CHAPTER VI 



THE STRUGGLE TO PROTECT PATENTS 

 TN 1848 Cyrus McCormick's original patent 

 -^ expired. He applied to have it extended, 

 and at once there began one of the most extra- 

 ordinary legal wars ever known in the history of 

 the Patent Office. It continued with very little 

 cessation until 1865. It enlisted on one side or 

 the other the ablest lawyers of that period 

 such giants of the bar as Lincoln, Stanton, Sew- 

 ard, Douglas, Harding, Watson, Dickerson, 

 and Beverdy Johnson. The tide of battle rolled 

 from court to court until the final clash came 

 in the chamber of the Supreme Court and the 

 halls of Congress. It was perhaps the most 

 Titanic effort that any American inventor has 

 ever made to protect his rights and to carry out 

 the purpose of the Patent Law. 



McCormick had strong reasons for believing 

 that his patent should be extended. He was 

 asking for no more than the Patent Office, on 

 other occasions, had granted to other inventors. 



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