(ACT of February 21st, 1793.)

ment of a seat of justice in the said counties: Provided, The purchase be made before the commencement of the public sales: And provided also, That the proceeds of the sale of each quarter section, which may be made under the authority of the state of Ohio, shall be appropriated for the purpose of erecting public buildings in said counties respectively, after deducting therefrom the sums originally paid by the state aforesaid: And provided further, That the seat of justice for said counties respectively, shall be fixed on the lands so selected.

[See titles JUDICIARY, and LANDS-Northwest of the Ohio.]

PAINTINGS.

RESOLUTION of February 6, 1817. Pamphlet edit. 288.

The president of the United States, is hereby authorised, to employ John Trumbull of Connecticut, to compose and execute four paintings, commemorative of the most important events of the American revolution, to be placed, when finished, in the capitol of the United States.

ACT of February 21, 1793. 2 Bioren, 348.

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9

10, 14

11

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An act to promote the progress of useful arts; and to repeal the act heretofore made for that purpose.

1. SEC. 1. When any person or persons, being a citizen or citizens of the United States, shall allege that he or they have invented any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, or composition, of matter, or any new and useful improvement on any art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, not known or used before the application, and shall present a petition to the secretary of

(ACT of February 21st, 1793.)

state, signifying a desire of obtaining an exclusive property in the same, and praying that a patent may be granted therefor, it shall and may be lawful for the said secretary of state to cause letters patent to be made out, in the name of the United States, bearing teste by the president of the United States, reciting the allegations and suggestions of the said petition, and giving a short description of the said invention or discovery, and thereupon granting to such petitioner, or petitioners, his, her, or their, heirs, administrators, or assigns, for a term not exceeding fourteen years, the full and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using, and vending to others to be used, the said invention or discovery; which letters patent shall be delivered to the attorney general of the United States, to be examined; who, within fifteen days after such delivery, if he finds the same conformable to this act, shall certify accordingly, at the foot thereof, and return the same to the secretary of state, who shall present the letters patent thus certified, to be signed, and shall cause the seal of the United States to be thereto affixed: and the same shall be good and available to the grantee or grantees, by force of this act, and shall be recorded in a book, to be kept for that purpose, in the office of the secretary of state, and delivered to the patentee or his order.

2. SEC. II. Provided always, That any person who shall have discovered an improvement in the principle of any machine, or in the process of any composition of matter, which shall have been patented, and shall have obtained a patent for such improvement, he shall not be at liberty to make, use, or vend, the original discovery, nor shall the first inventor be at liberty to use the improvement: And it is hereby enacted and declared, that simply changing the form or the proportions of any machine, or composition of matter, in any degree, shall not be deemed a discovery.

3. SEC. III. Every inventor, before he can receive a patent, shall swear or affirm, that he does verily believe that he is the true inventor or discoverer of the art, machine, or improvement, for which he solicits a patent; which oath or affirmation may be made before any person authorized to administer oaths; and shall deliver a written description of his invention, and of the manner of using, or process of compounding, the same, in such full, clear, and exact terms, as to distinguish the same from all other things before known, and to enable any person, skilled in the art or science of which it is a branch, or with which it is most nearly connected; to make, compound, and use the same. And in the case of any machine, he shall fully explain the principle, and the several modes in which he has contemplated the application of that principle or character by which it may be distinguished from other inventions; and he shall accompany the whole with drawings and written references, where the nature of the case admits of drawings, or with specimens of the ingredients, and of the composition of matter, sufficient in quantity for the purpose of experiment, where the in

(ACT of February 21st, 1793.)

vention is of a composition of matter; which description, signed by himself, and attested by two witnesses, shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state; and certified copies thereof shall be competent evidence in all courts where any matter or thing, touching such patent right, shall come in question. And such inventor shall, moreover, deliver a model of his machine, provided the secretary shall deem such model to be necessary.

4. SEC. IV. It shall be lawful for any inventor, his executor, or administrator, to assign the title and interest in the said invention, at any time; and the assignee, having recorded the said assignment in the office of the secretary of state, shall thereafter stand in the place of the original inventor, both as to right and responsibility; and so the assignees of assigns, to any degree.

SEC. V. [Repealed, see infra, 14.]

5. SEC. VI. Provided always, That the defendant in such action shall be permitted to plead the general issue, and give this act, and any special matter, of which notice in writing may have been given, to the plaintiff or his attorney, thirty days before trial, in evidence, tending to prove that the specification filed by the plaintiff does not contain the whole truth relative to his 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 thing, thus secured by patent, was not originally discovered by the patentee, but had been in use, or had been described, in some public work, anterior to the supposed discovery of the patentee, or that he had surreptitiously obtained a patent for the discovery of another person: rson: in either of which cases, judgment shall be rendered for the defendant; with costs, and the patent shall be declared void.

6. SEC. VII. Where any state, before its adoption of the present form of government, shall have granted an exclusive right to any invention, the party claiming that right shall not be capable of obtaining an exclusive right under this act but on relinquishing his right under such particular state; and of such relinquishment, his obtaining an exclusive right under this act shall be sufficient evidence.

