United States and serving in a foreign country in connection with operations by or on behalf of the United States, he shall be entitled to the same rights of priority with respect to such invention as if the same had been made in the United States.

Sec.

Chapter 11—Application for patent

111. Application for patent.

112. Specification.

113. Drawings.

114. Models, Specimen.

115. Oath of applicant.

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 tre United States.

121. Divisional applications.

122. Confidential status of applications.

123. Publication.

Section 111.-Application for patent

(a) An application for patent may be filed by either the inventor or the owner of the invention sought to be patented. 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 include, at the time of filing, a statement of the facts supporting the allegation of ownership of the invention.

(b) An application for patent shall include

(1) a specification as prescribed by section 112 of this chapter; and (2) a drawing as prescribed by section 113 of this chapter.

(c) For purposes of filing a patent application and securing a filing date, an application may be signed by an agent of the applicant provided that the agent is authorized so to do or provided that the application is ratified in writing by the applicant within six months after filing. Failure of proof of the authority of the agent or of ratification by the applicant within six months after the filing of the application shall result in abandonment of the application.

(d) When the application is signed by the owner or his agent, the owner, within thirty days after filing an application for patent, shall serve a copy of the application on the inventor along with a statement calling the inventor's attention to the provisions of subsection (e) of this section. Service may be effected 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.

(e) An inventor, within a time prescribed by the Commissioner, may furnish a statement under oath to the Commissioner alleging that the applicant is not the owner of the invention as required by subsection (a) of this section. The Commissioner, in accordance with such regulations as he establishes and on compliance with the requirements of this title, shall issue a patent to the inventor filing such statement 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.

(f) 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 owner of an invention shall authorize the Commissioner to issue a patent to such applicant for such invention.

(g) An error in the naming of an inventor, in either a sole or joint application for patent, without deceptive intent, may be corrected at any time, in accordance with regulations established by the Commissioner.

Section 112.-Specification

(a) The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and 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 patterns, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the applicant of carrying out the invention.

(b) The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter regarded as the invention. A claim may be written in independent or dependent form, and if in dependent form, it shall be construed to include all the limitations of the claim incorporated by reference into the dependent claim.

(c) An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.

(d) When the invention relates to a process involving the action of a microorganism not already known and available to the public or to a product of such a process, the written description required by subsection (a) of this section shall be sufficient as to said microorganism if—

(1) not later than the date that the United States application is filed, an approved deposit of a culture of the microorganism is made by or on behalf of the applicant or his predecessor in title, and

(2) the written description includes the name of the depository and its designation of the approved deposit and, taken as a whole, is in such descriptive terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains to make and use the same.

An approved deposit shall be a deposit which—

(1) is made in any public depository in the United States which shall have been designated for such deposits by the Commissioner of Patents by publication, and

(2) is available, except as otherwise prohibited by law, in accordance with such regulations as may be prescribed,

(a) to the public issuance of a United States patent to the applicant or his predecessor or successor in title which refers to such deposit, and

(b) prior to issuance of said patent, under the conditions specified in section 122.

(e) For the dissemination of information and other purposes, the Commissioner, in accordance with such regulations as he establishes, may require a brief abstract of all or part of the application. The abstract shall not be used for interpreting the scope of any claims of a patent, nor shall it affect in any way the validity of the patent.

Section 113.-Drawings

When the nature of the case admits, the applicant shall furnish a drawing. Section 114.-Models, specimens

(a) The Commissioner may require the applicant to furnish a model of conrenient size to exhibit advantageously the several parts of his invention.

(b) When the invention relates to a composition of matter, the Commissioner may require the applicant to furnish specimens of ingredients for the purpose of inspection or experiment.

Section 115.-Oath of applicant

(a) The inventor shall make oath that he believes to the best of his knowledge that he is the first inventor, that he is aware of no prior public use or other facts which would bar the issuance of the patent, and that he has made full disclosure to the Patent Office of all facts he reasonably believes to be pertinent to the prosecution of his application: such oath shall state of what country the inventor is a citizen.

(b) The applicant of an application filed pursuant to Section 117 of this title may make the oath required by subsection (a) of this section, so varied in form that it can be made by him.

