Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-03-05
LIGHTNING STRUCK
BY a Decision of Uncle Sans
Supreme Court.
ELECTRICAL PATENTS KNOCKED OUT

A Matter Settled Of as Much Monetary In
Portance the Great .sGreenback' Case
General Electric and BELL Telephone
Hard-Electrical Devices OF Enormous
Value Made Public Property.
NEW YORK, March 5-The decision of
the supreme court of the United States
unanimously sustaining the decision Of
the lower court in the case of the Bate
Refrigerating company against Sulzberger
is probably more far-reaching in its in
fluence and affects a larger amount of
property than any decision of the court
since the ''Greenbact' cases were disposed
of. This decision not only settles the
controversy between the parties directly
interested, viz: the General Electric COM
pany and the American Bell Telephone
company on the one side md the West
inghouse and the Anti-B Il Telephone
company on the other. but also disposes
of a very large number of other patents
which the public have assumed to have
expired under the ruling of the lower
court, but which would have been revived
If the decision of the supreme court in
this case had been the other way.
Terminates : Number of Patents.
II also shortens the life of a great many
patents which have not yet actually ex-
pired. The decision is against :he posi-
pany and the American Bell Telephone
company and those associated with them
upon the appeal, and aflirms the decision
previously rendered by the United States
circuit court in this circuit. This deci-
sion terminates the three Edison patents
for the carbon transmitter, owned by the
American Bell Telephone company, by
which it hoped to extend its control for
twenty-five years more, as would have
been the case had the decision below been
reversed.
Hits Edison Pretty Hard.
A considerable number of very broad
patents owned by the General Electric
company are also disposed of by this de-
cision, including Eiison's patent upon
the incandescent lamp, regarding which
there has been so much litigation, and
also his patent on the multiple arc" sy s.
TEN of distribution and his patent on the
socket for incandescent lamps, which was
recently held to be valid by Judge Coke.
The history of this case of the Bate Re-
frigerator company against Sulzberger is
very interesting. The case involves di-
rectly very small sum of money, and
the complainants would probably have
never thought it worth while to bring
the case to a hearing had it not been that
the lawyers OF the General Electric COM
pany and the Bell Telephone company
discovered that this case directly involved
terested and would furnish the earliest
opportunity OF bringing 1t before the SUI
preme court.
Giant Corporations Involved.
The result was that the complainant
soon found itself represented in court by
such eminent and expensive counsel as
James G.. Carter and James j. Starrow, of
Boston. counsel for the Bell Telephone
company. and ex Commissioner of Patents
Charles L. Mitchell, of New York, coun-
sci for the General Electric company No
sooner had these eminent counsel put in
an appearance than the defendant SuiZ-
berger found him represented by the equal
ly eminent counsel retained by the West
inghouse Electric company and the Anti
Bell Telephone interests, including
Wheeler II. Peckham, Edmund Wetmore,
Ben ii. Bistow, Leonard Curtis, all of
New York. From this time on the battle
was one between giants.
Advanced Three Years on the Docket.
The supreme court treated the case as
one of SO great importance that it took
the very unusual course of assigning ii
for hearing some three years in advance
of the regular order, and also allowing
about double the usual time for argu-
ment. These oral arguments were by
James c. Carter and exCommissioner of
/ Patents Mitchell for the General Electric
and Bell Telephone interests, and by Ed
mund Wetmore and Wheeler H. Peck.
man for the Westinghouse and Anti-Bell
| Telephone interests, and large number
of briefs were filed on behalf of various
other interests affected.