Proviso. Patents inva surrendered. benefit of his caveat, file his description, specifications, drawings and model; and if, in the opinion of the commissioner, the specifications of claim interfere with each other, like proceedings may be had in all respects as are in this act provided in the case of interfering applications: Provided, however, That no opinion or decision of any board of examiners, under the provisions of this act, shall preclude any person interested in favour of or against the validity of any patent which has been or may hereafter be granted, from the right to contest the same in any judicial court in any action in which its validity may come in question. § 13. And be it further enacted, That whenever any patent lid from defec- which has heretofore been granted, or which shall hereafter be tive specifications may be granted, shall be inoperative or invalid, by reason of a defective or insufficient description or specification, or by reason of the patentee claiming in his specification as his own invention, more than he had or shall have a right to claim as new; if the error has, or shall have arisen by inadvertency, accident, or mistake, and without any fraudulent or deceptive intention, it shall be lawful for the commissioner, upon the surrender to him of such patent, and the payment of the further duty of fifteen dollars, to cause a new patent to be issued to the said inventor, for the same invention, for the residue of the period then unexpired for which the original patent was granted, in accordance with the patentee's corrected description and specification. And in case of his death, or any assignment by him made of the original patent, a similar right shall vest in his executors, administrators, or assignees. And the patent, so reissued, together with the corrected description, and specification, shall have the same effect and operation in law, on the trial of all actions, hereafter commenced for causes subsequently accruing, as though the same had been originally filed in such corrected form, before the issuing out of the original patent. Patentee may And whenever the original patentee shall be desirous of adding the description and specification of any new improvement of the original invention or discovery which shall have been invented or discovered by him subsequent to the date of his patent, he may, like proceedings being had in all respects as in the case of original applications, and on the payment of fifteen dollars, as hereinbefore provided, have the same annexed to the original description and specification; and the commissioner shall certify, on the margin of such annexed description and specification, the time of its being annexed and recorded; and the same shall thereafter have the same effect in law, to all intents and purposes as though it had been embraced in the original description and specification. § 14. And be it further enacted, That, whenever in any action for damages for making, using, or selling the thing whereof the exclusive right is secured by any patent heretofore granted, or by ceeding three any patent which may hereafter be granted, a verdict shall be times the rendered for the plaintiff in such action, it shall be in the power amount of ac- of the court to render judgment for any sum above the amount found by such verdict as the actual damages sustained by the plaintiff, not exceeding three times the amount thereof, according to the circumstances of the case, with costs; and such damages may be recovered by action on the case, in any court of compe make addi. tions to his patent. Courts may render judg ment for a sum not ex. tual damages. per tent jurisdiction, to be brought in the name or names of the &c. 2511 § 15. And be it further enacted, That the defendant in any Defendant such action shall be permitted to plead the general issue, and to may plead the give this act and any special matter in evidence, of which notice in writing may have been given to the plaintiff or his attorney, general issue, thirty days before trial, tending to prove that the description and specification filed by plaintiff does not contain the whole truth relative to his invention or discovery, or that it contains more than is necessary to produce the described effect; which concealment or addition shall fully appear to have been made for the purpose of deceiving the public, or that the patentee was not the original and first inventor or discoverer of the thing patented, or of a substantial and material part thereof claimed as new, or that it had been described in some public work anterior to the supposed discovery thereof by the patentee, or had been in public use, or on sale with the consent and allowance of the patentee before his application for a patent, or that he had surreptitiously or unjustly obtained the patent for that which was in fact invented or discovered by another, who was using reasonable diligence in adapting and perfecting the same; or that the patentee, if an alien at the time the patent was granted, had failed and neglected for the space of eighteen months from the date of the patent, to put and continue on sale to the public, on reasonable terms, the invention or discovery for which the patent issued; in either of which cases judgment shall be rendered for the defendant, with costs. And whenever the defendent relies in his defence on the fact of a previous invention, knowledge, or use of the thing patented, he shall state, in his notice of special matter, the names and places of residence of those whom he intends to prove to have possessed a prior knowledge of the thing and where the same had been used: Provided, however, That whenever it shall satis- Proviso. factorily appear