United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/27th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 263
Chap. CCLXIII.—An Act in addition to an act to promote the progress of the useful arts, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts heretofore made for that purpose.[1]
Act of July 4, 1836, ch. 357.
Act of March 3, 1837, ch. 45.
Act of March 3, 1839, ch. 88.
Treasurer authorized to pay back, out of the patent fund, certain money paid as fees.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Treasurer of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized to pay back, out of the patent fund, any sum or sums of money, to any person who shall have paid the same into the Treasury, or to any receiver or depositary to the credit of the Treasurer, as for fees accruing at the Patent Office through mistake, and which are not provided to be paid by existing laws, certificate thereof being made to said Treasurer by the Commissioner of Patents.
Sec. 3, act of 3d March 1837, ch. 45, extended to patents granted prior to Dec. 1836, though lost subsequently.
Proviso.
Citizens, &c. may obtain a patent, how.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the third section of the act of March, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, which authorized the renewing of patents lost prior to the fifteenth of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-six, is extended to patents granted prior to said fifteenth day of December, though they may have been lost subsequently: Provided, however, The same shall not have been recorded anew under the provisions of said act.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That any citizen or citizens, or alien or aliens, having resided one year in the United States and taken the oath of his or their intention to become a citizen or citizens who by his, her, or their own industry, genius, efforts, and expense, may have invented or produced any new and original design for a manufacture, whether of metal or other material or materials, or any new and original design for the printing of woollen, silk, cotton, or other fabrics, or any new and original design for a bust, statue, or bas relief or composition in alto or basso relievo, or any new and original impression or ornament, or to be placed on any article of manufacture, the same being formed in marble or other material, or any new and useful pattern, or print, or picture, to be either worked into or worked on, or printed or painted or cast or otherwise fixed on, any article of manufacture, or any new and original shape or configuration of any article of manufacture not known or used by others before his, her, or their invention or production thereof, and prior to the time of his, her, or their application for a patent therefor, and who shall desire to obtain an exclusive property or right therein to make, use, and sell and vend the same, or copies of the same, to others, by them to be made, used, and sold, may make application in writing to the Commissioner of Patents expressing such desire, and the Commissioner, on due proceedings had, may grant a patent therefor, as in the case now of application for a patent: Provided,Proviso. That the fee in such cases which by the now existing laws would be required of the particular applicant shall be one half the sum, and that the duration of said patent shall be seven years, and that all the regulations and provisions which now apply to the obtaining or protection of patents not inconsistent with the provisions of this act shall apply to applications under this section.
Oath may be taken before U. S. ministers, &c.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the oath required for applicants for patents may be taken, when the applicant is not, for the time being, residing in the United States, before any minister, plenipotentiary, chargé d’affaires, consul, or commercial agent holding commission under the Government of the United States, or before any notary public of the foreign country in which such applicant may be.
Penalty for infringing the rights of a patentee, &c. by marking.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall paint or print, or mould, cast, carve, or engrave, or stamp, upon any thing made, used, or sod, by him, for the sole making or selling which he hath not or shall not have obtained letters patent, the name or any imitation of the name of any other person who hath or shall have obtained letters patent for the sole making and vending of such thing, without consent of such patentee, or his assigns or legal representatives; or if any person, upon any such thing not having been purchased, from the patentee, or some person who purchased it from under such patentee, or some person who purchased it from or under such patentee, or not having the license or consent of such patentee, or his assigns or legal representatives, shall write, paint, print, mould, cast, carve, engrave, stamp, or otherwise make or affix the word “patent,” or the words “letters patent,” or the word “patentee,” or any word of words of like kind, meaning, or import, with the view or intent of imitating or counterfeiting the stamp, mark, or other device of the patentee, or shall affix the same or any word, stamp, or device, of like import, on any unpatented article, for the purpose of deceiving the public, he, she, or they, so offending, shall be liable for such offence, to a penalty of not less than one hundred dollars, with costs, to be recovered by action in any of theHow recoverable, &c. circuit courts of the United States, or in any of the district courts of the United States, having the powers and jurisdiction of a circuit court; one half of which penalty, as recovered, shall be paid to the patent fund, and the other half to any person or persons who shall sue for the same.
Patentees, &c. requir’d to mark articles offered for sale.
Penalty for neglect.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That all patentees and assignees of patents hereafter granted, are hereby required to stamp, engrave, or cause to be stamped or engraved, on each article vended, or offered for sale, the date of the patent; and if any person or persons, patentees or assignees, shall neglect to do so, he, she, or they, shall be liable to the same penalty, to be recovered and disposed of in the manner specified in the foregoing fifth section of this act.
Approved, August 29, 1842.
- ↑ Notes of the acts passed relative to patents for useful inventions, vol. 1, 109, 318.
Notes of the decisions of the courts of the United States on the acts which have been passed relative to patents for useful inventions, vol. 1. 319, 320, 321.