The union Democrat., 1871-11-04
American Patent Liquidation.

Quarterly Meeting of London Patent Solici-
tors, on the 4th inst, by George Ilaseltine,
Ma, LIB, the Chairman -
American legislation on patents for inven-
tions is based on the first article of the Con-
stitutioa,-The eighth section declares that
Congress shall have power to promote the
progress of science and the useful arts by Sc
curing authors and inventors the exclusive
right TO their respective writings and discoy-
cries.
The Colonial and State authorities had ex-
ercised to limited extent the prerogative of
| awarding inventors exclusive privileges, but
the Confederation which preceded the Ma
tional Union was not empowered 20 grant
protection to the productions of inventive or
literary genius The Constitution has not
prohibited the States granting patents, but
il was the evident intention of its trainers to
confne this class of legislation 10 Congress
an intention respected by local legislators
who have enacted no general patent laws,
I and inventors have been so we'll content with
the liberal character and efficient administra-
ton of the national system, that they have
rarely sought other protection or additional
rewards. The legislature Of the Empire
State in seventeen hundred and ninety eight
passed special act, granting Robert K. Liv-
ingston the exclusive right of constructing
and navigating every species of boats, Pro-
/ PEELED by the force ot fire or steam, within its
/ jurisdiction, for the term of twenty wears,
provided he should, before the expiration of
twelve months, construct a beat of twenty
/ tons capacity, With mean speed upon the
/ Hudson River of four miles an hour. The
patentee forfeited the grant, which was re-
neNed to him and his associate Robert Fulton
in eighteen .hurdred and three, and again
/ five years later for terms of twenty years.
/ This grant possesses scientific and historical
as well as legal interest. 1t affords an elo-
| Quent illustration OF the infancy and progress
! of steam navigation. with which Fulton was
! so intimately identiiied--a progress that has
/ attained a mean speed of twenty miles an
hour upon the Hudson, and transformed
/ boat OF twenty tons into a steamship of more
thousands. This tire-steam navigation proved
a commercial success, which excited the en-
w of losing com petitors, whose infringement
necesstated chancery suit-not an uncom-
mon result in later times-that at once i'm
! p0verished the plaintiffs and established the
| concurrent but subordinate jurisdiction of the
/ States in patent legislation. The Court of
/ Errors. of which Chancellor Kent. the Anne
| rican Blackstone, was then Justice, decided
unanimously in favor of the local grant.
! The Judges adopted, without reserve, the
doctrine of State Sovereignty. which now
/ finds little favour with American Legislators,
though the amended Constitution expressly
declares that the powers not delegated to the
nation are reserved to the States or to the
| people.
The nrst Congress. recognizing the justice
and realizing the policy of an efficient patent
system, passed an act to promote the progress
of the useful arts, which was superseded three
/ years later by similar statute, and repeal
| ing act passed in eighteen hundred and
/ thlrty-Slx, which In turn was superseded bv
the general statute of eighteen hundred and
| seventy. Several miner acts interviewed, and
notably the one increasing the original term
! OF patent to seventeen years, and eqnaliz-
ing the fees to native and foreign inventors
Through all these changes the lawmakers
have never questioned the equitable rights of
invention, or the wisdom of satisfying these
/ rights By exclusive privileges for a term of
years.-The Colonies and States, initiating
the practice Of the Mother Country, had more
| often granted patent privileges TO importers
than to inyentors-a pernicious practice. that
has found no recognition in the national leg
islation Though the Common Law. that re-
CARDS alike the importer and inventor, was
the prevailing law of the States-a fact we'll
i
and. subordinate to the statutes, was formal
ly adopted by Congress, the American courts
have never held that first importers are true
inventors.--The right to grant patents Of i'm.
portation is still vested in the States as the
source of political power.-The liberal legis-
laton of Congress, which, recognizing the
universal brotherhood of genius, offers prince
ly rewards to inventors without distinction
and virtually without price, has made Anne
rica the home of inventions-the paradise of
patentees. Sixty thousand original patents
have been granted in sixty months, and half
as many applications reieeted--on strict in
vestigation of novelty--stll the rate of issue
continues, infusng new life into every branch
of industry, money-value of these pat
ents is counted by milions-their industrial |
value exceeds the national Indebtedness
Modern inventions constitute a vast wealth |
of the Union. whose marvellous progress is |
less attributable to the richness OF its noun
tains or the fertility of its plains. than to the
restless genius of the people.-The demand
for new inventions is Unsuitable, enterprises |
are impatient, and the State that melted the |
ingenuity of Fulton to design twenty ton
steam boat for the Hudson River, has recent. |
" offered a prize OF twenty thousand pounds |
to the pioneers of steam navigation on the |
Erie Canal.-Inventors are honored as public
benefactors, and the nation has erected to its
hundred thousand patentees-the leaders of
It's grand army Of industrial progress-a mar
hle temple of art. the noblest structure ever
dedicated to the genius of invention.
Mr.. Alcott, who is hard rider of the veg
etarian hobby, once said to Dr. Walker ne