Patent Laws of the Republic of Hawaii Part 1

Patent Laws of the Republic of Hawaii.

by Hawaii.

ACTS NOW IN FORCE.

AN ACT

TO REGULATE THE ISSUING OF PATENTS.

_Be it Enacted by the King and the Legislative a.s.sembly of the Hawaiian Islands, in the Legislature of the Kingdom a.s.sembled_:

SECTION 1. All patents shall be issued in the name of His Majesty the King, under the Seal of the Interior Department, and shall be signed by the Minister of Interior and countersigned by the Commissioner of Patents, and they shall be recorded together with the specifications in the office of the Interior Department in books kept for the purpose.

SECTION 2. Every patent shall contain a short t.i.tle or description of the invention or discovery, correctly indicating its nature and design, and a grant to the patentee, his heirs or a.s.signs for the term of ten[A]

years, of the exclusive right to make, use and vend the invention or discovery throughout the Hawaiian Islands, referring to the specification for the particulars thereof. A copy of the specifications and drawings shall be annexed to the patent and be a part thereof.

SECTION 3. Any person who has invented or discovered any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, process 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, may, upon payment of the fees required by law, and other due proceedings had, obtain a patent therefor. Provided, however, that any person who has invented or discovered any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, process or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, and has received a patent or patents therefor from any foreign government may also obtain a patent therefor in this country as provided above, unless the thing patented has been introduced into public use in the Hawaiian Islands for more than one year prior to the application for a patent. But every patent granted for an invention which has been previously patented in a foreign country, shall be so limited that it shall not continue longer than the time of the expiration of such foreign patent, or if there are several foreign patents, it shall not continue longer than the time of the expiration of the one with the shortest unexpired term, and in no case shall it be in force more than ten[A] years.

SECTION 4. Before any inventor or discoverer shall receive a patent for his invention or discovery he shall apply therefor in writing to the Minister of Interior, and shall file in the office of the Interior Department a written description of the same and of the manner and process of making, compounding and using it, in clear, concise and exact terms and in case of a machine he shall explain the principle thereof and of the manner in which he has applied that principle so as to distinguish it from other inventions, and he shall particularly point out and distinctly claim the part, improvement or combination which he claims as his invention or discovery. When the nature of the case admits of drawings the applicant shall furnish them as set forth in Section 2.

When the invention or discovery is of a composition of matter, the applicant shall furnish a specimen of ingredients and of the composition, sufficient in quant.i.ty for the purpose of experiment. In all cases which admit of representation by model, the applicant shall, if required, furnish a model of convenient size to exhibit advantageously the several parts of his invention.

SECTION 5. The applicant shall make oath that he believes himself to be the original and first inventor or discoverer of the art, machine, manufacture, composition or improvement for which he solicits a patent, and that, he does not know or believe that the same was ever before known or used, and shall state of what country he is a citizen.

SECTION 6. On filing of any such application and the payment of the fees required by law, the Commissioner of Patents shall examine the alleged new invention or discovery, and if upon such examination it shall appear that the claimant is justly ent.i.tled to a patent under the law and that the same is sufficiently useful and important, he shall report accordingly to the Minister of Interior, who shall cause a patent to be issued therefor.

SECTION 7. Any person who makes any new invention or discovery, and desires further time to mature the same, may on payment of the fees required by law, file in the Interior Department a _caveat_ setting forth the design thereof and its distinguishing characteristics, and praying protection of his right until he shall have matured the invention. Such _caveat_ shall be preserved in secrecy and shall be operative for the term of one year from the filing thereof.

SECTION 8. The Commissioner of Patents shall be appointed by the Minister of Interior and shall examine and report on all applications for patents and shall receive for such services a fee of twenty dollars for each application examined and reported by him, which fee shall be paid by the applicant in advance. In addition to this fee the following fees shall be charged all applicants for patents, upon filing each original application for a patent, five dollars; and upon issuing a patent, five dollars; and five dollars shall be charged for the filing of a _caveat_.

SECTION 9. This Act shall take effect and become a law from and after its publication, and "An Act to amend Section 255 and 256 of the Civil Code, and add a new Section to the Civil Code to be numbered Section 256a," approved the twenty-second day of June, A. D. 1868, is hereby repealed.

Approved this twenty-ninth day of August, A. D. 1884.

KALAKAUA REX.

[A] Amended to read "fifteen." Act 27, Laws of 1896.

AN ACT

TO AMEND AN ACT TO REGULATE THE ISSUING OF PATENTS, APPROVED THE TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF AUGUST, 1884.

_Be it Enacted by the King and the Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom_:

SECTION 1. That the said Act shall be amended by the addition thereto of five new Sections, to be numbered Sections 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, to read as follows:

"SECTION 10. The Commissioner of Patents is hereby authorized to administer oaths for all purposes connected with the business of his office.

"SECTION 11. If, upon the examination of any application for a patent, the Commissioner of Patents shall make a report adverse to the applicant, he shall furnish to the applicant, or his attorney, a written statement of his reasons for such report, and the applicant may thereupon amend his application, or, within ninety days thereafter, may appeal to the Supreme Court in Banco; and, if such appeal shall be made, said applicant shall file in the office of the Minister of the Interior, at least twenty days before the hearing by said Court, his reasons for appeal, specifically set forth in writing, and give to the said Minister of the Interior at least ten days' notice of the time and place of such hearing.

