The patent laws of all nations

Front matter

Cornell University Library K 1505.4.A13 1886 v.1

The patent laws of all nations /

3 1924 021 271 394 cooperation with Cornell University Libraries, 2007.

Preface

The usefulness of works like this is well understood. They enable a solicitor of patents to inform an inventor in what countries and at what cost he can patent his invention. They assist counsel to advise the owner of a patent what rights and protection it gives him, what will constitute an infringement, and what, in various countries, are his remedies. These being their uses, they must be published often, in order that changes in the various laws may be promptly chronicled, and that statutes newly enacted may be early substituted for any repealed.

This volume presents the Patent Laws of AH Nations, so far as I have been able to find them in English dress. Little has been done in revising the translations ; those given are such as ha \'e been found in trustworthy works, and appear correct. Each law is followed by a reference to the source whence it was derived ; and in instances where materially differing translations have been fount] both are given, or that preferred is copied, adding a reference to the other, to aid comparison. The explanations of points in civil and political geography which abound, though brief, have been prepared with care, on iv PEEFACE.

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the basis of a wide search among the cyclopedias and geographic works in use in this country ; and will be useful in showing the territorial authority of the various acts.

More of the within laws have been taken from a compilation by Messrs Carpmael, published in England about two years ago, than from any other one source ; the United States Patent-office Gazette coming next. It was prepared with ability and skill, and at the time of its appearance was satisfactory. But since that time eight or ten new laws have been promulgated which are here collected ; and there are as many more of which I have thought best to give versions different from those presented by the English work. For example, I have enlarged the quotations from the acts of the British Parliament ; have added one or two Canadian acts (being indebted for them to a digest in pamphlet form by Mr. Eichards of New York City) ; have taken the Patent provisions of the French Code of Commerce from M. Goirand's translation, adding extensive notes of French decisions, founded on his commentary ; and under several other countries have made considerable additions. The reader will also notice that my presentation of the laws of the United States is brought down to date, is accompanied by extensive notes (in which the more important of the cases collected in Abbott's National Digest are reai-ranged, and those published since that work are added), and is followed by the official forms.

Benj. Vaughan Abbott.

Table Of Contents

Pago ALGERIA 1

ANTILLES. See Spain.

ANTIGUA. See Leeward Islands.

Section I. Off THE SUBJECT OF AN EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGE

§ 1. Exclusive privileges may be granted under the restrictions etated in §§ 2, 3, 4 and 5, for every new discovery, invention, or improvement having for its object —

a. A new product of industry; or,

b. A new means of production; or,

c. A new method of production ;

whether such privileges be demanded by an Austrian subject or by a foreigner, unless the invention be not patentable according to §§ 2-5.

The term discovery is applied to the finding out an industrial process that may have been used in former times, but which has since been lost sight of or remained unknown in the empire.

The term invention is applied to the producing a new object by new means, or a new object by means known before, or a known object by means different from those used hitherto for the same object.

The term improvement or alteration is applied to every apparatus, arrangement, or process added to an object known or patented before, by means of which, in the object in view or in the means of arriving at it, a better result or greater economy is attained.

The term new is applied to any discovery, invention, or improvement that, up to the time of the application for a privilege, has neither been worked nor become known through publications in the empire.

§ 2. No privileges can be granted for preparations of food, beverages, and medicines, nor for discoveries, inventions, or improvements which cannot be worked for reasons of public health, morals, or safety, or as being contrary to the general interest of the state, according to the existing regulations.

§ 3. A new discovery, invention, or improvement which is to bo imported into the Austrian empire from abroad can only be patented during the currency of the foreign patent; nor can such a grant be made except to the foreign patentee or his assign. Under these restrictions a privilege can be granted for a discovery, invention, or improvement made abroad, provided it has not yet been published in the empire.

§ 4. Improvements of inventions that were known or patented before can only be patented with the restrictive clause that such a privilege does not refer to the whole article, but only to the improved part.

§ 5. Scientific principles, or purely scientific theorems, cannot be patented, even if the principle or theorem admit of a direct application to industrial objects. However, patents may be granted for every new application of such principles or theorems as lead to the creation of a new industrial product, a new means, or anew method of production.

§ 6. Two or several discoveries, inventions, or improvements that are different from each other may only be united into one patent if those discoveries, inventions, or improvements relate to one and the same object, as component parts or operative means.

Section II

Op the Conditions foe Obtaining an Exclusive Privilege, and the Formalities to be Fulfilled.

§ 7. Applicants for an exclusive privilege for a new discovery, invention, or improvement must fulfill the conditions prescribed in the present law.

Those conditions are: —

a. Applying to the competent authorities by means of a petition in due form, accompanied by the prescribed documents.

b. Payment of a fixed tax.

c. Fulfilling the obligation of describing the new discovery, invention, or improvement clearly and completely; and, if required for the sake of clearness, of illustrating it by drawings or models, so as to enable every competent man to execute the same after its publication at the expiration of the patent.

