The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-01-23

which holds him responsible IN large sums when he
mas actually realized nothing. ana when The state oil
the business makes impossible for any 10 realize
anything; because they say that n he bad not used
the plaintiffs labor saving invention he might sill!
nave continued IA the business aud lost much more
Section two which deals with this subject. has.
the hearing before tho commitIee and during the
discussions OF last summer Rud autumn, received
more careful aud intelligent study than any other
part OF the bill ana perhaps broader consideration
than has ever been sivcu TO any question connected
with the pateni laws II does change the rule OF
damages IL provides as TO profits that The defendant
shall not be charged with ANY saving he may have
made unless has enabled him 10 realize actual
profit IL that part OF HE business connected the
usc OF his luvcnton; ind then only such portion
OF that actual pronl 40 shall DO ouad to be derived
from the use o the plaintiffs invention. IL will be
dicult enough 10 apply this or any princip!o all
tne ses winch VIII arise, but luis section leads tho
Court back 10 Tho Original doctrines o. profits
should be. The section which provides that IA a case
where the paintn has elected To use has invention By
licensing ali VINO wish 10 IL, where tho nature
o tnc Invention - such that II Is OBVIOUS lnaI no
must ava himself Of II, ana where the infringe-
incnt is Nv using ana not oy selling. no accouu, OF
profits AS such shall be allowed, but .hs piantn snail
have damages thus the difficulties have referred
TO avoiaed aud substantial justice Is done But
make tho latter the Court invested
discretionary power TO increase or dim sn The nud
Ing. whether oil damages or profits, and In cases ol
claims or inirngemenis without probable cause
Justification. 10 allow counsel lees and expenses the
successful party.
STATUTE or LIMITATIONS.
There 10 nov no statute OF limitations applicable 10
ages profits accrung than four years before
SUIT snail mol DO Recovered, aud makes provision Tor
sta! Ing Trials where many suits brought and
Is properly prosecuted.
section .. winch was some that amended before tho
cousmitec, ana perhaps received ITS best form tho
communication VI the Commissioner OF Patents. re-
ates to ressUcstbut ts to tho fight oil palentee
" surrender his patent Tor correction when
properly worded. rhs right has existed from the
sot OF our patent system Il Is an essential part oil It,
US was we'll shown IN the arguments before tho COM
mttce; 0ut II unQucstionaby has Uoen abused THIS
section rcsrictsi, or rather sets up eccnt
riers against misuse, and explicitly allows tho
To rc-examine the whole question oil It's proprcly In
any Case.
VALUE OF INVENTIONS.
Patents are granted 10 promote progress Of the
useful arts lhe Patent law requires mat the I'm
provemeut De useful us well new. 1t Is held that
II the Invention can DO used tue statute IN salts.
hed and wisely, Tor nothng but actual trial Tor a
series vi years VIII determine whether the invention
MAKES, or directly makes possible or adds " u sub
st"ntia progress III sUnio useful art There are iu-
ventIons so complete and so apt that they
take their place III the industry oi the country there
are obors which require preJudicc 10 be overcome
before their value 10 rccognzod others which, com
plcie In themselves, require subsidiary machines or
processes 10 DO invented before The art s ready
receive thcln; Others contain germs oil great value,
but require much inveution and costly experiment
before machines or industries can be organ as
To emhody The ideas IN form commercially prolitaDlo
10 operate rheso inventions fuzzy satisfy the pur-
poses OF the consttutiOn-actually, ny near po-
tentaty which the owner IS trying TO ac.
tuaity, they useful But there many nlachiues
patented winch. however mucn ingenuity they may
Coptntn, are impructicable aud valuccss and III ust
always rcmaiu so ot no faulty character that tney
cannot even be Improved INTO useluness They nave
no true place IN IA patent system What harm they
dor II they arc useless why need any ono them2
They are pot harmless
SPECULATIVE HAKPIEs ACT.
| II constantly happens That subsequent inventor
CONSTRUCTOR Uuiids truly useful machine; Il goes
into extensive use some one buds IN tt a feature
which Is also TO 10 somewhere discovered IN the
worthless Old patcnt perhaps II is not essential IA
the new but Il has uuen out IA TO
o them aud would cost great deal to change, tho
Spectator goes 10 tho owner OF The ord patont; has
never been used Is virtually abandoned; The owner
Is not improving his invention aud attaches va,uo
to IT ana Soils " tor lew dollars. Our cutcrprisng
purchaser takes 1t TO the office, reissues II, with
CLAIM covering tho unthoughtot feature and then
sues ali the users oi the new machine Ito cannot, il
IL true, recover damages Tor the OF hne
before he covered II Ny his reissue, but hc cnjoin
the further use oil IT, anu thus least compel tho dc.
