art, machine, manufacture, process or composition of matter, or any new
and useful improvement thereof not known or used by others in this
country, and not patented (or described in any printed publication) in
this or any foreign country before his invention or discovery thereof,
may, upon payment of the fees required by law, and other due proceedings
had, obtain a patent therefor. Provided, however, that any person who
has invented or discovered any new and useful art, machine, manufacture,
process or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement
thereof, and has received a patent or patents therefor from any foreign
government may also obtain a patent therefor in this country as provided
above, unless the thing patented has been introduced into public use in
the Hawaiian Islands for more than one year prior to the application for
a patent. But every patent granted for an invention which has been
previously patented in a foreign country, shall be so limited that it
shall not continue longer than the time of the expiration of such
foreign patent, or if there are several foreign patents, it shall not
continue longer than the time of the expiration of the one with the
shortest unexpired term, and in no case shall it be in force more than
ten[A] years.