The Patent Act of 1836 () established a number of important changes in the
United States patent system. These include:
*The examination of
patent applications prior to issuing a
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
. This was the second time this was done anywhere in the world. The only other time an examination period existed prior to this act was in the United States from 1790 to 1793 under the
Patent Act of 1790. Prior to this, patents were issued on all applications, even if they were direct copies of earlier patents.
[Waltersheid, Edward C. (1998) ''To Promote the Progress of Useful Arts, American Patent Law and Administration'' Littleton: Rothman pp 3.] It was left to the courts to decide validity in the event of a lawsuit.
*The option of extending an existing patent's term for an additional seven years, making the maximum term of patent 21 years. (This was abolished in 1861 and replaced with a single 17-year term.)
*The hiring of professional
patent examiner A patent examiner (or, historically, a patent clerk) is an employee, usually a civil servant with a scientific or engineering background, working at a patent office. Major employers of patent examiners are the European Patent Office (EPO), the Unit ...
s. Initially only one examiner was hired, but soon a second one was hired to handle the increased workload.
*The establishment of a library of
prior art to assist in examinations.
See also
*
United States patent law
*
1836 U.S. Patent Office fire
The 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire was the first of two major fires the U.S. Patent Office has had in its history. It occurred in Blodget's Hotel building, Washington on December 15, 1836. An initial investigation considered the possibility of a ...
*
Patent Office 1877 fire
The Patent Office fire of 1877 was the second of two major fires of the U.S. Patent Office. It occurred in the 1864 Patent Office Building of Washington, D.C., on September 24, 1877. The building was constructed to be fireproof, but many ...
References
1836 in American law
United States federal patent legislation
History of patent law
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