A PATENT IS A PROTECTION given to secure the inventor in the profits arising from the manufacture and sale of an article of his own creation.
TO WHOM LETTERS PATENT ARE GRANTED.—Section 4886 of the Revised Statutes of the United States provides that: "Any person who has invented or discovered any new and useful art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, not known or used by others in this country, and not patented or described in any printed publication in this or any foreign country, before his invention or discovery thereof, and not in public use, or on sale for more than two years prior to his application, unless the same is proved to have been abandoned, may, upon the payment of the fees required by law, and other due proceedings had, obtain a patent therefor."
And section 4888 of the same Statute enacts:
Section 4888. Before any inventor or discoverer shall receive a patent for his invention or discovery, he shall make application therefor, in writing, to the Commissioner of Patents, and shall file in the Patent Office a written description of the same, and of the manner and process of making, constructing, compounding, and using it, in such full, clear, concise and exact terms, as to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which it appertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make, construct, compound, and use the same; and in case of a machine, he shall explain the principle thereof and the best mode in which he has contemplated applying that principle, so as to distinguish it from other inventions; and he shall particularly point out and distinctly claim that part, improvement or combination which he claims as his invention or discovery. The specification and claim shall be signed by the inventor and attested by two witnesses.
It is also required by law that when "The case admits of drawings," it shall be properly illustrated; and also, if the Commissioner requires it, that a model shall be furnished in cases capable of such demonstration.
The cost of obtaining Letters Patent in ordinary cases is: First, Government fees, $15; counsel fees, including drawings, $25; second, or final Government fees, to be paid within six months from date of allowance, $20; total, $60.
DESIGNS.—A design patent can be obtained for novelties in the shape of configuration of articles, or impressions by any means whatever. These patents are of great value to the trade.
The Government fees for a design patent are:
| On filing every application for a design patent | $10.00 |
| On issuing a design patent for 3½ years no further charge. | |
| On issuing a design patent for 7 years | 5.00 |
| On issuing a design patent for 14 years | 20.00 |
CAVEATS.—A caveat is a confidential communication used in the Patent Office, and it consists of a specification, drawings, oath and petition. The specification must contain a clear description of the intended invention.