§ 8. Petitions for exclusive privileges may be lodged with the stadtholder, or with the judges of districts (judges, delegates, county magistrates), to be forwarded by them.

§ 9. -Those petitions must be arranged according to the Form A. They may be delivered by the applicant himself or his attorney. Such petitions must contain —

a. The christian and family name, profession, and residence of the applicant; and, in case of his not being settled in the empire, also the name, profession, and residence of an attorney domiciled in the empire. Applicants must state their christian and family name, profession, &c, even if the privilege is to be worked under a firm bearing a different name from that of the patentee. In such cases the name of the firm chosen must be stated. The said firm, however, must not correspond with an existing firm unless the consent of its proprietor be obtained.

b. The name (title) of the discovery, invention, or improvement ; giving the essence of it.

c. The number of years for which the patent is demanded. That number of years cannot exceed fifteen, except by a special grant of the Emperor ; and those inventions patented already abroad, and which are to be imported by their proprietors or their assigns, can only be patented for the unexpired term of the foreign patent.

d. The statement whether the discovery, invention, or improvement is to be kept secret or not.

§ 10. Petitions for patents must be accompanied by —

a. The due tax, or the receipt for the same, given by a public treasurer to whom the said tax had been paid. Except that tax, no other fees are to be demanded for a patent, even in the case of a previous examination on public grounds.

b. The power of attorney in case the applicant delivers his petition through an agent (§ 9).

c. In cases of discoveries, inventions, or improvements to be imported from abroad, the foreign letters patent in the original, or in an authenticated copy.

d. The above-mentioned (§ 7 c) description of the invention under sealed cover, on which is written the essence of the discovery* invention, or improvement, corresponding with the statement made in the petition, and the address of the applicant or his attorney.

§ 11., The patent taxis in proportion to the duration of the privilege, and is the same for discoveries, inventions, improvements; for foreigners, or natives. It amounts to 100 florins for the first five years, 200 florins for the following five years, and 400 florins for the last five years.; the annual ratio being 20 florins for the first five years, and that of the subsequent years as follows :*— 6th. year, 30 fl.; 7th year, 35 fl.; 8th year, 40 fl.; 9th year, 45 fl.; 10th year, 50 fl.; 11th year, 60 fl.; 12th year, 70 fl.; 13th year, 80 fl.; 14th year, 90 fl.; 15th year, 100 fl., amounting to 700 fl. for fifteen years, the longest period allowed.

The tax due for the whole number of years which the privilege has been applied for must, be paid down at once, or a receipt for the amount has to be produced, to avoid the petition being rejected.

The said tax can only be repaid in case of the privilege being annulled on public grounds, and such repayments shall be in proportion to the unexpired term.

§ 12. The specification (§ 10), which is considered as an essential condition for obtaining an exclusive privilege, must answer the following requirements : —

a. It must be written in German, or in the usual language of the province where the application is made, and be signed by the applicant, or the attorney named in the petition.

b. It must contain the detailed description of the discovery, invention, or improvement, the essence of which was indicated in the petition.

c. It must be drawn out in such a manner as to enable all competent men to manufacture the article according to this description, without the addition of new inventions, additions or improvements.

d. What is new and also what constitutes the object of the privilege must be clearly described and pointed out in the specification.

e. The discovery, invention, or improvement must be set forth in a clear and plain manner, and contain no ambiguities that might lead astfayj contrary to the provisions contained in c.

f. It must not keep Becret anything relating either to the means or mode of working ; therefore it is neither permissible to indicate means that are more expensive or do not produce the same effect, uor to conceal devices that relate to the success of the operation.

g. Should drawings, patterns, or models be required for better understanding the specification, the former must be annexed in lasting colors ; besides which (in as far as it may add to clearness according to c), any other print or writing may be added which the applicant shall think fit.

§ 13. The authority to whom a petition is presented is to examine in the presence of the applicant, —

a. Whether the petition Is in due form, and has been signed:

b. Whether the required documents are annexed ;

e. Whether the prescribed tax, or a receipt for the same is inclosed.

If the authority finds the petition in good order in this respect, he inscribes, in the presence of the applicant, on the cover of the specification, the day and hour of its presentation, and the amount paid, and hands to the applicant or his^ attorney a certificate containing the name and residence of the applicant or his attorney, the day and hour of presentation, the payment of the tax, and the title and essence of the discovery, invention, or improvement as set forth in the petition.

From that day and hour, the priority of the discovery, invention, or improvement disclosed, is reckoned, that is, every opposition on the ground of a similar discovery, invention, or improvement made or practiced after that time is considered ineffectual, and cannot refute and annul the novelty of the discovery, invention, or improvement which has been disclosed' and described in due order by the applicant.

