nventor has two years' time within which he may apply for a patent,
after he has completed his device and begun the sale of it. If he sells
the article for more than two years before applying for a patent, this
will bar a grant.

Two or more inventors may apply for a patent, provided each has
contributed something toward bringing it to its perfected state. Each
cannot apply separately. The patent issued will be owned by them
jointly.

Joint owners of a patent are not partners, unless they have signed
partnership papers respecting the patent. Because they are partners in
some other enterprise, disconnected from the patent, that does not
constitute them partners in the patent. They are merely joint owners.

If they have no special agreement with respect to the patent each can
grant licenses to manufacture, independently of the others, without
being compelled to account to the others, and each has a right to sell
his interest without asking permission of the others.

An _inventor_ is one who has devised an invention. A _patentee_ is one
who owns a patent, or an interest in one, be he the inventor or not.

The United States government does not grant Caveats. The only protection
offered is by way of patent.

A patent runs for a period of seventeen years, and may be renewed by act
of Congress only, for a further term of seven years.

An interference is a proceeding in the Patent Office to determine who is
the first inventor of a device. The following is a brief statement of
the course followed:

When two or more applicants have applications pending, which, in the
opinion of the Examiner, appear to be similar, the Office may declare an
interference.

If an applicant has an application pending, and the Examiner rejects it
on reference to a patent already issued, the applicant may demand an
interference, and the Office will then grant a hearing to determine
which of the two is entitled to the patent.

The first step, after the declaration of interference, is to request
that each applicant file a preliminary statement, under oath, in which
he must set forth the following:

First: The date of conception of the invention.

Second: Date of the first reduction to writing, or the preparation of
drawings.

Third: Date of making of the first model or device.

Fourth: When a complete machine was first produced.

These statements are filed in the Patent Office, and opened on the same
day, and times are then set for the