The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-03-05

Washington, March 4-The case of
the Bate Refrigerator company against
Francis Sulzberger & Co, upon which
hinged the question, when da Aneri-
can patents expire when foreign pat
ents have been previously issued. was
decided today in an exhaustive opinion
by Justice Harlan. The court held the
ent was previously patented in for
eign country, and a United States pat
ent expired with foreign patents. G1leo-
trio and other patents are involved in
the decision in this suit.
What it Involves.
The case involves the construction Of
section 1887 Of the revised statutes.
which provides that Every patent
granted for an invention which has
been previously patented in foreign
country shall be so limited as to en-
pire at the same time as the foreign
patent; or, if there be more than one.
at the same time with the one having
the shortest term and in no case shall
it be in force more than seventeen
years"
Among the patents affected are three
issued to the Western Union Tele-
graph company, on applications Gled
by Thomas A. Edison, as follows:
Patent No. 1920, application filed
April 81 1877: No. 474,231 and 474 232,
applications fled July 27. 1877 On
to the same party on an application
filed by the same party on Sept. 5,
1887. These inventions became the
property of the American Bell Teie
phone company by the telephone con-
solidation contract, Nov. I, 1879. These
Edison patents are claimed to be fun
damental, and they, with the Berliner
patent now in litigation. and which are
made in the patent office from 1877 to
November 1891, expire at the date Of
Che expiration of the foreign patents.
The Inventions have been in use since
1878. The Edison inventions were pat.
ented in England, France and Canada
IN 1877; in Belgium. ,Austria-Hungary;
italy, Germany and Spain in 1883 and
in Prussia in 1852. They are free in
foreign countries and under the con-
Struction now given of section 1887
are made free in this country. Sub
stantially the decision will affect In
the same way the quadruple1 telegraph
PATENTS which were applied for in
October 1874 and issued Dec u, 1875
The incandescent lamp patents filed
by the General Electric Light Com
pany are also included in those which
Will be affected by the invention.
The Decision.
The decision says:
Was the Bate invention patented
abroad before it was patented in this
country? If SO. the American patent
expired with the foreign patent, and
thereby the American public became
entitled to the use of the invention
from the time the foreign public was
permitted to use it. Congress, in ef-
feet. by the existing laws. says to an
inventor seeking to enjoy the exclu-
siVe use in this country of his fnven-
ton for the term prescribed by law:
IF your invention has not been intro
duced into public use in the United
States for more than two years you
may on complying with the conditions
prescribed, obtain an American patent
and you may, if you can, obtain for
eign patents. But the American pa
tent will be granted on the condition
that if you obtain the foreign patent
first, your invention shall be free to
the American people whenever. by rea-
son of the expiration of the foreign
patent, it becomes free to people
abroad, but in no case shall the term
of the American patent exceed seven
teen years
1.-THE rule prescribed by the twenty
fifth section of the act of 1870, having
been reproduced in section 4.SS7 of the
revised statutes and the latter section
never having been amended, ought not,
after the lapse Of nearly twenty-five
years from the passage of the act Of
1870 place on its twenty-f1fth section
! Or on Section 1887 of the revised stat
/ utAs, which took its place, any inter
probation other than which the ordin.
ary,' iiiiass::1 d: meaning OF their wor1S
| import Our answers, therefore, on the
| questions certified are that the inVen-
| iion, for which the United States pa
| tent to Bate was issued was under the
yfacts stated, previously patented in q
( foreign country within the meaning
of those words in section 1887 of the
revised statutes and that the United
! States patent to him expired under
| terms of ithat section before the expira.
| ton of seventeen years from its date
Let it be so certified to the circuit
court Of appeals