204 



CONGEESS. (MISCELLANEOUS.) 



He it enacted, etc., That section 127 of the Kevised 

 Statutes of the United States be so amended as to read 

 as follows : 



All officers taking testimony to be used in a con- 

 tested-election case, whether by deposition or other- 

 wise, shall, when the taking of the same is com- 

 pleted, and without unnecessary delay, certify and 

 carefully seal and immediately forward the same, by 

 mail or by express, addressed to the Clerk of the 

 House of Representatives of the United States, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. ; and shall also indorse upon the en- 

 velope containing such deposition or testimony the 

 name of the case in which it is taken, together with 

 the name of the party in whose behalf it is taken, 

 and shall subscribe such indorsement. 



The Clerk of the House of Representatives, upon 

 the receipt of such deposition or testimony, shall no- 

 tify the contestant and the contestec, by registered 

 letter through the mails, to appear before him at the 

 Capitol, in person or by attorney, at a reasonable 

 time to be named, not exceeding twenty days from 

 the mailing of such letter, for the purpose of being 

 present at the opening of the sealed packages of testi- 

 mony and of agreeing upon the parts thereof to be 

 printed. Upon the day appointed for such meeting 

 the said Clerk shall proceed to open all the packages 

 of testimony in the case, in the presence of the par- 

 ties or their attorneys, and such portions of the testi- 

 mony as the parties may agree to have printed shall 

 be printed by the Public Printer, under the direction 

 of the said Clerk, and in case of disagreement between 

 the parties as to the printing of any portion of the 

 testimony, the said Clerk shall determine whether 

 such portion of the testimony shall be printed ; and 

 the said Clerk shall prepare a suitable index to be 

 printed with the record. And the notice of contest 

 and the answer of the sitting member shall also be 

 printed with the record. 



If either party, after having been duly notified, 

 should fail to attend, by himself or by an attorney, 

 the Clerk shall proceed to open the packages, and 

 shall cause such portions of the testimony to be 

 printed as he shall determine. 



He shall carefully seal up and preserve the por- 

 tions of the testimony not printed, as well as the 

 other portions when returned from the Public Printer, 

 and lay the same before the Committee on Elections 

 at the earliest opportunity. As soon as the testimony 

 in any case is printed, the Clerk shall forward by 

 mail, if desired, two copies thereof to the contestant, 

 and the same number to the contestee, and shall notify 

 the contestant to file with the Clerk within thirty 

 days a brief of the facts, and the authorities relied on 

 to establish his case. The Clerk shall forward by 

 mail two copies ot the contestant's brief to the con- 

 testee with like notice. 



Upon receipt of the contestee' s brief the Clerk shall 

 forward two copies thereof to the contestant, who 

 may, if he desires, reply to new matter in the con- 

 testee's brief within like time. All briefs shall be 

 printed at the expense of the parties respectively, and 

 shall be of like folio as the printed record ; and sixty 

 copies thereof shall be filed with the Clerk for the use 

 of the Committee on Elections. 



The following measure, to amend the law 

 relating to patents, trade-marks, and copyrights, 

 was passed, and approved by the President, 

 Feb. 4, 1887: 



Be it enacted, etc., That hereafter, during the terra 

 of letters patent for a design, it shall be unlawful for 

 any person other than the owner of said letters patent, 

 without the license of such owner, to apply the design 

 secured by such letters patent, or any colorable imi- 

 tation thereof, to any article of manufacture for the 

 purpose of sale, or to sell or expose for sale any article 

 of manufacture to which such design or colorable imi- 

 tation shall, without the license of the owner, have 

 been applied, knowing that the same has been so ap- 



plied. Any person violating the provisions, or either 

 of them, of this section, shall be liable in the amount 

 of $250 ; and in case the total profit made by him from 

 the manufacture or sale, as aforesaid, of the article or 

 articles to- which the_ design, or colorable imitation 

 thereof, has been applied, exceeds the sum of $250, he 

 shall be further liable for the excess of such profit 

 over and above the sum of $250 ; and the full amount 

 of such liability may be recovered by the owner of the 

 letters patent, to his own use, in any circuit court of 

 the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, 

 either by action at law or upon a bill in equity for an 

 injunction to restrain such infringement. 



'SEC. 2. That nothing in this act contained shall 

 prevent, lessen, impeach, or avoid any remedy at law 

 or in equity which any owner of letters patent for a 

 design, aggrieved by the infringement of the same, 

 might have had if this act had not been passed ; but 

 such owner shall not twice recovei the profit made 

 from the infringement. 



Its scope was explained by Mr. Morton, of 

 Alabama, as follows : 



" A man making carpet, or oil-cloth, or wall- 

 paper, or anything of that kind, goes to an 

 artist and gets him to furnish a design which 

 he thinks will captivate the eye and fancy of 

 the purchaser. The moment he gets a patent 

 for that design there must be left in the Patent- 

 Office a lithograph of it; and that lithograph 

 can be obtained by any one who wants it for 

 a few cents. Those who infringe the patent 

 purchase these lithographs of designs. They 

 have a full description of the design and make 

 an exact counterfeit, or imitation ; so exact 

 hardly any man can see the difference between 

 them. 



"There is a law allowing a man a patent for 

 his design. He has now two remedies: action 

 on the case for damage for use of it, and 

 relief by injunction to prevent the manufacture 

 of the goods. Both of them, I will say, are 

 practically useless and futile as means to be 

 employed for preventing infringement. A de- 

 sign only lives for a year ; and how can you pre- 

 vent a man making a carpet of a certain de- 

 sign without knowing he is engaged in making 

 it? How do you know he is making it? It 

 can not be known until the carpet is made and 

 put upon the market. The remedy, when the 

 carpet has been manufactured and put on the 

 market, is by the action on the case. The pat- 

 entee had another remedy by injunction. 

 Every lawyer knows the remedy by injunc- 

 tion is a preventive remedy, and that in order 

 to avail yourself of the benefit of it you must 

 know of the contemplated injury in time to pre- 

 vent the commission of it. So I say the remedy 

 by injunction for a man who has a patent de- 

 sign amounts to nothing. "What this bill seeks 

 to correct is sufficient, of itself, to commend it 

 to all men. 



" We can not protect the man on his patent 

 and in the possession of his patented rights un- 

 less we attach a penalty for the infringement 

 of the same : and that is simply what the bill 

 does." 



The following bill, providing for the disposal 

 of the famous Twiggs swords, was passed, and 

 approved by the President March 3, 1887. 