If an omission or other defect is found out on examination of the petition, the latter is returned to the applicant that he may amend the same.

§ 14. All petitions approved of, together with their annexed documents, are transmitted to the governors of the respective province within three days at the latest, if not addressed to them directly.

§ 15. The governors examine such petitions —

a. As to whether the object of the petition is not evidently unfit for a privilege.

b. As to whether the annexed documents fulfill the prescribed conditions, and particularly as to whether the description of the object of the patent inscribed on the cover of the specification corresponds with the indication made in the petition, and whether the latter is duly signed.

Should a governor think the article to be patented absolutely unfit for a privilege according to § 2-6, he is to inform the petitioner

20 FOREJftN LAWS.

thereof, requiring him to withdraw and give a receipt for the sealed specification, as well as to receive back the tax paid up, or otherwise to appeal to the ministry of commerce and trades within the term assigned in the regulation of trades.

Should it appear that the annexed documents do not answer the requirements, or that the object of the privilege, as indicated on the cover of the sealed description, does not correspond with the contents of the petition, the governor is to keep ba^k the petition, and to assign a proper term for the amendment of the defect. Should that term not be observed, the petition is to be returned.

All petitions in due form, and not unfit for privilege, as well as those that have been amended within the prescribed term, shall be submitted by the governors, together with the sealed specifications, and all other documents, to the minister of commerce and trades.

§ 16. The minister of commerce and trades is to re-examine whether all the formalities have been fulfilled, and he has the exclusive authority to open the sealed specification and see —

a. Whether the specification is written in a current language (§ 12), and whether it is duly signed.

b. Whether the object for which a patent is desired does not comprehend two or more different objects (§ 6) and requires to be divided.

c. Whether the title of the invention is the same in the petition as on the cover of the annexed specification, and as in the specification itself; moreover, whether the specification possesses that degree of clearness and distinctness required by § 12, particularly whether the required drawings, patterns, and models are present, and whether all formal requirements about the same have been observed.

d. Whether the object to be patented as indicated in its essential features in the petition and on the cover of the specification is not contrary to sanitary laws, or to other public regulations, whereby it becomes entirely unfit for a privilege, or fit only under certain conditions and restrictions. Besides, special care is to be taken for the required secrecy being observed, and due precautions against any possible violation of the secret are to be adopted.

§ 17. No examination ever takes place as to the novelty or utility of the discovery, invention, or improvement before the granting of the privilege ; on the other hand, no guarantee is given by the government, which grants the patent in this respect at the mere risk, peril and cost of the patentee.

according to § 16 disclose no obstacle, the privilege is granted by the minister of commerce and trades by a separate document, otherwise all petitions deemed unfit for acceptance are rejected, the motive for so doing being mentioned, and the tax being ordered to be repaid. However, where there exist defects that may be amended, such rejections take place only after the applicant has failed to amend such defects within the proper term assigned to him for that purpose.

§ 19. The grant of a privilege releases a patentee in no case from the laws, regulations, and prescriptions that exist, or may be promulgated in the interest of. public health, safety, morals, or in the interest of the State; the working of the patent is therefore subordinate to such regulations and prescriptions as may limit or defend it without the patentee being allowed; to invoke an exceptional rule.

. § 20. The inclosed specifications belonging to the privileges, together with the annexed documents (§ 16), are delivered to the custody and the ulterior use of the central record office for patents, as .will be explained in section V. of the present law.

Section III. Of the advantages and Libeeties incident to exclusive

Privileges.

§ 21. An exclusive privilege secures to the patentee the exclusive, use of his discovery, invention, or improvement, as laid down in his specification, for the number of years mentioned in his privilege.

§ 22. The patentee is authorized to establish those workshops and to engage those workmen which are required for the complete working of the subject of the pateDt to any extent ; they may thus form everywhere in the whole empire establishments and depots for the manufacture and sale of the subject of their privilege, and authorize others to work their discovery, invention, or improvement, under the protection of their privilege ; they may form partnerships, and work their patent to any extent, dispose of their patent, bequeath it, sell it, give licenses, or otherwise part with it, and obtain patents abroad for the same object.

However, those rights are strictly limited to the proper object of the patented discovery, invention, or improvement, and therefore must not be extended to similar objects,. nor be used contrary, to existing laws or other privileges.

§ 23. If the privilege relates to an improvement or an alteration of a patented object it is merely limited to the individual improvement or alteration itself, and it gives to the privileged improver and alterer no right to the rest of the object that has already been patented, or of a process that is already known. On the other hand, the patentee of an object improved or altered by another patentee is not allowed to use the said improvement or alteration without his consent.

Section IV

Of the Extent and Duration of Exclusive Privileges, and theie Publication.

