Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 29.djvu/723

 FIFTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. UH. 391. 1897. 693 had been used; and if any one or more of the special matters alleged hall be found for the defendant, judgment shall be rendered for him with costs. And the like defenses may be pleaded in any suit in equity for relief against an alleged infringement; and proofs of the same may be given upon like notice in the answer of the defendant, and with the lik; effect.;` P mu I Ec. 3. hat section forty-eight hundred and ei b -seven of the · nj ,, °’_*‘“'°"‘ Revised Statutes be, and the same hereby is, amendgd ily inserting on m Pm M bmi line one, after the words “no person," the words iiotherwise entitled thereto," and on line three, after the words ii caused to be patented," the words "by the inventor or his legal representatives or assigns," and by erasing therein all that portion of the section which follows the words *‘in a foreign country," on lines three and four, and substituting in lieu thereof the following: iiunless the application for said foreign patent was Bled more than seven months prior to the Bling of the application in this country, in which case no patent shall be granted in this country " so that the section so amended will read as follows: ‘•SEc. 4887. No person otherwise entitled thereto shall be debarred ,,,,S§f;,"ff,§m’,§;°:f,l: from receiving a patent for his invention or discovery, nor shall any Mrisque. patent be declared invalid, by reason of its having been first patented M£‘,:,;,,§§§‘_ *887* " or caused to be patented by the inventor or his legal representatives or assigns in a foreign country, unless the application for said foreign patent was Bled more than seven months prior to the Bling of the application in this country, in which ca e no patent shall be granted in this country." SEG 4. That section forty-eight hundred and ninety-four of the Limii °f iii¤° .f°i Revised Statutes be, and the same hereby is, amended by striking out €i’.£l°u°‘ “”""°°` the words "two years " in every place where they occur and substituting in lieu thereof the words “one year," so that the section so amended will read as follows: _ _ “SEc. 4894. All applications for patents shall be completed and ,,,,§{’,{§}§_“§§',‘f'§,’Q,,,';?,,`,f;‘f prepared for examination within one year after the Bling of the appli- my- S-- M- 4894. p- cation, and in default thereof, or upon failure of the applicant to prose- ' cute the same within one year after any action therein, of which notice shall have been given to the applicant, they shall be regarded as abandoned by the parties thereto, unless it be shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Patents that such delay was unavoidable." Sec. 5. That section forty-eight hundred and ninety-eight of the *••i¤¤*°¤*•· Revised Statutes be, and the same hereby is, amended by adding thereto the following sentence: “If any such assignment, grant, or conveyance of any patent shall *°“°“"°“¤'“°""· be acknowledged betore any notary public of the several States or Territories or the District of Columbia, or any commissioner of the Fnited States circuit court, or before any secretary of legation or con sular officer authorized to administer oaths or perform notarial acts under section seventeen hundred and Bfty of the Revised Statutes, the certiBcate of such acknowledgment, under the hand and olllcial seal of such notary or other officer, shall be prima facie evidence of the execution of such assignment, grant, or conveyance," so that the section so amended will read as follows: _ _ A _ t be “ Sec. 4898. Every patent or any interest therein shall be a signable in ,,,c,,‘§f{§,{‘"§‘{,“"I.,‘},,,, law by an instrument in writing, and the patentee or his assigns or legal Ogcg- me me m representatives may in like manner grant and convey an exclusive right .,,,,3,,.; ‘ `P' ' under his patent to the whole or any specified part of the United States. An assignment, grant, or conveyance shall be void as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee for a valuable consideration, without notice, unless it is recorded in the Patent Omce within three months B·om the date thereof Acknowld um “If any such assignment, grant, or conveyance of any patent shall Wm, fm, ,,,F§,,,n_ be acknowledged before any notary public of the several States or ¤¤¤i· Territories or the District of Columbia, or any commissioner of the United States circuit court, or before any secretary of legation or con- ular omcer authorized to administer oaths or perform notarial acts