Patent

(put'ent,) or LETTERS-PATENT. [From L. patens, open.] In England, a writing stamped with the Great Seal, granting a dignity, an office, or a privilege, or authorizing some benefit which a person could not otherwise enjoy.-(Amer. Law.) The title - deed by which a gov., state or federal, conveys its lands.-More usually, an instrument by which the U. States secure to inventors for a limited time the exclusive use of their inventions. A patent may be granted to the first inventor or discoverer of any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or of any new and useful improvement thereon. A bare principle not showing any practical application is not patentable. The inventor of anything patentable may file a caveat in the Patent Office, and obtain protection of his invention for one year; but before the expiration of this period a complete specification must be prepared, describing fully and clearly the whole invention, and this must be lodged with the Commi ioner of Patents. The invention is then secured for 17 years. The nece ary qualifications to po e , and the formalities to be followed in obtaining a P., along with the rights and remedies of a patentee thereto belonging, are so manifold, that to recount them within the limits of this article would be to encroach beyond its space. The reader is, therefore, referred to the New Patent Law of July 8, 1870. In England, an invention is at first secured for 3 years only; a payment of £50 will secure an additional term of 4 years, and the payment of the farther sum of £100 will extend the patent for an additional term of7 years, that is 14 years altogether. In France, apa tent is called Brévet d'invention. [s. 689]