that the patentee, at the time of making his application for the patent, believed himself to be the first inventor or discoverer of the thing patented, the same shall not be held to be void on account of the invention or discovery or any part thereof having been before known or used in any foreign country, it not appearing that the same or any substantial part thereof had before been patented or described in any printed publication. And provided, also, That whenever the plaintiff shall fail to sus- Proviso. tain his action on the ground that in his specification of claim is embraced more than that of which he was the first inventor, if it shall appear that the defendant had used or violated any part of the invention justly and truly specified and claimed as new, it shall be in the power of the court to adjudge and award as to costs as may appear to be just and equitable. § 16. And be it further enacted, That whenever there shall be Interfering two interfering patents, or whenever a patent on application shall patents, &c, have been refused on an adverse decision of a board of examiners, on the ground that the patent applied for would interfere with an unexpired patent previously granted, any person interested in any Proviso. Actions cog cuit courts of &c. such patent, either by assignment or otherwise, in the one case, and any such applicant in the other case, may have-remedy by bill in equity; and the court having cognizance thereof, on notice to adverse parties and other due proceedings had, may adjudge and declare either the patents void in the whole or in part, or inoperative and invalid in any particular part or portion of the United States, according to the interest which the parties to such suit may possess in the patent or the inventions patented, and may also adjudge that such applicant is entitled, according to the principles and provisions of this act, to have and receive a patent for his invention, as specified in his claim, or for any part thereof, as the fact of priority of right or invention shall in any such case be made to appear. And such adjudication, if it be in favour of the right of such applicant, shall authorise the commissioner to issue such patent, on his filing a copy of the adjudication, and otherwise complying with the requisitions of this act. Provided, however, That no such judgment or adjudication shall affect the rights of any person except the parties to the action and those deriving title from or under them subsequent to the rendition of such judgment. 17. And be it further enacted, That all actions, suits, contronizable in cir- versies, and cases arising under any law of the United States, United States, granting or confirming to inventors the exclusive right to their inventions or discoveries, shall be originally cognizable, as well in equity as at law, by the circuit courts of the United States, or any district court having the powers and jurisdiction of a circuit court; which courts shall have power, upon bill in equity filed by any party aggrieved, in any such case, to grant injunctions, according to the course and principles of courts of equity, to prevent the violation of the rights of any inventor as secured to him by any law of the United States, on such terms and conditions as said courts may deem reasonable: Provided, however, That from all judgments and decrees, from any such court rendered in the premises, a writ of error or appeal, as the case may require, shall lie to the supreme court of the United States, in the same manner and under the same circumstances as is now provided by law in other judgments and decrees of circuit courts, and in all other cases in which the court shall deem it reasonable to allow the Proviso. Patents may seven years in certain cases. same. § 18. And be it further enacted, That whenever any patentee be extended of an invention or discovery shall desire an extension of his patent beyond the term of its limitation, he may make application therefor, in writing, to the commissioner of the patent office, setting forth the grounds thereof; and the commissioner shall, on the applicant's paying the sum of forty dollars to the credit of the treasury, as in the case of an original application for a patent, cause to be published, in one or more of the principal newspapers in the city of Washington, and in such other paper or papers as he may deem proper, published in the section of country most interested adversely to the extension of the patent, a notice of such application and of the time and place when and where the same will be considered, that any person may appear and show cause why the extension should not be granted. And the secre tary of state, the commissioner of the patent office, and the solicitor of the treasury, shall constitute a board to hear and decide upon the evidence produced before them both for and against the extension, and shall sit for that purpose at the time and place designated in the published notice thereof. The patentee shall furnish to said board a statement, in writing, under oath, of the ascertained value of the invention, and of his receipts and expenditures, sufficiently in detail to exhibit a true and faithful account of loss and profit in any manner accruing to him from and by reason of said invention. And if, upon a hearing of the matter, it shall appear to the full and entire satisfaction of said board, having due regard to the public interest therein, that it is just and proper that the term of the patent should be extended, by reason of the patentee, without neglect or fault on his part, having failed to obtain, from the use and sale of his invention, a reasonable remuneration for the time, ingenuity, and expense bestowed upon the same, and the introduction thereof into use, it shall be the duty of the commissioner to renew and extend the patent, by making a certificate thereon of such extension, for the term of seven years from and after the expiration of the first term; which certificate, with a certificate of said board of their judgment and opinion as aforesaid, shall be entered on record in the patent office; and thereupon the said patent shall have the same effect in law as though it had been originally granted for the term of twenty-one years. And the benefit of such renewal shall extend to assignees and grantees of the right to use the thing patented, to the extent of their respective interest therein: Provided, however, That no Proviso. extension of a patent shall be granted after the expiration of the term for which it was originally issued. 