A BILL

TO ESTABLISH A UNITED STATES COURT OF PATENT APPEALS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby created a United States court of patent appeals, which shall consist of five judges, of whom four shall constitute a quorum, and shall be a court of record with jurisdiction as is hereinafter limited and established. Such court shall prescribe the form and style of its seal and the forms of its writs and other process and procedure as may be conformable to the exercise of its jurisdiction as shall be conferred by law. The President shall have power, by and with the consent of the Senate, to appoint the marshal of the court, who shall have the same powers and perform the same duties under the regulations of the court as are now provided for the marshal of the Supreme Court of the United States, so far as the same may be applicable. The court shall also appoint a clerk, who shall have the same powers and perform the same duties now possessed and performed by the clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States, so far as the same may be applicable. The salary of the marshal of the court shall be two thousand five hundred dollars a year, and the salary of the clerk shall be five thousand dollars a year, both to be paid monthly in twelve equal payments. The costs and fees now provided by law in the Supreme Court of the United States shall be the costs and fees in the United States court of patent appeals; and the same shall be collected, expended, accounted for, and paid over to the Treasury Department of the United States in the same manner as is provided by law in respect to the costs and fees in the Supreme Court of the United States. The court shall have power to establish all needful rules and regulations for the conduct of its business within its jurisdiction as conferred by law.

SEC. 2. That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the State, shall appoint a chief justice of said United States court of patent appeals, and as vacancies occur shall in like manner appoint others to fill such vacancies

from time to time. The acceptance of that office by a circuit judge or district judge of the United States shall vacate his office as circuit or district judge.

SEC. 3. That upon the taking effect of this Act the Chief Justice of the United States shall designate from among the circuit and district judges of the United States four judges to sit as associate judges of the United States court of patent appeals, two of them to sit for three years from the first day of the first term thereof, and two of them to sit for six years from the first day thereof, as associate judges of the same court. And after that, as the periods expire for which such designations shall have been made, the Chief Justice of the United States shall fill the vacancies thus occurring by designation of the same or other judges from among the circuit judges and the district judges of the United States, to sit for periods of six years each. In case of the death, resignation, or disability of any associate judge of the said court, or of his resignation of his seat in said court, the Chief Justice of the United States shall designate another judge from among the circuit and district judges of the United States to sit for the unexpired period for which his predecessor had been designated. The designation of a judge from among the circuit and district judges of the United States to sit as associate judge of the United States court of patent appeals must be with his consent, and his service in that court shall not vacate his office as circuit or district judge, as the case may be.

SEC. 4. That a term of the United States court of patent appeals shall be held annually at the city of Washington, beginning on the second Monday of October in each year, and the same may be adjourned from time to time as the court shall order. If at any time for the meeting of the court a quorum of the judges shall not be present, the judges present may adjourn the court, and, if necessary, adjourn again from time to time until a quorum appear. If at any sitting of the court the chief justice shall be absent, the associate judge senior in commission as circuit judge, or senior in age in case of commissions of even date, shall preside. If no circuit judge shall be present, the associate judge senior in commission as a judge of the district court of the United States,

or senior in age in case of commissions of even date, shall preside. Until it shall be otherwise provided by Congress the sessions of the court shall be held in a building or rooms to be provided by the marshal of the District of Columbia under the direction and approval of the Attorney-General of the United States. The court shall by order authorize its marshal to employ such deputies and assistants for himself and the clerk of the court and such criers, bailiffs and messengers as the business of the court shall require, and to pay the salaries of such employes at rates of compensation not exceeding those paid for similar services in the Supreme Court of the United States, and to pay all other necessary incidental expenses of the court. The chief justice and each of the associate judges shall be entitled to employ a clerk, whose salary, at a rate not exceeding that allowed the clerks of the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, shall be paid as part of the expenses of the court. The court shall have power, in its discretion, to appoint a reporter and to fix by order his salary or other compensation at a sum not to exceed three thousand dollars annually and direct the form and manner of the official publication of its decisions.