§ 24. The legal effect of exclusive privileges shall be co-extensive with the Austrian territory.

§ 25. The longest duration of privileges is fixed at fifteen years. We reserve to ourselves the right of extending that term, yet such a prolongation shall be demanded by the public authorities only for highly meritorious cases.

§ 26. Every exclusive privilege begins from the day of the delivery of the patent. The publication of the grant of the privilege shall be made in the same manner and within the same time as is provided for laws.

§ 27. Every patentee whose privilege has been granted for a shorter period than the longest (§ 9 c) may claim its prolongation for one or more years within the fixed longest period, provided they demand such a prolongation before the privilege has become extinct (§ 29 — 2 a, b). To obtain such a prolongation a petition for the same must be delivered in due time, together with the original patent, and the tax in full for the required term of prolongation (§ 11), or the receipt for the same from a public treasurer.

The prolongation is granted by the minister of commerce and trades, and is officially confirmed on the letters patent.

§ 28. Every privilege granted or prolonged by the minister of commerce and trades, as well as every cession of a privilege and its extinction, is published according to § 26.

§ 29. Privileges lose their force —

1. By nullity or by termination (recall, surrender or decree):

a. Such an annulment may take place if it is shown that the legal requirements for an exclusive privilege do not exist, particularly

aa. If it is shown that the description of the privilege is deficient, and particularly if is not in accordance with § 12, c—f, and therefore insufficient.

bb. If any one proves legally that the patented discovery, invention, and improvement, before the day and hour of the official certificate, bad already no longer the character of novelty in the empire, according to the provisions of § 1, or that the patented discovery, invention, or improvement had been imported from abroad, and that the privilege in the Austrian States has not been granted to the original proprietor of the foreign patent, or his legitimate assignees (§ 3) ;

cc. If the proprietor of a valid privilege proves that the discovery, invention-or improvement patented at a later period is identical with his own discovery, invention, or improvement, as previously laid down according to prescriptions ;

b. If an obligation constituting the validity of the privilege is not fulfilled :

c. If the privilege is contrary to public law (§ 19). 2. By extinction, which takes place, —

a. If within one year at the latest from the date of the patent the patentee has not begun to work his discovery, invention, or improvement in the empire, or whenever he has interrupted his works for two complete years ;

b. If the original or prolonged term of the patent has expired ;

c. If the privilege is surrendered voluntarily.

It is well understood that those reasons, whereby the validity of a privilege ceases or becomes extinct, apply to purchasers of a privilege as well as to the original patentee.

§ 30. As soon as a privilege is invalidated, the use of the respective discovery, invention, or improvement is open to all under the observance of the existing laws regulating trades, and regulations relating thereto.

Section V

Of the Registration qv Peivtleges and Recobding op Specifications.

§ 31. All privileges as soon as granted are inscribed in a register at the ministry of commerce and trades.

If the privilege is worked under a chosen firm that differs from the true name of the patentee, that firm must also be entered in the register.

The descriptions, drawings, models, &c, belonging thereto are kept in a special record office at the ministry. Every alteration in a privilege is noted in tho above register.

24 F0EE1GN LAWS.

§ 32. Any person is at liberty to obtain verbal or written information respecting granted privileges at the patent-office, and for this purpose to inspeet the register for himself. The specifications kept at the same place, together with the annexes about which secrecy has not been demanded or belonging to extinct patents, are likewise open to the public ; finally, copies may be taken of single parts of such privileges from the register, or from the privileges that are not to be kept secret. On such occasions those provisions in the present law (§ 44) that relate to infringements are expressly to be pointed out to the applicants.

§ 33. The record office of patents shall submit every month to the minister of commerce and trades a synopsis of the alterations made in privileges during that period by new grants, prolongations, transfers, and extinctions. A copy of that synopsis is forwarded to the governors of provinces and chambers of commerce and trades in the different provinces for the establishment of a register for giving information about patent matters, which information is to be given on demand in the proper way. At the expiration of each year a similar annual synoptical table is published.

§ 34. The specifications of patents expired are printed yearly according to their apparent utility, and circulated in a proper manner.

Section VI. Of the Teansfees of Fbivileges

§ 35. All exclusive privileges may be transferred entirely or partially to others, during lifetime, as well as by bequest.

§ 36. All assignments, together with the patent, must be submitted to the minister of commerce and trades, directly, or through the governor of the province where the transfer took place, or where the petitioner resides, and for this purpose they must be duly legalized, unless they are issued by a public authority.

If the evidence of the assignment is found by the government or ministry to be defective, it shall be returned for correction.

All proper assignments are to be inserted in the special register (§ 31), and that insertion is to be confirmed on the patents themselves, and in case of a mere partial transfer a special certificate is to be delivered.

§37. AH registered transfers of privileges are to be published immediately. After such publication no one is allowed to plead ignorance about the transfer.