lendant 70 DO al tho expense OF u II
that tho courts haveso set their aces AIMS. this KIND
vi reissues within the last tow years that vigorous
defence will generally ovcrturn them, but perhaps
quite as much harm can be- done In the future; moro
probably will DO done by SUITS on The Old patents
| themselves without reissue.
| PROPOSED vYEs FOR FUTURE PATENTS.
The new bill proposes TO deal Win TINS evil In two
ways. Section IL imposes ON ali pacnts hereafter
granted Toe Of $50 10 be paid " tie unted states
aItcr four years. and OF SlOO aer uns wears
IRON their Issue, aud upon default OF pay uent tho
patont becomes void. lhi5 Will inevitably XIII oil
| these worthless and hurtiuI patents The plan has
boon tried IN England Tor many years, Tho frat
payment (much heavier thau ours exiting uishos
hall and The second extingusncs two-tnirds OF the
remaindor The objection made ID that Il Will DO
burdensome on patentees but patent four years old
had better die not worth preserving ut such cost.
II Is small sum compared with tnc Other expenses
OF u patertec, aud no Que will lroit by uch as
mcrtorous Inventors, who viii mud That tho way to
obstructive palents. Section provides that ma.
chine lawfully III existence under existing patents
may continue TO DO used, although covered by new
claims Inserted IN areissue Tuis, ia SUBSTANCE Is
declaring that the amen mont Introduced by RESCUE
snail speak for the future, but shall re,roact us
ELECTS. TINS Will prevent very large part OF the
| noyancc that has been feat from reissues.
such are the leading features of this bill, though
contains othcrs OF some value with regard TO record
ing licenses, NC, pcrpetuating testimony, bulls
| peal patents appeals and Other matters.
A BILL IN FAVOR on INDIANA FARMERS
ia naL Of Mr. Raka
OF Indiana. II is too say OF IL that II Is
conceived Ia very different spirit from senate
500. That was framed by men VINO had thoroughly
studied the subject aud were anxious TO improve the
law and reso.uto NOT to impair It's usefulness. 1t
would appear from Mr Bakers bill that some OF his
| constituents have been threatened ny lawsuits Tor
using iarm implements which Infringe certain patents
and SO no introduces bill which declares that
shall he held liable Us IN inirngor Tor using patented
articles bought In the orGiuary course BUSINESS
less whom he bought Them hs knew that they nirirged
| the piantii's patent. The premium iof ignorance
aud perjury winch such a law would offer is at least
one Objection to H. II were conhncd in iis scope
protecting tho iarnors cf INDIANA great harm would
DO done TO any one except themselves. No Que sues
Individual users except last resort and pa
tres the oxper meat twice, ana the iarmc
80 Hooded with notices OF patent claims that they
would not dare ~ uuy plough or u
limited as TO persous Under II tho man who buys
paper bag macLinc that will Hood the market Win
paper bags AZ the rate OF 10000 aday Will relapse
into ignorance and consequent security aud wealth
ana the patcnIee will shut up his factory The rn-
road company WIN buy spark arrestcrs, lanterns,
URANUS uhu "H Minus VI htuhss, Hnu "H Keep au ih-
tcigenuy ignoront man Tor It's purchasing agent
And 50 on II there arc grievances they be
famed and perhaps u rcnedy found, but it will only
he aone by careful study, aud not by votes OF tho
House Without discussion, nor ny pcrcmptory in-
structIons 10 tho committee to report bus without
considering them. Tho State OF New YORK has prob
ably 10000 900 Invested IN the pro OF asricu
tura mach nery alone; ONO nearly as much more
ana this is only small part oil tho business depend
lug on patents
IL IL quite worth while Tor members and for their
constituents occasionally 10 give lev minutes
pOrtant interests 1t is better 10 hesitate ttio be-
tore breaking oDes best mirror, Tor the SAKE Of
killing the mosquito on II. SCKUIArOR
Bosroy, January, 1873.