AWARD.

And now, on this thirteenth day of August, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and sixty, the undersigned, Commissioners appointed and empowered respectively, as appears fully in the aforegoing record, having heard and maturely considered the "proofs of the charges and defences of the contending parties," in respect of the "claims of the United States and Paraguay Navigation Company - a company composed of citizens of the United States-against the government of Paraguay," and having conferred together and deliberated upon the same, and upon the printed arguments of counsel thereupon, in virtue of the powers invested in them by the convention in this record recited and set forth, do hereby determine and award :

That the said claimants, "The United States and Paraguay Navigation Company," have not proved or established any right to damages upon their said claim against the Government of the Republic of Paraguay; and that, upon the proofs aforesaid, the said government is not responsible to the said company in any damages or pecuniary compensation whatever, in all the premises.

In testimony whereof, the said Commissioners have hereunto subscribed their names and directed the attestation of the secretary and interpreter the day and year aforesaid.

Attest:

C. JOHNSON,

Commissioner on the part of the United States.

JOSÉ BERGES,

Commissioner on the part of the Republic of Paraguay.

SAMUEL WARD,

Secretary and Interpreter.

TRANSLATION OF THE DECREE RELATIVE TO

PATENTS, MONOPOLIES, AND EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES,

Referred to by the Claimants.

The Supreme Government, wishing to develop and encourage the industry and improvements of the Republic, and considering that one of the modes best calculated for this object is to define, explain and secure the conditions and rights of those who may come to co-operate in such useful purposes-decrees as follows:

Article 1. All and every discovery, or new invention, of every description of industry, is considered the property of its author; and the holder thereof is guaranteed by the forms and for the time herein specified.

Art. 2. Any improvement on any article made, shall be considered as a new invention.

Art. 3. Any person who may introduce into the country a foreign discovery, will enjoy the same advantages as though he were the inventor.

Art. 4. Whoever desires to obtain and secure the enjoy ment of an industrial property [propriedad industrial] of the kind above mentioned, should-firstly, apply to the Secretary of the Supreme Government, and declare, in writing, whether the thing he introduces is an invention of his own, an improvement, or only an article he wishes to introduce into the country; secondly, he must deliver, closed and sealed, a true description of the principles, the means and process which constitute the invention, as also, plans, drawings, models, and everything in relation to the same, in order that the said sealed document may be opened at the moment the inventor receives his title of ownership.

Art. 5. The inventor will receive a patent, which will secure to him the ownership for the period of from five to ten years from the day of its date. The above time may be

extended, and other advantages allowed, if the importance of the invention be of such a nature as to deserve an extraordinary protection on the part of the government.

Art. 6. The privilege allowed to a patent of an invention already introduced into a foreign country, can not be extended to more than six months over the time of patent allowed in that country to the patentee.

Art. 7. The owner of a patent shall enjoy the exclusive privilege of the same, and of the fruits of his discovery, invention, or improvement, for which it was given him. And he may, therefore, sue in law any person who may infringe on his privilege, and, if the same be convicted, will not only suffer confiscation of property, but will be compelled to pay to the inventor the losses he may have suffered, and damages, besides a fine amounting to twenty per cent. on that sum, which will be applied to public expenditures.

Art. 8. But should it result that the suitor fails to prove his demand, after the act of sequestration has taken place, then, and in that event, the inventor shall be compelled to pay the defendant the losses and damages he may have occasioned, besides a fine of twenty per cent. on said amount, which will, likewise, be applied to public expenditures.

Art. 9. Every owner of a patent will enjoy the` right of opening establishments or stores in various parts of the Republic, subject to such restrictions as may be previously communicated to him. He may, also, authorize others to apply and use his means, invention, or secret, and dispose generally of his patent, as he would of movable property.

Art. 10. Previous to the expiration of the patent, the description can only be communicated to any citizen who may wish to consult it: provided, that political or commercial reasons may not preclude the divulging of the secret: provided, also, that the inventor has not demanded and obtained, from the time of granting the patent, the guarantee of secrecy.

Art. 11. At the expiration of the patent, the discovery or invention will revert to the Republic, and the Supreme Government will cause to have published a description of same, and will permit the free use of such patent or invention, except in such cases where political or commercial reasons may call for restriction.

Art. 12. The above referred to descriptions will also be published, and the use of its workings declared free, when the proprietor of the patent may forfeit his rights, which can only take place in the following instances:

First-If it is proved that the inventor has omitted, or hidden, in said descriptions, any of its true means of working, or failed to explain them in a detailed, faithful, and cir cumstantial manner.

Second-If he should fail to communicate any new means of modification or improvement which he may discover at the time of soliciting the patent, or after obtaining the same; the said new means or improvement being guaranteed to him in the same manner as the invention.

Third-If it should be discovered that he obtained a patent for inventions already known and published, so as not to constitute his a new invention.

Fourth-If during the period of two years from the date of his patent, he should fail to work the same, except he may justify the cause of his inaction.

Fifth-If after obtaining a patent in the Republic, it is proved that he has taken out a like privilege in another country for the same patent, without previous permission to do so.

Sixth-The patent will also be revoked, the discovery made public, and the use of the same declared public, if the person who obtains the right of privileges enunciated in a patent should violate any of the obligations imposed on the inventor, as he is bound to submit to them as though he were the inventor himself.

Art. 13. When the objects, or articles of discovery, besides being of public utility, are of simple construction and easy of imitation, instead of an exclusive privilege of a patent, the inventor may ask for a compensation which may repay him.

Art. 14. The same thing may be done when the inventor prefers the honor to cede to the nation his discovery, in which case compensation will be adjusted according to the merits of his discovery and its utility, as soon as its importance is made known.

Art. 15. Any person who may discover or invent an improvement on an invention already patented will be entitled to a patent for the primitive use of the same, provided he does not infringe upon the principal patent; nor will the inventor of the latter be allowed to use the improvement of the former, without previous permission of the improver, or an understanding between them both.

Art. 16. The right of invention, (in case of a contest between parties claiming the same,) will be given to the party

who first made the application and deposits contemplated in article fourth.

That it may reach the knowledge of all, let it be published in the customary form and given to the National Repertory. ASUNCION, May 20, 1845.

ANDRES GIL,

CARLOS ANTONIO LOPEZ.

Secretary of Supreme Government.

It is a true copy: NICOLOS VAsquez.

I, the undersigned, Consul of the United States of America for the port of Asuncion, Republic of Paraguay, do hereby certify that the foregoing is the true and genuine signature of his Excellency Señor Don Nicolos Vasquez, Minister for Foreign Affairs for this Republic, and as such is entitled to full faith and credit.

[SEAL OF CONSULATE.]

Given under my hand, and the seal of the consulate, at Asuncion, this, the fourth day of October, A. D. 1859, and in the year of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fourth.

LOUIS BAMBERGER,

United States Consul.