"SECTION 12. The Court shall hear and determine such appeal, and shall file in the office of the Minister of the Interior a certificate of its decision, and such decision shall determine the further proceedings in the case.

"If such decision be in favor of the applicant, the Minister of the Interior shall cause to be issued the patent applied for, or such modification thereof as shall be decided by said Court.

"SECTION 13. Damages for the infringement of any patent may be recovered, by action on the case, in the Supreme Court, in the name of the party interested. And the party aggrieved shall also have his remedy, according to the course of equity, to enjoin such infringement, and to recover compensation therefor.

"SECTION 14. The term infringement, as used in this Act, is defined to mean the making, using or vending of any patented article without the written consent of the owner of the patent thereon, or of his agent, authorized to grant such consent."

SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect from and after the date of its approval.

Approved this twenty-third day of June, A. D. 1888.

KALAKAUA REX.

BY THE KING: L. A. THURSTON, Minister of the Interior.

ACT 27.

AN ACT

TO AMEND SECTIONS 2 AND 3 OF AN ACT ENt.i.tLED "AN ACT TO REGULATE THE ISSUING OF PATENTS," APPROVED AUGUST 29, 1884, AND TO ADD TWO NEW SECTIONS TO SAID ACT, AS AMENDED BY AN ACT ENt.i.tLED "AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT REGULATING THE ISSUING OF PATENTS," APPROVED THE 23RD DAY OF JUNE, 1888, TO BE CALLED SECTIONS 15 AND 16.

_Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the Republic of Hawaii:_

SECTION 1. That Section 2 of an Act ent.i.tled "An Act to regulate the issuing of Patents," approved August 29, 1884, is hereby amended by striking out the word "ten" and inserting in its place the word "fifteen," so that said Section as amended shall read as follows:

"SECTION 2. Every patent shall contain a short t.i.tle or description of the invention or discovery, correctly indicating its nature and design, and a grant to the patentee, his heirs or a.s.signs, for the term of fifteen years, of the exclusive right to make, use and vend the invention or discovery throughout the Hawaiian Islands, referring to the specifications for the particulars thereof. A copy of the specifications and drawings shall be annexed to the patent and be a part thereof:"

SECTION 2. That Section 3 of an Act ent.i.tled "An Act to regulate the issuing of Patents," approved August 29, 1884, is hereby amended by striking out the word "ten" and inserting in its place the word "fifteen," so that said Section as amended shall read as follows:

"SECTION 3. Any person who has invented or discovered any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, process 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, may, upon payment of the fees required by law, and other due proceedings had, obtain a patent therefor. Provided, however, that any person who has invented or discovered any new and useful art, machine, manufacture, process or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, and has received a patent or patents therefor from any foreign government, may also obtain a patent therefor in this country as provided above, unless the thing patented has been introduced into public use in the Hawaiian Islands for more than one year prior to the application for a patent. But every patent granted for an invention which has been previously patented in a foreign country, shall be so limited that it shall not continue longer than the time of the expiration of such foreign patent, or if there are several foreign patents, it shall not continue longer than the time of the expiration of the one with the shortest unexpired term, and in no case shall it be in force more than fifteen years."

SECTION 3. That a new section to said Act, as amended by the Act ent.i.tled "An Act to amend an Act to regulate the issuing of Patents,"

approved June 23rd, 1888, be added, to be called Section 15.

"SECTION 15. Whenever any patent is inoperative or invalid, by reason of a defective or insufficient specification, or by reason of the patentee claiming as his own invention or discovery more than he had a right to claim as new, if the error has arisen by inadvertance, accident or mistake, and without any fraudulent or deceptive intention, the Minister of the Interior shall, on the surrender of such patent and the payment of the same fees required by law upon the issue of an original or first patent, cause a new patent for the same invention, and in accordance with the corrected specification, to be issued to the patentee, or, in the case of his death, or of an a.s.signment of the whole or any undivided part of the original patent, then to his executors, administrators, or a.s.signs, for the unexpired part of the term of the original patent. Such surrender shall take effect upon the issue of the amended patent. The Minister of the Interior may, in his discretion, upon demand of the applicant, and upon payment of the same or first fee required to be paid on the issuing of a patent, cause several patents to be issued for distinct and separate parts of the thing patented. The specifications and claim in every such case shall be subject to revision and restriction in the same manner as original applications are. Every patent so re-issued, together with the corrected specification, shall have the same effect and operation in law, on the trial of all actions for causes thereafter arising, as if the same had been originally filed in such corrected form; but no new matter shall be introduced into the specification, nor in case of a machine patent shall the model or drawings be amended, except each by the other, but when there is neither model nor drawing, amendments may be made upon proof satisfactory to the Minister of the Interior, that such new matter or amendment was a part of the original invention, and was omitted from the specification by inadvertance, accident, or mistake, as aforesaid. Upon the filing of any such application for a re-issue with the Minister of the Interior, the same examination shall be had as is provided by Section 6 of the "Act to Regulate the issuing of Patents," approved August 29th, 1884."

SECTION 4. That a new Section to said Act, as amended by the Act ent.i.tled "An Act to amend an Act to regulate the issuing of Patents,"

approved June 23rd, 1888, be added, to be called Section 16.