7. SEC. IX. In case of interfering applications, the same shall be submitted to the arbitration of three persons, one of whom shall be chosen by each of the applicants, and the third person shall be appointed by the secretary of state; and the decision or award of such arbitrators, delivered to the secretary of state, in writing and subscribed by them, or any two of them, shall be final, as far as respects the granting of the patent: And if either of the applicants shall refuse or fail to choose an arbitrator, the patent shall issue to the opposite party. And where there shall be more than two interfering applications, and the parties applying shall not all unite

(ACT of February 21st, 1793.) in appointing three arbitrators, it shall be in the power of the secretary of state to appoint three arbitrators for the purpose.

8. SEC. X. Upon oath or affirmation being made before the judge of the district court, where the patentee, his executors, administrators, or assigns, reside, that any patent, which shall be issued in pursuance of this act, was obtained surreptitiously, or upon false suggestion, and motion made to the said court, within three years after issuing the said patent, but not afterwards, it shall and may be lawful for the judge of the said district court, if the matter alleged shall appear to him to be sufficient, to grant a rule, that the patentee, or his executor, administrator, or assign, show cause why process should not issue against him to repeal such patent. And if sufficient cause shall not be shown to the contrary, the rule shall be made absolute, and thereupon the said judge shall order process to be issued against such patentee, or his executors, administrators, or assigns, with costs of suit. And in case no sufficient cause shall be shown to the contrary, or if it shall appear that the patentee was not the true inventor or discoverer, judgment shall be rendered by such court for the repeal of such patent; and if the party, at whose complaint the process issued, shall have judgment given against him, he shall pay all such costs as the defendant shall be put to in defending the suit, to be taxed by the court, and recovered in due course of law.

9. SEC. XI. Every inventor, before he presents his petition to the secretary of state, signifying his desire of obtaining a patent, shall pay into the treasury thirty dollars, for which he shall take duplicate receipts, one of which receipts he shall deliver to the secretary of state, when he presents his petition; and the money, thus paid, shall be in full for the sundry services to be performed in the office of the secretary of state, consequent on such petition, and shall pass to the account of clerk hire in that office. Provided, nevertheless, That for every copy, which may be required at the said office, of any paper respecting any patent that has been granted, the person obtaining such copy shall pay at the rate of twenty cents for every copy sheet of one hundred words; and for every copy of a drawing, the party obtaining the same shall pay two dollars; of which payments an account shall be rendered annually to the treasury of the United States; and they shall also pass to the account of clerk hire in the office of the secretary of state.

11. SEC. XII. The act, passed the tenth day of April, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety, entitled " An act to promote the progress of useful arts," is hereby repealed. Provided always, That nothing contained in this act shall be construed to invalidate any patent that may have been granted under the authority of the said act; and all patentees under the said act, their executors, administrators, and assigns, shall be considered within the purview of this act, in respect to the violation of their rights:

(ACT of April 17th, 1800.) Provided, such violations shall be committed after the passing of this act.

ACT of April 17, 1800. 3 Bioren, 342.

An act to extend the privilege of obtaining patents for useful discoveries and inventions, to certain persons therein mentioned, and to enlarge and define the penalties for violating the rights of patentees.

11. SEC. 1. All and singular the rights and privileges given, intended, or provided, to citizens of the United States, respecting patents for new inventions, discoveries, and improvements, by the act, entitled " An act to promote the progress of useful arts, and to repeal the act heretofore made for that purpose," shall be, and hereby are, extended and given to all aliens who, at the time of petitioning in the manner prescribed by the said act, shall have resided for two years within the United States, which privileges shall be obtained, used, and enjoyed, by such persons, in as full and ample manner, and under the same conditions, limitations, and restrictions, as by the said act is provided and directed in the case of citizens of the United States. Provided, always, That every person petitioning for a patent for any invention, art, or discovery, pursuant to this act, shall make oath or affirmation, before some person duly authorised to administer oaths, before such patent shall be granted, that such invention, art, or discovery, hath not, to the best of his or her knowledge or belief, been known or used either in this or any foreign country; and that every patent which shall be obtained pursuant to this act, for any invention, art, or discovery, which it shall afterwards appear had been known or used previous to such application for a patent, shall be utterly void.

12. SEC. 11. Where any person hath made, or shall have made, any new invention, discovery, or improvement, on account of which a patent might, by virtue of this or the above mentioned act, be granted to such person as shall die before any patent shall be granted therefor, the right of applying for and obtaining such patent, shall devolve on the legal representatives of such person, in trust for the heirs at law of the deceased, in case he shall have died intestate; but if otherwise, then in trust for his devisees, in as full and ample manner, and under the same conditions, limitations, and restrictions, as the same was held, or might have been claimed or enjoyed, by such person, in his or her life time; and when application for a patent shall be made by such legal representatives, the oath or affirmation, provided in the third section of the before mentioned act, shall be so varied as to be applicable to them.

13. SEC. III. Where any patent shall be, or shall have been, granted pursuant to this or the above mentioned act, and any person, without the consent of the patentee, his or her executors, ad