Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-05-29

been hailed as a reversal Of the mimeo-
graph decision handed down a year ago
last March by dividend court of seven
judges.
1t will be remembered that the earlier
case In effect gave the owner of the
patent of a mimeograph machine the
right to dictate the kind Of ink To be
used with machines of their make. The
principle of the case seemed so sweeping
that in an article by Professor Bruce
Wyman of the Harvard law school writ
ten at the time 1t was asserted that
under that decision the owner Of the
patent upon steam-engine might die
gines Incorporating that patent. It SEEM
ed to offer the opportunity for creation
of monopolies under the very protection
of the law. For that reason much interest
was evidenced in the attitude on this and
analogous questions of the complete
bench, one member of whom, Justice Pit
ney, was appointed soon after the decision
and another of whom Justice Day. had
been incapacitated at the time by ILL
ness.
II, as seems reasonable to assume the
rather perfunctory attempt to distinguish
these two cases is in reality only the
conventional means OF saying that the
former case is over-ruled, the patent sit
uatlon in this country will be some
what relieved but not made perfect The
danger of legalized monopoly will be
diminished, but there are further faults
in the present condition of our patent
law which the remedy accorded by the
Supreme Court ought not to make US for
get.
Almost all other countries have recog
nized the truth that an invention is a
benefit to the public only when made
available, and that the dog-in-the-manger
custom of buying up patents for the pur-
pose of burying them not only prevents
the public from participating in the in
vention but is an actual injury as 1t
leaves the public with less chances for
that particular kind of Improvement that
it had before the invention was made
| Foreign governments therefore set
time limit within which the patented ar
tiCle must be put upon the market, or
| ho o
licenses to use the patent in cases where
such policy seems necessary, or insert
provso enabling the government grant
ing the patent to buy it in al any time
for the benefit of the public. Almost all
governments except our own have also
recognized the danger to domestic indus
try which lies in the practice Of allowing
foreigners to obtain patents in country
with no intention of ever manufacturing
under them there or using them in any
way except to head off competition. To
prevent any such abuse of patents, the
patent laws Of other nations require the
actual use of the patent within the coun-
try to make 1t effective.
Probably no legislation has ever done
so much to promote the material we'll
being of this country as the laws which
put a premium upon Yankee inventive
ness. In modern legislation to this end,
we led the rest of the world, and profited
immensely by so doing. Nothing should
be attempted hastily or in a spirit of
hostility to the general policy. But 1t
may be possible to bring our laws little
more up to date and secure for our
selves juster and more beneficial return
for the privileges granted. favorable
judicial opinion must not be allowed to
obscure the need of the kind of change
which only Legislative action can effect,