132 Instructions issued hy the French Legislature 



deposit the description of their new method in the secretariat 

 of the prefecture and pav a second tax, which is twenty-four 

 francs (205.) for the chest of hrevets, and twch'e francs for the 

 secretariat of the prefecture. The minisftr for manufactures and 

 commerce then dehvers a second title, which is called Ccrtilicate 

 cf addition?, changes and inDprovements. 



Article 10, title 1st, of the law of the 2')th of May regulates 

 tlie destination of the sums raised from the obtaining of hrevets : 

 in the firNt place they go to pay the expenses of the making out 

 and publishing the brevets, afterwards to pay the expenses of print- 

 ing and engraving the brevets which have expired; and if there 

 is any surplus, it is to be employed to the advantage of the na- 

 tional industry. 



The 8ecretary-gener:d of the prefecture drav.s up a proces- 

 verbal on the back of the packet placed in his hands, and he 

 delivers to the petitioner a certificate of having so received it. 

 The whole is afterwards addressed by the prefect to the minister 

 for manufactures and commerce. 



Principles estahlished hy the Laivs in the Deliverance of 

 Brevets or Pate?tis. 



It has been seen above, that in France there is nothing else 

 than the certificate delivered to an individual of the declaration 

 which he has made, of having invented a machine or process 

 giving rise to a neu- branch of industry. The administration 

 does not judge, in fact, of the merit of the inventions for ivhich 

 patents are solicitied. Whoever has complied with the forma- 

 lities prescribed by the laws of the /th of January and 25th of 

 May 1/91 niay obtain them, as these laws enact expressly that 

 they shall be granted on a simple request, nvd without previous 

 examinalion. Thus thev may be applied for, for n f)rocess known 

 to every body; the legislature having determined that they are 

 i.nll, and even prejudicial to those who have obtained them, if 

 the object for which they have been granted has no existence; 

 or if it has been known or practised before the date of the bre- 

 vet. In fact, if the discovery be purely imaginary, th.c expenses 

 which the patent has cost are wholly lost. If tlie process was 

 already known, Article IG of the law of the 7th of January pro- 

 nounces its nullity. The rights conferred by brevets are there- 

 fore conditional only, /. ^. they secure an exclusive enjoyment 

 only if llic patentee is really an inventor. At the first glance, 

 it may be thought strange that titles of this nature should be 

 given without previous examination ; but 0'.\ reflection it will 

 appear that it would have been very difficult to have found a 

 mode better adapted to the end in view. Several motives dic- 

 tated this line of proceeding : on the one hand, it was proper to 



save 