2513 §19. And be it further enacted, That there shall be provided Library of for the use of said office, a library of scientific works and peri- patent office. odical publications, both foreign and American, calculated to facilitate the discharge of the duties hereby required of the chief officers therein, to be purchased under the direction of the committee of the Library of Congress. And the sum of fifteen hundred dollars is hereby appropriated, for that purpose, to be paid out of the patent fund. § 20. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of Models to be the commissioner to cause to be classified and arranged, in such classified and rooms or galleries as may be provided for that purpose, in suita- arranged. ble cases, when necessary for their preservation, and in such manner as shall be conducive to a beneficial and favourable display thereof, the models and specimens of compositions and of fabrics and other manufactures and works of art, patented or unpatented, which have been, or shall hereafter be deposited in said office. And said rooms or galleries to be kept open during suitable hours for public inspection. § 21. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of acts Former acts heretofore passed on this subject, be, and the same are hereby repealed. repealed: Provided, however, That all actions and processes in Proviso. law or equity sued out prior to the passage of this act, may be prosecuted to final judgment and execution, in the same manner as though this act had not been passed, excepting and saving the Proviso. Decisions of the register confirmed, with certain exceptions. Acts suspended. Proviso. Duties on application to any such action, of the provisions of the fourteenth and fifteenth sections of this act, so far as they may be applicable thereto. And provided, also, That all applications or petitions for patents, pending at the time of the passage of this act, in cases where the duty has been paid, shall be proceeded with and acted on in the same manner as though filed after the passage thereof. [Approved, July 4, 1836.] CHAP. 358. An act confirming claims to land in the State of Louisiana. § 1. Be it enacted, &c. That the decisions in favour of land claimants made by the register and receiver of the land office in New Orleans, under date the first of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-five, by virtue of an act entitled "An act for the final adjustment of claims to land in the state of Louisiana," which have been laid before Congress at the present session by the secretary of the treasury, be, and the same are hereby, confirmed, with the exception of the claims of Narcisse Carmouche, Julie Alexandre and Martin Major, Nicholas Bara, and Francis Menard, saving and reserving, however, to all adverse claimants, the right to assert the validity of their claims in a court of justice. [Approved, July 4th, 1836.] СНАР. 359. An act to suspend the discriminating duties upon goods imported in vessels of Portugal, and to reduce the duties on wines. § 1. Be it enacted, &c. That so much of the several acts of Congress as imposes a discriminating duty upon goods, wares, and merchandise imported in foreign vessels be, and hereby is, suspended, so far as respects the produce or manufactures of Portugal proper, including Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Azores, when imported in vessels wholly and truly belonging to the subjects or citizens of said places; so that such produce or manufactures shall be subject to the same duties only as if imported in vessels of the United States: Provided however, And this suspension shall continue no longer than this section remains in force. § 2. And be it further enacted, That from and after the thirtieth wines redu- day of July, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, the duty on all kinds ced one-half, of wine imported into the United States shall be reduced one-half, after 30th Ju- so that no more than one-half the amount now assessed shall be ly, 1836. thereafter assessed. Wines may§ 3. And be it further enacted, That all kinds of wines, whether be put into imported before or after the pasage of this act, may be put into custom-house the custom-house stores, under the bond of the importer, or stores, &c. owner; and such of the said wines as shall remain under the control of the proper officer of the customs, on the thirtieth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, shall be subject to no other duty than if the same were imported after that day; and if the duties or any part thereof, on the wines deposited as aforesaid, shall have been paid previous to the said thirtieth day of July one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, the amount of excess of duty shall be refunded to the person importing and depositing the same: Provided, That no wines shall be Proviso. |