The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-25
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
ssThe Court Talking Now"

To thS Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
Yes, in my humble opinion, tits pretty thin law
diet for court of so much presumed ability to
hand down to even the average citizen. If this law
could be enforced under this decision land be-
lieve it cannot) it would amount to a tax upon
all patents that are of any public utility There
are great many of them) and practical multi
ication of the patent laws of the United States,
so far as relates TO Indiana. Under these patent
laws, the inventor has the exclusive right to his
invention for seventeen years. tits his personal
property as much as any other and he is protect
ed in its use as much as he would be in the use
of any other. 1t might be of greater or less util
ity to the public, and fail to see what this has
to do with his rights. What authority has any
asssr sa ,Sev or court in ,,a hs
his rights under the laws of the
general government even though his invention
be of great public utility, and admit that they
can. and anarchy and confusion would exist in
all patent law The State has no right even to
tax patent as such-this has always been con-
ceded-only the visible product appliances of
that patent at the same rate as any other per-
sonal property. The State might prohibit the
manufacture and sale of any patented article
that was injurious to the public and this would
be good law. But who ever heard of wrestling
from an inventor the whole or any part of his
invention, or any rights therein on account of
its great utility to the public, and paying him
therefor such price as you saw fit This is
utterly at variance with the spirit of our patent
law. and on parallel with the free trade in pat
ented inventions, sought to be brought about a
year ago in Congress by the introduction Of
the resolutions by Lamb Voorhees, and others,
in the House of Representatives, and which met
with their ignominious defeat in the Senate
shortly after
Admitting the right Of State to tax patent,
or fix price for its use (which amounts to the
same thing) would virtually nullify the patent
law. do not uphold monopoies, but believe
the inventor should be protected in his lawful
rights; and the right of any man to the product
of his own mind and hands is no monopoly.
Even the general government does not presume
to condemn to its own use, at its own price, any
invention that it may want, but buys it from the
owner at an agreed price, like any other prop
erty. Has the State greater right? The Court
alludes to railroads, telegraphs, steamboats,.
etc, as being regulated by the laws
of the States through which they pass.
What has this to do with the case in hand as
affecting the rights of an inventor, under the
supreme law of the landl Did you ever hear in
the whole history of the country of any inven-
ton pertaining to steamboat, or o railroad, or
a telegraph that was condemned for the public
use and paid for at compulsory price9. Neverl
All these inventions have been paid for. used
at the inventors price. Ask George Westing-
house what police regulation has to do with the
price OF his airbrake for railroad trains Ask
the inventors of the sewing machine, the reaping
machine and of hundred other great and use
full inventions what State police regulation had
to do with their prices. and they will tell you.
nothing. How comes this suddenly acquired
right of police regulations S. j. AUSTIN.
TERRE