20 REPORT OF THE PATENT COMMITTEE 



Sixth. Annual volumes of the decisions of the Commissioner of Patents 

 and of the United States courts in patent cases, not exceeding one thousand 

 five hundred in number, of which the 'usual number' shall be printed, and for 

 this purpose a copy of each shall be transmitted to Congress promptly when 

 prepared. 



Seventh. Indexes to patents relating to electricity, and indexes to foreign 

 patents, in such numbers as may be needed for the business of the Office. The 

 'usual number' shall not be printed. 



All printing for the Patent and Trade-mark Office making use of lithography 

 or photolithography, together with the plates for the same, shall be contracted 

 for and performed under the direction of the Commissioner of Patents, under 

 such limitations and conditions as the Joint Committee on Printing may from 

 time to time prescribe, and all other printing for the Patent and Trade-mark 

 Office shall be done by the Public Printer under such limitations and condi- 

 tions as the Joint Committee on Printing may from time to time prescribe: 

 PROVIDED, That the entire work may be done at the Government Printing 

 Office whenever in the judgment of the Joint Committee on Printing the same 

 would be to the interest of the Government." 



SEC. 12. That section four hundred and ninety-six of the Revised Statutes 

 be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows: 



"SEC. 496. All disbursements for the Patent and Trade-mark Office shall 

 be made by the disbursing clerk thereof or in his absence and upon the express 

 order of the Commissioner by the chief clerk. " 



SEC. 13. That section forty-eight hundred and ninety-eight of the Revised 

 Statutes be, and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: 



"SEC. 4898. Every patent or any interest therein shall be assignable in 

 law by an instrument in writing, and the patentee or his assigns or legal rep- 

 resentatives may in like manner grant and convey an exclusive right under 

 his patent to the whole or any specified part of the United States. An as- 

 signment, grant or conveyance shall be void as against any subsequent 

 purchaser or mortgagee for a valuable consideration, without notice, unless it 

 is recorded in the Patent Office within three months from the date thereof or 

 prior to such subsequent purchase or mortgage. 



"If any such assignment, grant or conveyance of any patent shall be ac- 

 knowledged before any notary public of the several states or Territories or the 

 District of Columbia, or any commissioner of any court of the United States 

 for any district or Territory, or before any secretary or legation or consular 

 officer authorized to administer oaths or perform notarial acts under section 

 seventeen hundred and fifty of the Revised Statutes, the certificate of such 

 acknowledgment, under the hand and official seal of such notary or other 

 officer, shall be prima facie evidence of the execution of such assignment, grant 

 or conveyance. " 



SEC. 14. That section forty-nine hundred and six of the Revised Statutes 

 be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows: 



