Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-08
IMPORTANT DECISION.

The Edison Electric Light Company Loses
Patent of Incandescent Lighting in n
Canadian Court = Westinghouse Tells
Why.
The Edison Electric Light Company re-
ceived another disastrous blow yesterday in
the Canadian courts. The decision this
time is at Ottawa, and it declares one of the
most valuable and fundamental patents of
the Edison incandescent lighting system
null and void. The first intimations of the
facts were obtained yesterday from the fol-
lowing telegram:
OTTAWA, ONT, March 1.-THE incandescent
electric lighting patent held by the Edison
Electric Light Company has been declared null
and void in Canada on the ground of failure to
comply with the patent regulations, which pro-
vioe mat any article thus patented must be
manufactured in Canada within one year from
the issue OF the patent and the importation of
same patent from the United States must
cease within two years.
This is the decision reached in the famous
patent suit by Richard Pope Commissioner of
Patents, and his decision will be announced to-
morrow. Appellants were the United States
Companies, represented in Canada by Ahearn
Soper, Ottawa, and Royal Electric Company,
of Montreal;
THE POINT INVOLVED.
To get an explanation of the case and
ascertain the importance of the decision, a
DISPATCH reporter went to see Mr.. George
Westinghouse, who made the following
statement:
"In the decision of the Bates refrigerator
case it was stated that Canadian patents
must have had an uninterrupted existence
in order that United States patents may
run for full term of Canadian patents.
And in the Bates refrigerator case it was
also decided that the Bates patent, having
been continued in force in Canada, the
United States patent was not affected by
the primary short term for which an original
Canadian patent is granted. In this case,
however, the Edison people have termi-
mated the patent themselves by violating
the patent laws.
"The suit has been pending in theCanadi-
an courts for some time, and it originated in
this manner: 1t has for a long time been
fact well known by all electric companies
doing business in Canada that the Edison
people were importing the patented article
into the Dominion against the law. But
nobody said anything; in fact, all were will
ing to ignore the matter. But the Edison
Company constantly threatened the others
with suits of infringements. on their patents.
WESTINGHOUSE RETALIATEs.
"This caused the representatives of the
United States Electric Lighting Company
and of the Westinghouse Electric Company
to retaliate by suing the Edison company
for a violation of the patent laws. The re-
suit of the suit is shown in the decision of
the court. The Edison patent on incandes-
cent electric lighting is declared null and
void. How far reaching the importance of
that decision is can only be properly real
lied when it is remembered that this is one
of the fundamental patents of the Edison
incandescent lighting system, and daccording
to the decision in the Bates refrigerator
case, all the great advantages which were
claimed by Edison to have arisen from that
decision are now completely destroyed.
''The decision Of the Canadian courts is
of no particular advantage to our company,
nor is it really to any other electric COM
pany, but it simply takes the patent of in
candescent electric lighting away from Edi-
son and gives it to the people at large"
Messrs. Stern and Silverman, agents of
the Edison Electric Light Company of
New York, have received letter from Ed
ward H. johnson, the President of that
company, in which he positively denies that
any negotiations are pending between Edi-
son and Westinghouse for the purpose of
consolidating the two concerns, nor is there
any foundation for rumor of that kind.