditions for patentability; nonobvious subject matter "A patent may not be obtained though the subject matter sought to be patented is not disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. "$ 104. Date of invention; priority "(a) No date of invention shall be accorded any applicant, with respect to the subject matter of this part of this title, which is more than one year earlier than the date on which his application was filed or, in the case of a continuing application, more than one year earlier than the date on which his immediately preceding parent application was filed. "(b) The Office shall determine priority of invention between or among applicants for claims on substantially the same subject matter on the basis of rules and regulations which the Commissioner shall prescribe, in accordance with the procedures specified pursuant to section 136 of this title. Such rules and regulations shall make dispositive the respective dates of filing, first, and reduction to practice, second, insofar as the same is consistent with subsection (a) of this section. "(c) An applicant who seeks to establish patentability based on a showing of any novel or unexpected property or result of the substantial superiority of any known or obvious property or result shall be entitled to claim priority for, or otherwise rely on, an application (whether filed in the United States or in a foreign country), only if it discloses each and every such property or result so relied upon. "(d) To constitute disclosure or description for the purposes of sections 102 and 103 of this chapter, any description of any manufacture or composition of matter needed not describe or disclose how to make or use such manufacture or composition of matter. "(e) Patentability shall not be found in the perception of a problem the solution of which is obvious. "Sec. "CHAPTER 11.-APPLICATION FOR PATENT "111. Application for patent. "112. Specification. "113. Drawings. "114. Models, specimens. "115. Oath of invention. "116. Joint inventors. "117. Death or incapacity of inventor. "119. Benefit of earlier filing date in foreign country; right of priority. "120. Benefit of earlier filing date in the United States. "122. Public availability, publication and confidential status of application. “§ 111. Application for patent “(a) An application for patent may be filed by any person claiming to have invented the subject matter sought to be patented, or his assignee or other successor in title. The application shall be made in writing to the Commissioner, shall be signed by the applicant and include the name of each person believed to have made an inventive contribution, and shall be accompanied by the prescribed fee. An application filed by a person not the inventor shall 23-932-74 include, at the time of filing, a statement of the facts supporting the allegation of assignment and ownership of the subject matter sought to be patented. "(b) An application for patent shall include "(1) a specification as prescribed by section 112 of this chapter; and "(3) an oath as prescribed by section 115 of this chapter. "(c) When the application is signed by or on behalf of the assignee, or other successor in title, he shall, within thirty days after filing an application for patent, serve a copy of the application on the inventor along with a statement calling the inventor's attention to the provisions of subsection (d) of this section. Service may be affected by mailing a copy of the application and statement, by first-class mail, to the last known address of the inventor. Failure to serve a copy of the application and statement on the inventor within thirty days shall result in abandonment of the application. The Commissioner may by regulation require proof of such service, and may extend the thirty-day period or waive the requirement for service upon a showing of sufficient cause. "(d) An inventor, within a time prescribed by the Commissioner, may furnish a verified written notice to the Commissioner alleging that the applicant is not the assignee of the subject matter of the application as required by subsection (a) of this section. The Commissioner, in accordance with such regulations as he establishes and on the applicant's compliance with the requirement of this title, shall issue a patent to the inventor filing such written notice, without prejudice to later judicial proceedings, unless the notice is withdrawn by the inventor or the applicant records in the Patent Office an assignment by the inventor, or in lieu thereof, files a written statement by the inventor consenting to the filing of the application by and the issuance of the patent to the applicant. "(e) Notice to the Commissioner, in a manner prescribed by regulations, of a final decision in a judicial proceeding in a court having jurisdiction thereof, from which no appeal has or can be taken, that an applicant is the assignee or owner of the subject matter of the application shall constitute an assignment to such applicant of his application therefor. "§ 112. Specification "(a) The specification shall contain a written description of the subject matter sought to be patented; of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same; and of all its novel or unexpected properties or results, and all its substantially superior known or obvious properties or results, on which patentability is to be based or upheld. The specification shall include each date or dates of invention, for each claim thereof, on which the applicant intends to rely, including any date of reduction to practice. The specification shall further include as a separate portion thereof, designated as such, a description of the best modes known or contemplated by the inventor and applicant of making, using, and commercially working the subject matter sought to be patented, together with all know-how known to the inventor and applicant necessary or commercially requisite to make use, and work the same. The primary examiner may require the applicant to support any factual assertion with empirical data and by an affidavit from an affiant with personal knowledge of the facts thereof. “(b) The specification shall specifically note what is known to the inventor and applicant to be conventional or old, or which is obvious therefrom and it shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor regards as his invention. Any new use of a known machine, manufacture, composition of matter. or material must be claimed as a process (as defined in section 100 (b) of this title), and may not be claimed as a machine, manufacture, or other product. The claim or claims must include only matter set forth in the remainder of the specification. The range of equivalents to which any element of any claim shall be accorded shall be that expressly set forth in the specification as relating thereto. A claim may be written in independent or, if the nature of the case admits, in dependent form. If the claim is in dependent form, it shall |