A. Frederick Collins

Design Patents.—Should you invent, or devise a new and original design for an object, be it a work of art, a fabric, a piece of jewelry or even a machine, you can obtain a design patent if it has artistic merit.

Fig. 126. ILLUSTRATION FOR A DESIGN PATENT, DRAWN ON A SHEET OF CARD-BOARD SIZE 10 × 15 INCHES

Design patents run for a term of 3½, or for 7, or for 14 years as you wish and care to pay for. The patent attorney’s fees for writing the specification, making the drawing and seeing the patent application through the patent office is usually $20 regardless of the term it is to run; the government fee is $10 for 3½ years, $15 for 7 years and $30 for 14 years, making the total cost of such patents $30, $35 and $50 respectively.

Assignments.—If you want to you may sell or assign a part or the whole of your invention before you file an application for a patent, or you may do the same thing while your application is pending in the patent office.

Such an interest in your invention and patent rights may be disposed of by a complete assignment, by granting territorial rights, by mortgage, or by shop or other licenses. In whatever way the assignment, grant or conveyance is made it must be recorded in the patent office or it will not be valid.

Caveats.—A Caveat can no longer be filed in the patent office, the law relating to them having been repealed July 1, 1910. Before this time an inventor who had not completed his invention could file a Caveat in the archives of the patent office where it was kept a secret for one year, and the time could be renewed from year to year.

The purpose of a Caveat was to give the inventor more time to work out his invention and to be notified should any other inventor apply for a patent on the same thing. He could then immediately file his own patent application when an interference would be declared between them.

Patent Office Fees.—The following schedule of fees for patents and prices for the various publications of the patent office are taken from the Rules of Practice. These fees are required to be paid in advance. All orders and moneys for the following fees should be sent to the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.; except for The Official Gazette which should be sent to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.

RULES OF PRACTICE IN THE U. S. PATENT OFFICE

Free on Request.

On filing each original application for a patent, except in design cases	$15.00
On issuing each original patent, except in design cases	20.00
In design cases:
For 3 years and 6 months	10.00
For 7 years	15.00
For 14 years	30.00
On every application for the reissue of a patent	30.00
On filing each disclaimer	10.00
On an appeal for the first time from the primary examiner to the examiners in chief	10.00
On every appeal from the examiners in chief to the Commissioner	20.00
For certified copies of patents if in print:
For specification and drawing, per copy	.05
For the certificate	.25
For the grant	.50
For certifying to a duplicate of a model	.50
For manuscript copies of records, for every 100 words or fraction thereof	.10
If certified, for the certificate additional	.25
For 20-coupon orders, each coupon good for one copy of a printed specification and drawing, and receivable in payment for photographic prints	1.00
For 100 coupons in stub book	5.00
For uncertified copies of the specifications and accompanying drawings of patents, if in print, each	.05
For the drawings, if in print	.05
For copies of drawings not in print, the reasonable cost of making them.
For photo prints of drawings, for each sheet of drawings:
Size 10 by 15 inches, per copy	.25
Size 8 by 12½ inches, per copy	.15
For recording every assignment, agreement, power of attorney, or other paper, of 300 words or under	1.00
Of over 300 and under 1,000 words	2.00
For each additional 1,000 words or fraction thereof	1.00
For abstracts of title to patents or inventions:
For the search, one hour or less, and certificate	1.00
Each additional hour or fraction thereof	.50
For each brief from the digest of assignments, of 200 words or less	.20
Each additional 100 words or fraction thereof	.10
For searching titles or records, one hour or less	.50
Each additional hour or fraction thereof	.50
For assistance to attorneys in the examination of publications in the Scientific Library, one hour or less	1.00
Each additional hour or fraction thereof	1.00
For copies of matter in any foreign language, for every 100 words or a fraction thereof	.10
For translation, for every 100 words or fraction thereof	.50
The Official Gazette:
Annual subscriptions	5.00
For postage upon foreign subscriptions, except those from Canada and Mexico, $5 or more as required. Moneys received from foreign subscribers in excess of the subscription price of $5 will be deposited to the credit of the subscriber and applied to postage upon the subscription as incurred.

Trade Marks.—A trade mark is any kind of a mark, sign, name or picture, or a combination of these, by which a manufacturer, or a dealer can mark the goods he makes or sells so that a consumer can always know that the brand he is buying is genuine.

A registered trade mark gives the owner the sole right to use it and any one else who uses or imitates it can be restrained from its further use by injunction and sued for damages. After you have decided on the trade mark you want to use to show that the product is of your manufacture you should file an application to register the trade mark just as you would for a patent.

