The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-05-18
Office of Guthrie & Guthrie,
Attorneys at Law,

ME. IL ~. Carr, PreSluent Interstate
Telephone Company, Durham, n. G.
Dear Sir:-In reply to your inquiry as
to the scope and effect Of the recent de.
cision of the United States supreme court
in the case of the United States Va Bell
Telephone Company, concerning the Ber-
liner patent, which Berliner assigned to
the Bell Telephone Company, we have to
say:
That, as we understand it, the decision
OF the supreme court simply ailirms the
findings of the court of appeals in that
cnse-that Is, they simply enter into the
question of fraud alleged to have been
perpetrated by the Bell Company i'm Sc
curing unnecessary delays in issue of the
I5erliner, patent. The court of appeals
did not, nor does the supreme court 20
into the question of the validity of the Ber-
liner patent. That question is still an
open question, which will have to be de.
cided before the Bell Crmpany as the as.
signee of Ber'iner can get rid of the COM
petition which has sprung up in opposi-
ton to that com many since 1893, when the
original Bell patent expired.
Any lawyer, or other person, who is
familiar with patent rights will without
hesitation say that any patent right I'M
der letters patent may he questioned, and
the letter patent issued to the patentee or
his assigns confers on him merely prna
facie right to the claim allowed him under
his application for patent. Section
1855, revised statutes United States, pro-
vides: Amy person who has invented or
discovered any new and useful art, ma
chine, manufacture or composition of
matter or any new and useful improve.
ment thereof not known or used by others
in this country and not patented or de-
scribed in any printed publication in this
or any foreign country, before his inven-
ton or discovery thereof, and not in pub
lie use or on sale for more than two years
prior to his application, unless the same
is proved to have been abandoned may,
upon pny ment of the fees required by law,
ami other due proceedings had, obtain
patent therefore,
Bel liner filed is caveat in the patent
Office on April IA, 1877, more than u year
after the Bell patent was granted. Bell
patented the method of the microphone,
but, in doing SO, he failed to patent the
apparatus with which he used the
method. Whether the apparatus which
1'erliner patented is really covered by the
apparatus which Bell used bat failed to
patent or whether the various kinds of
apparatus for using Bells method, (the
patent OH which methods, as before st ,ted,
has expireD invented and used by others
besides Berliner either before or since
questions still. For instance, it is still
an open question, not yet settled by liti.
CATION, whether or not the apparatus you
Hre now using in your business infringes
any right of the Bell Company as the us
slgnee of the right TO use the apparatus
covered by the Berliner patent
To Illustrate, Mr.. Howe invented and
patented the sewing machine needle with
the eye in the point, and during the life
of his patent on years from its issue)
nobody could use the sewing machne
needle with the eye in the point without
Howe's consent, and by paying him
royalty on it, though it is common knowl-
edge that the various kinds of sewing
machines which warc invented Ivy others,
and used Howe's needle, were and still
are used in great numbers with u large
number of separate patentable devices.
Considering the Importance of the mat
ter and the intricacy of the questions,
which will no doubt be raised, and must
be settled in order to test the validity of
the Berliner patent the litigation, instead
of being settled by the recent decision of
the United States sur RENE court, may be
said to have only commenced. Should
the Bell Company finally as tho result
of litigation establish the validity of the
Berliner patent, the independent compa-
MES would only have to use the maj ncto
transmitter until the Berliner patent ex-
pires.
Experts say that magnetic transmitters
will give very good service for distances
covered by exchanges at this time, and
can be put on the telephone now used at
small expense. There is, therefore, moth
ing to fear in this decision. The situa-
tion to-day is the same. rs it has been for
the past three or four years, with the sin
| Ole eNcpntinn TINT ha ck of ,,I
heretofore made by the. Government
against the..Berliner patent on account of
the long years of delay in issuing 10 to
the Bell Company rs Berliner's assignee,
Is now removed
We are informed that arrangements
are already being made to engage the SER
vices OF the most eminent patent attorneys
in this country to look after the interes,