(c) The oath or oaths shall be submitted not later than the time of payment of the fee required under the provisions of Section 151 (a) of this title. Section 116.-Joint inventors

(a) When two or more persons have made inventive contributions to subject matter claimed in an application, they shall apply for a patent jointly and each sign the application and make the required oath, or, if the application is filed by some other person having the right to do so, they shall be named as the inventors.

(b) In an application for patent for an invention naming two or more inventors, it shall not be necessary for each person named as an inventor to be a joint inventor of the invention asserted in any claim.

(c) If a joint inventor refuses to join another inventor in an application for patent, or cannot be found or reached after diligent effort, the application may, subject to the requirements of section 111 of this title, be made by the other inventor on behalf of himself and the omitted inventor. The Commissioner, on proof of the pertinent facts and after such notice to the omitted inventor as he prescribes, may grant a patent to the inventor making the application, subject to the same rights which the omitted inventor would have had if he had been joined. The omitted inventor may subsequently join in the application.

Section 117.-Death or incapacity of inventor

Legal representatives of deceased inventors and of those under legal incapacity may make application for patent and otherwise proceed on behalf of the inventor upon compliance with the requirements and on the same terms and conditions applicable to the inventor.

Section 118.-Oath by other than the inventor

Whenever an inventor refuses to execute an oath, or cannot be found or reached after diligent effort, a person to whom the inventor has assigned or agreed in writing to assign the invention or who otherwise shows sufficient proprietary interest in the matter justifying such action, may make oath on behalf of and as agent for the inventor on proof of the pertinent facts and a showing that such action is necessary to preserve the rights of the parties or to prevent irreparable damage; and the Commissioner may grant a patent to the applicant upon such notice to the inventor as the Commissioner deems sufficient, and on compliance with such regulations as he prescribes.

Section 119.—Benefit of earlier filing date in foreign country; right of priority

(a) An application for patent for an invention filed in this country by any person who has, or whose predecessor or successor in title has, previously regularly filed an application for a patent for the same invention in a foreign country which affords similar privileges in the case of applications filed in the United States or to citizens of the United States, shall have the same effect as the same application would have if filed in the United States on the date on which the application for patent for the same invention was first filed in any such foreign country, if the application in this country is filed within twelve months from the earliest date on which such foreign application was filed.

(b) To obtain the benefit of the right of priority under this section the applicant shall make a claim therefor at the time the application is filed unless it be shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that there was a sufficient cause for failure to do so, and shall file a certified copy of the original foreign application, specification, and drawings on which it is based, at such time during the pendency of the application as required by the Commissioner not earlier than six months after the filing of the application in this country. The Commissioner may require a translation of the papers filed if not in the English language and such other information as he deems necessary.

(c) In like manner and subject to the same conditions and requirements, the right provided in this section may be based upon a subsequent regularly filed application in the same foreign country instead of the first filed foreign application, provided that any foreign application filed prior to such subsequent application has been withdrawn, abandoned, or otherwise dis

posed of without having been laid open to public inspection and without leaving any rights outstanding, and has not served, nor thereafter shall serve, as a basis for claiming a right of priority.

(d) When the application claiming priority under this section, discloses an invention relating to a process involving the action of a microorganism not already known and available to the public or to a product of such a process and an approved deposit is made under section 112, subsection (d), the approved deposit shall be considered to have been made on the earliest date that an application in a foreign country, the priority of which is being claimed, contains a reference identifying a deposit of the same microorganism made in a public depository.

(e) Applications for inventors' certificates filed in a foreign country in which applicants have a right to apply, at their discretion, either for a patent or for an inventor's certificate shall be treated in this country in the same manner and have the same effect for purpose of the right of priority under this section as applications for patent, subject to the same conditions and requirements of this section as apply to applications for patent, provided such applicants are entitled to the benefits of the Stockholm Revision of the Paris Convention at the time of such filing.

Section 120.-Benefit of earlier filing date in the United States

(a) An application for patent for an invention disclosed in the manner provided in section 112 (a) of this chapter in an application previously filed in the United States shall have the same effect, as to such invention, as though filed on the date of the prior application if—

(1) it is filed during the pendency of the prior application, that is before the patenting or abandonment of, or the termination of proceedings in, the prior application,

(2) The two applications have the same inventor for the subject matter, common to both, and

(3) the application specifically claims or is amended to claim the benefit of the date of filing of the prior application for subject matter claimed in the second application.