There are some kinds of words which you cannot have registered as a trade mark and you may have other words in mind which have already been registered in the patent office; nor can you register a trade mark unless you have sold your goods outside of your own State. Patent attorneys do not as a rule charge for a search of the trade mark records where an application for registration is filed through them.

The patent office fee for registering a trade mark is $10; a patent attorney generally charges $15 for preparing the specification and $5 additional for making the drawing which makes a total cost of $30 for a trade mark. A registered trade mark remains in force for 20 years and it may be renewed for another 20 years.

Copyrights.—A copyright is the sole right granted by law to authors and artists to publish and dispose of their works for a term of 28 years when it may be renewed for 14 years more making 42 years in all.

A copyright may be had on written articles, books, lectures or other oral addresses, on dramatic and musical compositions, photographs, paintings, drawings, sculpture, plastic work, moving picture photo-plays, moving pictures other than photo-plays, maps, prints and pictorial illustrations.

A copyright cannot be had on trade marks, the names of companies, newspapers, manufactured articles or on prints or labels which are to be used for any kind of manufactured articles. Trade marks and patents are granted for the above classes of work.

The general procedure for obtaining a copyright on the first named subjects is the same but the application forms issued by the Copyright Office differ a little from each other in wording and you should have the right one.

When you are ready to file an application for a copyright in the United States send to the Register of Copyrights, Copyright Office, Washington, D. C., for a copy of Steps Necessary to Secure Copyright Registration and also a copy of Explanatory Circular No. 12, entitled Application Forms, for which no charge is made. A reading of these leaflets will tell you exactly how to obtain a copyright and also the application form to use.

When you have found from these the application form you need send again to the Register of Copyrights for one or more of the application forms, fill it in and send it and $1 by money order or bank-draft made payable to the Register of Copyrights, together with a 10 cent revenue stamp—for these are war times—and you will receive in turn a certificate of copyright.

By copyrighting the thing yourself you will save just $9 for this is the amount a patent attorney will charge you for filing it, and if this isn’t driving screws with a hammer I’d like to know what it is.

The following is an application form for copyrighting a book:—

Government Fees for Patents and Least Charges of Patent Attorneys.—The United States patent office fees for patents of whatever nature and however simple or complicated, except for design patents, are always the same, namely $15 for filing the application and $20 which is payable when the patent is granted making a total cost of $35. The patent attorneys’ fees may vary greatly but the following table shows about what their least charges are:

Foreign Patents.—After you have applied for a patent on your invention in the United States you should take out patents in foreign countries. Sometimes indeed you will find a more ready sale abroad for your invention, or the product of your invention, than you will right here at home. In many of these countries a yearly tax is also charged by the government. The costs given below for each country include both the government and the attorney’s fees.

Dominion of Canada.—In Canada a preliminary protection may be secured for one year. A patent is issued for 6 years and at the expiration of that time the patent may be extended for 6 years more and then for another 6 years, making 18 years in all.

Great Britain.—A British patent includes England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. A provisional patent which secures priority of invention may be obtained for a term of 6 months. The complete British patent is then issued for 14 years.

France and Colonies.—The term of a French patent is 15 years. If the invention it covers is not worked within 2 years after it is issued it becomes public property.

Germany and Colonies.—A German patent includes Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria and other kingdoms of the Empire. There are two classes of patents issued and these are 1, the technical patent, which is issued for 15 years, and 2, the model patent, which is issued for 6 years, the first corresponding to the U. S. ordinary patent and the second to the U. S. design patent.

Austria and Hungary.—

Belgium.—Patent for 20 years. Fee is $40.

Spain.—Patent for 20 years. Fee is $65.

Italy.—Patent for 15 years. Fee is $65.

Russia.—Patent for 15 years. Fee is $90.

Denmark.—Patent for 15 years. Fee is $70.

Norway and Sweden.—Patent for 15 years in each country. Fee is $70.

Switzerland.—Patent for 15 years. Fee is $60.

Portugal and Turkey.—Patent for 15 years. Fee is $100.

Holland.—Has no patent laws.

India.—Patent for 14 years. Fee is $80.

Australian Commonwealth.—Includes Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and West Australia. One patent covers them all.

Japan and China.—Fee is $100.

Africa.—Egypt, Natal and Transvaal, each $100. Cape Colony, $125. Congo Free State, $130.

Central America.—Costa Rica, $150. Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, each $225.

West Indies.—Cuba, $90. Barbados, $100. Jamaica, $125. Trinidad, $140. Bahama Islands, $150.

South America.—United States of Colombia, $120. Brazil, $125. Peru and Panama, $200. Venezuela, $220; and Chili, $230.