SEC. 5. That the chief justice of the United States court of patent appeals shall receive a salary of ten thousand dollars per year. The circuit judges of the United States sitting as associate judges of the same court shall each receive the salary allowed him by law as a circuit judge, and in addition thereto, during the time of his service as associate judge of the United States court of patent appeals, but not longer, such additional sum as will make his entire compensation during that service nine thousand five hundred dollars per annum. The district judges sitting as associate judges of the United States court of patent appeals shali each receive the salary allowed to him by law as district judge, and in addition thereto, during the term of his service as associate judge of the United States court of patent appeals, but not longer, such additional sum as will make his entire compensation during that service nine thousand five hundred dollars per annum. All the said salaries shall be payable in twelve equal monthly installments. The time during which any judge shall serve in said

court shall be deemed continuous service with that in any other court of the United States, before or after such service within the meaning and intent of section seven hundred and fourteen of the Revised Statutes. The additional compensation received by a circuit or district judge while sitting as associate judge of the United States court of patent appeals shall not be taken into account in determining the amount to be received by him after retirement.

SEC. 6. That the United States court of patent appeals shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine appeals and writs of error from final judgments and decrees in the district courts of the United States in cases arising under the laws of the United States relating to patents for inventions, and from final judgments and decrees in cases arising under the laws of the United States relating to patents for inventions rendered by any other court having jurisdiction under the laws of the United States to hear and decide such cases in the first instance: Provided, however, That it shall have no jurisdiction in cases originating in the Court of Claims. All such appeals shall be taken within six months after the entry of the order, judgment, or decree sought to be reviewed. The practice, procedure and forms to be observed in the taking, hearing and determination of such appeals and writs of error shall conform to the practice, procedure and forms observed in like cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, subject to such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the court.

SEC. 7. That whenever, by an interlocutory order or decree in a district court of the United States, or other court having jurisdiction under the laws of the United States to hear and decide in the first instance cases arising under the patent laws, in a case in which an appeal may be taken from the final decree of such court to the United States court of patent appeals, an injunction or restraining order shall be granted, or refused, or continued, or vacated, or modified, or retained without modification after motion to modify the same, an appeal may be taken from such order or decree by the party aggrieved to the United States court of patent appeals: Provided, That the appeal must be taken within

thirty days from the service of the notice of entry of such order or decree; and it shall take precedence in the appellate court; and the proceedings in other respects in the court below shall not be stayed unless otherwise ordered by that court, or the United States court of patent appeals, or a judge thereof, during the pendency of such appeal.

SEC. 8. That the chief justice and the associate judges of the United States court of patent appeals shall each exercise the same powers in term and vacation in the allowance of appeals, supersedeas orders and other matters incidental to the jurisdiction and business of the court as are now exercised by the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States in relation to the business and jurisdiction of that court.

SEC. 9. That the decisions of the United States court of patent appeals in all cases within its appellate jurisdiction shall be final, except that it shall be competent for the Supreme Court of the United States to require, by certiorari or otherwise, any such case to be certified to it for its review and determination, with the same power and authority in the case as though it had been carried by appeal or writ of error from the trial court directly to the Supreme Court.

SEC. 10. That whenever any case shall have been certified from the United States court of patent appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States, by certiorari or otherwise, it shall be, upon its determination by the Supreme Court, remanded to the district court of the United States or other court in which it originated for further proceedings to be taken in pursuance of such determination. And in every case determined by the United States court of patent appeals upon appeal or writ of error the case shall be remanded to the district court of the United States, or other court from whence it came, for further proceedings to be taken in pursuance of such determination.

SEC. 11. That all appeals and writs of error in cases in which appellate jurisdiction is by this act conferred upon the United States court of patent appeals which shall have been pending without hearing in the United States circuit court of appeals or other courts of appellate jurisdiction for less than three calendar