The Portland daily press., 1888-11-24
THE TELEPHONE MONOPOLY.
Effect Of the Recent Supreme Court
Decision on Matter of Public In
terest.
Providence Journal

The decision rendered against the Bell
Telephone Company by the United States
Supreme Court is not only of interest be-
cause 1t Is the first setback which this COM
pany has received after long succession of
favorable verdicts In the Courts, but Is of
much Importance In its general bearing upon
patent laws. in that it establishes the prin-
ciple that the monopoly inherent in the pa
tent is not right, but a privilege. and that
In granting 1t the nation does not necessarily
part with its power of supervision and con-
troll. The essential facts in this case may
be soon told. The Government, after inves-
legations in the Attorney Generals office and
by Secretary Lamar, of the Interior Depart
ment, and the two heads Of departments in
the Patent Office, concluded that prind Jdctd
evidence existed that the Bell Telephone
patents were obtained through
mistake and fraud; and suit
was therefore brought in the United
States Court for the District of Ohio. The
Bell Company pleaded, however, that it
could only be sued where it was Incorporated
that Is, in Massachusetts,. and the Govern
ment forthwith brought suit there, only to be
defeated, the sustaining the demurrer of the
company, that in the absence Of specific law
to that effect the Government has no right to
take away patent, even though it were true
that it had been obtained through error in
the Patent Office or by fraud on the part of
Supreme Court simply sets aside the opinion
of the Massachusetts Court, and declares it
to be good common sense, that the nation Is
competent to correct its own blunders and to
withdraw from an action into which it had
been led by Misrepresentation and chican-
cry.
Company no farther than this lit does not
touch the merits of the real question at
issue at all, and the original case will now go
before tho Court in Massachusetts for trial If
the Government still thinks it worth while
to prosecute the matter. Whether it will do
so, 1t Is, OF course, impossible to say, and it
Is to be supposed that the decision will rest
very largely upon the extent and value of the
the evidence secured by the Government
since last winter The contention of the
prosecution is first that Gray and Bell ap-
piled for patents on the same day, and that
instead OF declaring an interference the
clerk filed the applicants face down in the
order of their receipt, but that the next clerk
instead of revising the pile began to work
from top to bottom, and so gave to Bell a
precedence TO which Gray was entitled; and
second, that Bell swore that he was the orig
inal inventor of the telephone, we'll knowing
that he was not, that with one of his att0r-
neys and an examiner in the Patent Office he
investigated the papers in the office, whereby
be was enabled to incorporate the details of
the inventions Of other applicants in his
own application, and that he purposely
called his telephone "multplex telegraph
in order to throw the Government off its
guard. These are serious charges, and if
their truth is established should certainly
call for the reversal of the patents. But 1t is
to be remembered that the decision of tine
Supreme Court last March-the last prepar-
ed by Chief Justice Waite covered this
very matter of proprlety of invention and of
fraudulent procurement; 1t acquitted Bell of
the charge of collision and summarly dis
missed all the other claimants, declaring
emphatically that BELL was the first dscov-
nrnR Ina hac haas .nNK.a
late that the Drawbaugh people have acct
dentally discovered new and important evil
dence OF a sort not suspected by them dur
ing the prosecution of the former suit, and
with confident expectation of victory The
value of this assertion the future must
disclose. Meanwhile it must seem
evident that little expectation can
be entertained of driving the Bell
Company from its position unless some
such new evidence exists; and in any event,
such is the laws delay, the company will
doubtless be able TO continue its course of
extortion and oppression for two or three
years without molestation. By that time the
patents in dispute will have very nearly ex-
pired, the first having but little over four
and the other only five years to run.
1t can hardly be thought then that the
present decision will have any very serious
practical effect upon the Bell Telephone
Company. Important 1t certainly is in that
it sweeps away the monstrous pretence that
the nation may be swindled into granting
privileges worth hundred million of dollars
to its possessors, and have no power TO re-
dress the wrong when it becomes apparent.
But the Bell Company seems to be too
strongly intrenched in its position to be Sc.
riously moved, even If these patents should
be annulled. Its monopoly by no means de-
pends altogether upon these. On the con-
trary, the original patents ARE probably Of
comparatively small Importance to it now.
Ii it were deprived of all its monopolies, 1t
has grown TO such magnitude, and so possess
ses the field. that it might successfully defy
competition, although forced to abate some
thing of its greed. The melancholy thing is
that the inventions which make the telephone
practical business success almost all lie
outside OF these patents, and that the Bell
Company has pretty much the monopoly of
them. Patents which are essential to the
telephone of today have been bought by this
company aud have still many years to run;
While Tor ten years or more it has, by taking
advantage OF the imperfections of our patent
laws, enjoyed the advantage of other iDven-
lions and delayed the day of the issue Of the
patents upon them, its hope being to secure
these patents as nearly as possible to the
date OF the expiration fthe original letters,
and thus practically secure an extension for
seventeen years more. The Bell Telephone
Company constitutes one of the most exact
Ing and oppressive monopolies which the
country has known 1t has amassed amazing
wealth by extortion from the people who
have given 1t life; and the nation would re-
Jolce TO see 1t crushed But the prospect of
effecting this object by direct assault certain
ly seems very slight What we may do
and, II Is much to be feared, all we can do
IS to amend our patent laws that the truth Of
fraud may be more readily ascertained, and
that it shall become impossible for men en-
rlched by the nation to thwart its will and
secure privileges which IL was never intended