(b) In a series of applications with respect to an invention, each of which is entitled to the benefit of the filing date of the immediately preceding application in the series in accordance with the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, the last application in the series shall be entitled to the benefit of the filing date of the earliest application in the series for which a claim is made, even though any application in the series may be copending only with the immediately preceding application. (c) An applicant must claim the benefit of the filing date of the earliest application on which he intends to rely in a later filed application within three months of the time of filing such later application, or during examination or reexamination of such application as provided in chapter 12 of this title upon an adequate showing why the claim was not made earlier. In a series, each application must claim the benefit of the immediately preceding application in accordance with the provisions herein.

(d) The Commissioner may by regulation dispense with signing and execution in the case of an application directed solely to subject matter described and claimed in the prior application.

Section 121.-Divisional applications

(a) If two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in one application, the Commissioner may require the application to be restricted to one of them. The Commissioner shall not require the further restriction of any application previously restricted under the provisions of this section, cr of any application filed as a result of a requirement for restriction under this section, unless such subsequent requirement arises as a result of changes in the claimed subject matter.

(b) The validity of a patent may not be questioned for failure of the Commissioner to require the application to be restricted under subsection (a) of this section, nor may the validity of either of two or more patents resulting from and in accordance with a requirement, whether proper or not, under said subsection (a) be questioned solely because of the existence of several patents, if the subsequent application is filled in accordance with the provisions of section 120 of this chapter.

Section 122.-Confidential status of applications

Applications for patents shall be kept in confidence by the Patent Office and no information concerning the same given without authority of the applicant, or the owner of record of the application, except in such special circumstances as may be determined by the Commissioner.

Section 123.Publication

The Commissioner may establish regulations for the publication of pending applications at the request of applicants and shall publish applications in accordance therewith.

Sec.

Chapter 12-Examination of application

131. Examination of application.

132. Notice of rejection; reexamination. 133. Time for prosecuting application. 134. Appeal to the Board of Appeals.

Section 131.-Examination of application

(a) The Commissioner shall cause an examination to be made of the application and the alleged new invention; and if on such examination it is determined that the applicant is entitled to a patent under the law, the Commissioner shall issue a patent therefor as hereinafter provided.

(b) The Commissioner may require applicants, within such time as he may prescribe by regulation, to submit copies of or cite, a reasonable number of patents and publications the applicant has specifically considered in connection with his application for patent, and which were known with reasonable certainty to be prior art or, if not specific relevant patents or publications were considered a statement to that effect and an explanation as to why the claims in such application are believed to be patentable. Neither matters of judgment exercised in citing such patents or publications nor inadvertent failure to comply with the provisions of this section in whole or in part shall constitute a ground for holding a patent invalid or unenforceable, or subject the patentee or his attorney or agent to a charge of misuse or fraud.

(c) The granting of a patent shall not be refused solely on the ground that if it occurred there would then exist more than one patent for the same invention where the patents will expire on the same date as a result of filing on the same date or as the result of a terminal disclaimer pursuant to section 253 of this title so long as the right to sue for infringement of said patents is in the same legal entity.

Section 132.-Notice of rejection; reexamination

Whenever, on examination, any claim of an application is rejected, or any objection or requirement made, the Commissioner shall notify the applicant thereof, stating the reasons therefor, together with such information and references as may be useful in judging the propriety of continuing the prosection of the application; and if after receiving such notice, the applicant requests reexamination, with or without amendment, the application shall be reexamined. No amendment shall introduce new matter into the disclosure of the invention.

Section 133.-Time for prosecuting application

Upon failure of the applicant to prosecute the application within six months after any action therein, of which notice has been given or mailed to the applicant, or within such shorter time, not less than one month, as fixed by the Commissioner in such action, the application shall be regarded as abandoned by the parties thereto, unless it be shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that such delay was unavoidable.

Section 134.-Appeal to the Board of Appeals

An applicant for a patent, any of whose claims has been finally or twice rejected, may appeal from the decision of the primary examiner to the Board of Appeals, having once paid the fee for such appeal.