2. If the thing patented were really the invention of another than the patentee.

3. If the invention had been patented or described in a printed publication before the invention of the patentee.

4. If the invention had been in public use or on sale in the United States for more than two years previously to the filing of the application.

ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

This republic has established a Patent Office on the model of that of the United States, by a law dated October 11, 1864.

Patents are granted for terms of five, ten, or fifteen years for all new and useful inventions and discoveries excepting pharmaceutical compositions, providing that such inventions or discoveries have not been previously published.

The Government fees on a patent are 80, 200, or 350 piastres (pesos fuertes), according to its term (in addition to sundry petty stamp duties), one-half of which amount has to be paid at the time of the application, and the remainder by yearly payments for which the inventor must give a guarantee.

Certificates of addition or improvement are also granted both to the original patentee and to others. In the former case one-fourth of the fees required for an original patent have to be paid, and in the latter case one-half of the said fees.

Provisional patents are also granted for one year, the payment for which is 50 piastres. These patents are renewable at the expiration of each year.

Applications for patents are to refer to a single chief object. with its accessories and applications.

Patents may be assigned. A patent is invalid if the drawing or specification is incorrect or incomplete. It also becomes void if not worked within two years from the date of issue, or if the working has been interrupted for a similar period, except by circumstances beyond control or accident. In either case no special judicial decree is required to render the patent null and void.

Proceedings may be taken for infringement.

AUSTRIA.

The patent law of this empire was remodelled by an imperial decree, dated August 15, 1852, which established the following regulations throughout the empire:

Patents are not allowed for alimentary preparations, beverages, and medicines, nor for discoveries, inventions, or improvements which are contrary to public health, public welfare, morality, or the interest of the state. Scientific principles or purely scientific theories cannot be patented. With these exceptions, patents are granted for every new discovery, invention, or improvement, having for its object (a) a new industrial product, (b) a new means of producing, or (c) a new method of producing-that is to say, new within the empire.

An invention is deemed new when, up to the moment the patent was applied for, the same had not been put into operation, or been made public in the empire.

Foreigners, as well as Austrian subjects, may be patentees; but with regard to inventions made by foreigners not resident in Austria, patents are only granted when a patent has been obtained in a foreign country for the same object, and then only to the original patentee, or his legal assignee, during the term of his foreign patent.

Two or more inventions cannot be included in a single patent, unless they refer to the same subject-matter, as essential parts of it.

The petition for a patent may be made either by the inventor, if he is a resident of the empire, or by his legal attorney. Foreigners not residing must have a legal attorney. It must state the exact title of the invention, and the number of years for which it is desired the patent should last. The maximum duration of a patent is fifteen years, which length of time cannot be exceeded except by special imperial authority.

The amount of Government tax is as follows:-For the first five years, 264 florins a year; sixth year, 40 florins; seventh year, 46 florins; eighth year, 52 florins; ninth year, 60 florins; tenth year, 66 florins; eleventh year, 79 florins;

twelfth year, 92 florins; thirteenth year, 105 florins; fourteenth year, 119 florins; fifteenth year, 132 florins; or for the entire fifteen years 918 florins (921.). In addition to these taxes there are also stamps upon petitions upon each sheet of the specification, drawings, &c., payable upon patents. Previously to, or at the time of lodging the petition, the tax must be paid for the entire number of years for which the patent is applied for.

A description must accompany the petition, and this must contain a full, clear, and minute explanation of the invention and claims, so as to enable all competent persons to manufacture the article according to that specification; if drawings, samples, or models are required for the full comprehension of the description, they must be supplied.

A patentee is entitled to establish workshops or factories, to employ the workpeople he may find requisite to carry out the object of the patent to its fullest extent, and consequently to form establishments, stores, and warehouses for the manufacture, within the entire empire, under the existing legal prescriptions. He may sell and dispose of the proceeds, and license others to use his invention, take partners, and dispose of his patent right by assignment or in any way whatsoever.

When the original term of a patent is less than fifteen years, the patentee may apply to have it prolonged for one or more years within the full period of fifteen years. He must make application before the term originally limited has expired, pay the entire tax for the term of prolongation, and deposit the original letters patent and the receipt of the corresponding paid annuities of his foreign patent if the applicant is a foreigner.

A patent will be cancelled on proof that the legal requisites for a patent do not exist, or that the description does not fulfil the prescribed conditions, or that the invention is not new, or being an importation from abroad, that the patentee is not the real owner of the foreign patent, or that the object of the patent is contrary to law, or to the health or morality of the public, or the interest of the state.

A patent will expire not only by efflux of the term, but also in case the patentee has not begun to work his invention

in the empire with inland materials, within a year from the date of the patent, or in case he should entirely suspend working the same for the space of two years. Patents are invalidated if it is proved (a) that the description of the patent is insufficient; (b) that the patented invention, before the date of the official certificate, was not novel in the empire, or that the invention had been imported and that the Austrian patent has not been granted to the original proprietor of the foreign patent or to his legal assignee; (c) if the proprietor of a valid patent proves that the invention patented at a later period is identical with his own discovery or invention previously patented.

BELGIUM.

An Act bearing date May 24, 1854, and a royal decree of the same date, and an amending law of March 27, 1857, determine the law of patents in this kingdom. The International Convention includes this country.

Patents are granted without previous examination, at the sole risk of the applicants.

The duration of patents is fixed at twenty years, except in the case of inventions previously patented in some other country, where the Belgian patent expires with the foreign patent of the greatest length.

Patents are subject to an annual and progressive tax, viz. :—first year, 10 frs. (88.); second year, 20 frs. (168.): third year, 30 frs. (24s.); and so on till the twentieth year, when the tax will be 200 frs. (87.). Each annual tax is to be paid in advance.

No tax is payable on patents for improvement when delivered to the original patentee; such patents expire with the original patent.

Patents confer on their owners or assigns the exclusive right of working the invention for themselves, or having it worked by persons authorised by them.

Applicants for patents are required to lodge at the proper office, in duplicate, a full description of the invention, with drawings, models, or samples, when necessary. The first annual tax is paid when the documents are lodged.

Specifications of patents are published three months after the grant. The annnal tax can be paid within one month after the date when it is due without fine, and can be paid within five months after the expiration of the one month, on payment of 10 frs. besides the annual tax.

The owner of a patent must work the invention in Belgium within one year from its having been worked abroad; otherwise the government will, on presentation of a petition to that effect, declare the patent to be void, and this will be the case if a suspension of the working of the invention for one year takes place, unless good reason can be given.

Patents will become void if the invention is destitute of novelty, either by reason of having been previously worked in Belgium or of having been published in a printed work; if the specification is not full and complete; also in case the invention has been previously patented in Belgium or abroad, the patentee not being the proprietor of the foreign patent.

BRAZIL.

The law No. 3129 of 1882 regulates the granting of patents in Brazil. This State is also a party to the International Convention. Patents are granted in Brazil for the term of fifteen years, and patents of addition are also granted expiring with the original patent. Foreigners having obtained patents abroad must apply for their patents in Brazil within seven months from the date of their foreign patent, and are not then prejudiced by any other application, or by the publication of the invention in Brazil in the meantime.

Inventors can also publicly exhibit their inventions in Brazil prior to their applications for patents, on obtaining the necessary permission for the purpose. An inventor desiring to obtain a patent in Brazil must deposit in duplicate a specification in Portuguese, together with drawings of the invention. The application must be limited to one invention only; if the invention has for its object chemical, pharmaceutical, or alimentary products, the Government will order an examination of samples; but if it involves none of these things the patent will issue as of course.