§6. Of the patent.

33. This section will be divided by considering, 1. The form of the patent. 2. The correction of the patent. 3. The special provisions of the acts of congress occasioned by the burning of the patent office. 4. The disclaimer. 5. The assignment of patents. 6. The extension of the patent. 7. The requisites¹ to be observed after the granting of a patent to secure it.

1. Form of the patent.

34. The patent is to be issued in the form prescribed by the act of congress. The fifth section of the act of July 4, 1836, directs, that all patents issuing from said office shall be issued in the name of the United States, and under the seal of said office, and be signed by the secretary of state, and countersigned² by the commissioner³ of the said office, and shall be recorded, together with the descriptions, specifications⁵ and drawings, in the said office, in books to be kept for that purpose. Every such patent shall contain a short description or title of the invention or discovery, correctly indicating its nature and design, and in its terms grant to the applicant⁶ or applicants⁷, his or their heirs, administrators⁸, executors or assigns, for a term not exceeding fourteen years, the full and exclusive right and liberty of making, using, and vending⁹ to others to be used, the said invention or discovery, referring to the specifications for the particulars thereof, a copy of which shall be annexed¹⁰ to the patent, specifying¹¹ what the patentee claims as his invention or discovery. It is usually dated at the time of issuing it, but by a provision of the last mentioned act, section 8, whenever the applicant shall request it, the patent shall take date, from the time of filing, the specification⁴ and drawings, not, however, exceeding six months prior to the actual issuing of the patent.

2. Correction of patent.

35. It is provided by the thirteenth section of the act of July. 4, 1836, that whenever any patent which has heretofore been granted, or which shall hereafter be granted, shall be inoperative or invalid¹², by reason of a defective¹³ or insufficient¹⁴ 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 b y inadvertency, accident or mistake, and without any fraudulent or deceptive¹⁵ intention, it shall be lawful¹⁶ for the c6mmissioner, 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 residue¹⁷ of the period then unexpired for which the original patent was granted, in accordance with the patentee's corrected description and specification. And in the event 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 accruing¹⁸, as though the same had been originally filed in such corrected form, before the issuing out of the original patent. 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 proceedings¹⁹ 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 certify²⁰, on the margin²¹ 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.

36. And it is enacted²² by the act of March 3, 1837, section 5, that, whenever a patent shall be returned for correction and reissue under the thirteenth section of the act to which this is additional, and the patentee shall desire several patents to be issued for distinct and separate parts of the thing patented, he shall first pay, in manner and in addition to the sum provided by that act, the sum of thirty dollars for each additional patent so to be issued; Provided, however, that no patent made prior to the aforesaid fif-teenth day of December, 1836, shall be corrected and reissued until a duplicate of the model and drawing of the thing as originally invented, verified by oath as shall be required by the commissioner, shall be deposited in the patent office: Nor shall any addition of an improvement be made to any patent heretofore granted, nor any new patent to be issued for an improvement made in any machine, manufacture, or process, to the original inventor, assignee or possessor, of a patent therefor, nor any disclaimer be admitted to record, until a duplicate model and drawing of the thing originally intended, verified as aforesaid, shall have been deposited in the patent office, if the commissioner shall require the same; nor shall any patent be granted for an invention, improvement, or discovery, the model or drawing of which shall have been lost, until another model and drawing, if required by the commissioner, shall, in like manner, be deposited in the patent office:

37. And in all such cases, as well as in those which may arise under the third section of this act, the question of compensation for such models and drawings, shall be subject to the judgment²³ and decision of the commissioners²⁴ provided for in the fourth section, under the same limitations and restrictions²⁵ as are therein prescribed.