THE UNITED STATES PATENT LAWS 389 



entee will l")e l)cset by a horde of infringers who will attempt 

 to use the invention and secure the benefit of the inventor's 

 thought and ingenuity. 



The patentee can protect his rights only by bringing 

 and prosecuting a suit in the federal courts and securing an 

 injunction against infringers. 



It seems strange that a person who would not think of 

 trespassing upon the real property of another person, or 

 who would not think of interfering with ordinar}^ chattel 

 property belonging to a stranger, will not hesitate to tres- 

 pass upon the patented property of another, whenever it 

 appears to him that such trespassing would inure to his 

 advantage, considered from a business and financial stand- 

 point. 



Notwithstanding the fact that patented property is con- 

 stantly being subjected to the attacks of infringers, such 

 property is very valuable, and, as has already been pointed 

 out, constitutes the basis of investment of many millions 

 of dollars in the United States, and it has been asserted in 

 a comparatively recent annual report of one of the commission- 

 ers of patents ''that we mainly owe to our patent system 

 such foothold as we have gained during the past fifty years 

 in foreign lands for our manufactured products." 



