598 FEDZBAL BEFOBTEB. �this government for the letters patent, that he believed himself to be the original and first inventor of the improvements, and that they had been patented in France on June 5, 1865, in the name of Marinoni and Chandre. �Chandre, who was a partner of Marinoni at the date of the invention, testified that he was a joint and equal inventor of the improvement which he deseribes at length. On June 12, 1865, a Belgian patent was issued to Marinoni and Chandre, and an English patent was issued to one Clark, upon their communication. By the French statute every new discovery or invention, in ail departments of industry, confers upon its author, under the conditions and for the time mentioned in the Btatute, the exclusive right of working for his own profit the said invention: "Every person who shall wish to obtain a patent of invention must deposit, under a sealed cover, * *
- (!) his petition to the minister of agriculture
and commerce ; (2) a specification of the discovery, invention or application forming the subject of the petition; (3) the drawings," etc. The patents demanded in due form are delivered without previous examination. Applications are not required to be verified by oath, and are not preserveS by the government. �The plaintiffs introduoed Marinoni's deposition, in which he asserted that he was the sole inventor. It is necessary for the defendants to overcome the prima fade case, and to es- tablish affirmatively that the applicant was not the sole inventor. The testimony of Chandre is not sufficient. I can- not perceive from the depositions that one story is appar- ently more entitled to confidence than the other. Marinoni's statement is exceedingly brief, and is a bare assertion that he was the inventor. Chandre is equally positive of his joint participation in the invention, and he deseribes its character, but is equally silent as to the manner in which they vorked, and as to the method by which they jointly accomplished the resuit. If the defendants could have showu an admission by Marinoni, in either foreign application, that he was not the sole inventor, it would have turned the scale, but it is not cer« ��� �
