In the absence of a specific statute, the United States cannot maintain a bill in equity to cancel a patent.¹ Letters-patent are prima facie evidence that the patentee is the first and original inventor. A bill in equity for a naked account of profits and damages against an infringer cannot be sustained. Such relief, ordinarily, is incidental to some other equity, the right to enforce which secures to the patentee his standing in court. The most general ground for equitable interposition is, to insure to the patentee the enjoyment of his specific right by injunction against a continuance of the infringement; but grounds of equitable relief may arise, other than by way of injunction, as where the title of the complainant is equitable merely, or equitable interposition is neces. sary on account of the impediments which prevent a resort to remedies purely legal; and such an equity may arise out of, and inhere in, the nature of the account itself, springing from special and peculiar circumstances which disable the patentee from a recovery at law altogether, or render his remedy in a legal tribunal difficult, inadequate, and incomplete; and as such cases cannot be defined more exactly, each must rest upon its own particular circumstances, as furnishing a clear and satisfactory ground of exception from the general rule.2 A person who marks upon any unpatented article the word "patented" or its equivalent, for the purpose of deceiving the public, is liable, for each offense, to a penalty of not less than one hundred dollars, with costs. The plaintiff must allege an intention to affix a stamp or plate indicating a present subsisting patent. It is not an offense to give the date of a patent which has expired.4 State laws making void notes given in consideration of a patent-right unless the words "given for a patentright" are prominently written upon the face of the note, have generally been held to be unconstitutional, on the ground that property in inventions exists by virtue of laws of Congress, and no State may annex conditions to the grant or otherwise interfere with its unrestricted enjoyment.. A legislature may enact a statute which has the effect to pass title to letters-patent to the assignee of an insolvent. Patent office. The bureau or office from which letters-patent issue, in which assignUnited States v. American Bell Telephone Co., 32 F. R. 591 (1887), Colt, J.; Attorney-General v. Rumford Chemical Works, ib. 608 (1876), Shepley, J. The former case was argued on error, before the Supreme Court in October, 1888, and reversed: post, 1016. "Root v. Lake Shore, &c. R. Co., 105 U. S. 189 (1881), cases, Matthews, J. [R. S. § 4901. See Pentlarge v. Kirby, 19 F. R. 501 (1884); ib. 507. • Wilson v. Singer Manuf. Co., 11 Biss. 298 (1882), Drummond, J.; s. c. 12 F. R. 59. See Exp. Robinson, 2 Biss. 309 (1870); Cranson v. Smith, 37 Mich. 309 (1877); 43 Ind. 167; 53 id. 454; 54 id. 290; 70 III. 109; 4 Bush, 311; 25 Ohio St. 26; 18 Pa. 465; 86 id. 173; 23 Minn. 24. • Barton v. White, 144 Mass. 281 (1887). ments thereof are noted, and other records appertaining to patents made and preserved. The responsible head is the commissioner of patents, whose office was created by the act of July 4, 1836. In theory, he is to issue no patent which may not be sustained by the courts, as both novel and useful. Under that act he was allowed a clerk to assist him in making the necessary examinations under applications. Since the act of 1870, there have been, besides the commissioner and assistant commissioner, three examiners in chief, a chief clerk, an examiner in charge of interferences, twenty-two principal examiners, twenty-two first and twenty-two second assistant examiners. All patents shall be issued in the name of the United States of America, under the seal of the patent office, and shall be signed by the secretary of the interior or under his direction by one of the assistant secretaries of the interior, and countersigned by the commissioner of patents, and they shall be recorded, together with the specifications, in the patent office, in books to be kept for that purpose.2 The secretary of the interior has no power to revise the action of the commissioner in awarding priority of invention to an applicant for a patent, such action being quasi-judicial. After determining that a patent shall issue, the commissioner acts ministerially in preparing the patent for the signature of the secretary, and in countersigning it. A mandamus will lie to compel the performance of these duties. 3 As against the patentee himself, an assignment need not be recorded, to retain validity; but as respects a subsequent purchaser without notice and for a valuable consideration, a prior assignment must be recorded within three months. And as against a third person, a suit may be maintained by an assignee provided he records his assignment before the trial or hearing.4 See ABANDON, 1; ART, 1; CAVEAT; COMBINATION, 1; COMPOSITION, 2; DAMAGES; DEDICATI L. Father. Compare PARTUS. Has been used in genealogical tables. Pater est quem nuptiæ demonstrant. The nuptials show who is the father. The marriage of the mother declares the paternity of the child. At common law, the nuptials must precede the birth of the child; in the civil law, they may precede or follow.5 1 R. S. §§ 476, et seq. 2 Act 18 Feb. 1888 (25 St. L. 40), amending R. S. § 4883. 3 Butterworth v. Hoe, 112 U. S. 50 (1884), Matthews, J. 4 See Curtis, Pat. 183; 20 Am. Law Rev. 703-12 (1886), cases; 1 Story, 273; 2 id. 542, 609; 2 Blatch. 148; 7 id. 195. 1 Bl. Com. 446, 454-56; The King v. Luffe, 8 East, 193 (1807).