[ Act No. 2107, January 29, 1912 ]

AN ACT GRANTING A PRIZE OF FIFTEEN THOUSAND PESOS TO THE INVENTOR OF AN INCOMBUSTIBLE ROOF TO SUBSTITUTE NIPA, MAKING AN APPROPRIATION THEREFOR, AND CREATING A TECHNICAL BOARD TO PASS UPON THE CONDITIONS OF THE INVENTION.

By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Legislature, that:SECTION 1. A prize of fifteen thousand pesos Philippine currency is hereby granted to the inventor of a material or substance suitable for roofing, or of a system of roofing, which can substitute nipa, and which shall be fireproof, waterproof, not subject to the attacks of insects, durable, as economical as nipa. and suitable or adaptable to buildings of light materials: Provided, That other conditions being equal, roofing shall be preferred which can be manufactured in this country and with materials thereof.SEC. 2. A technical board, consisting of seven members appointed Prize board by the Governor-General, shall pass upon and decide to which of the inventors who compete shall be awarded the prize granted by ibis Act, or, in case the roofing invented does not possess the properties prescribed in the next preceding section, it shall declare no award.Subject to the approval of the Governor-General, the board provided for in this section shall prescribe the form and conditions upon which the competition shall be conducted, and shall determine the same: Provided, however, That, in case the board deems it advisable it may, in its discretion, declare the use of the roofing invented to be economical where it shall exceed the cost price of nipa by not more than twenty per centum.SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the successful inventor to inform the technical board regarding the materials or substances which shall have been employed in the manufacture or composition of said roofing, and to submit to said-board a descriptive report of the said composition or manufacture. The technical board shall immediately forward, with its own report, the descriptive report submitted by the successful inventor, to the Governor-General. The inventor shall have six months thereafter within which to make application for a patent on his invention, and if he fails to make such application within said six months the Governor-General shall thereupon direct the publication of the report in such form as he may deem advisable for the information of the general public.SEC. 4. The Government reserves to itself the right to acquire the patent rights for the roofing invented, and the Governor-General is hereby authorized to stipulate for that purpose the purchase of the patent at a price not to exceed fifteen thousand pesos Philippine currency.SEC. 5. One year after the passage of this Act, if no inventor has presented himself to compute for the prize, or if. in the judgment of the technical board, the substance invented or the system submitted does not deserve the prize, in accordance with section two of this Act, said board shall declare that there will be no award,, and. consequently, this Act shall become ineffective and the appropriation herein made shall revert to the general fund.SEC. 6.  For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act there is hereby appropriated, out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of fifteen thousand pesos, which shall not be available until the fiscal year nineteen hundred and thirteen.Enacted, January 29, 1919.

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