PATENTS. 



619 



ure is one whose construction and uses are 

 disclosed to the public. This contradicts to a 

 certain extent the popular idea, which fails to 

 realize that the subject of a patent is the prop- 

 erty of the public, withheld from it by special 

 grant for the period of the patent. When a 

 person has invented a machine or other thing, 

 he has two ways of securing to himself its ex- 

 clusive use. One is to keep it a secret, the 

 other is to patent it, which implies to publish 

 it. To secure patent rights in it, an accurate 

 description, accompanied, it may be, with draw- 

 ings and model, has to be filed in the Patent- 

 Office at Washington. As soon as the patent 

 is granted, this description is patent or open to 

 public inspection. The text and drawing, if 

 any, are reproduced in printing and lithogra- 

 phy, and kept on sale to all applicants. 



An unpatented invention can be used by any 

 one who finds out its secret. The law recog- 

 nizes no right of property in an invention until 

 it is patented. The material development of 

 the country is consulted when it is enacted that 

 all inventions shall be the property of the pub- 

 lic, sooner or later, if divulged by patenting 

 or otherwise. As a basis of right to any prop- 

 erty, the thing must be defined by registry or 

 otherwise. Finally, the law recognizes no in- 

 trinsic right of property in the intangible effort 

 of the brain, which it holds to constitute the 

 germ of invention. It refuses to recognize 

 any right of property in invention as such, 

 and holds that the inventor, when others have 

 used his idea, is no poorer, and hence has not 

 been robbed. Hence a special grant is neces- 

 sary to protect him. A reciprocal rewarding 

 and encouragement of inventors is presented 

 in the consideration awarded for the disclosure 

 of inventions. This consideration is the mo- 

 nopoly of his invention for a period of seven- 

 teen years. The nominal fees charged in this 

 country for patents are only designed to cover 

 the expenses of the Patent Office. 



Soliciting. Patent soliciting should be per- 

 formed by one familiar with the practice of the 

 Patent- Office, an intimate acquaintance with 

 which can only be obtained by experience. 

 To this should be joined a knowledge of the 

 views taken by the courts in these u metaphysics 

 of the law," as Judge Story designated patent 

 law. A patent may be drawn up so as to be 

 accepted by the Patent-Office, and be utterly 

 valueless in litigation. This court interpreta- 

 tion of patents is of greater extent and runs 

 into more refinement than does the Patent- 

 Office practice. A strong feeling now prevails 

 that the law should exercise some choice or 

 licensing of patent solicitors. Just as the 

 practice of la win the courts is restricted to 

 lawyers, approved members of the bar, so r it 

 is argued, should the soliciting of patents, as 

 far as attorneys are concerned, be confined to 

 those recognized as capable after due examina- 

 tion by some designated examiners. 



In the early days of the office but few patents 

 were taken out. The practices of the depart- 



ment were simpler and more elastic than at 

 present. After a few years the causes began 

 to come into court, and then the judges had 

 to settle the legal status of the different cases. 

 During the past ten years the Circuit Courts 

 and the Supreme Court of the United States 

 have had to decide in a vast number of p.it uf, 

 suits. The statute has been read and re-read, 

 and its provisions have been interpreted with 

 the greatest refinement. The courts are the 

 final and supreme arbiters of patents, and on 

 the decisions of judges rest their value. Hence, 

 to know what the power of a patent really is, 

 the records of the courts must be consulted. 

 The patent practice of to-day is far different 

 from that of a few years ago. The new de- 

 cisions of the courts alluded to above are not 

 all that have modified it. The practice of the 

 Patent-Office has become stricter, and the con- 

 ditions of acceptability are more rigorous. 



Patentability. When an inventor has invented 

 or discovered something, the last question that 

 will probably occur to him is, Is it patentable? 

 He is inclined to take this for granted ; yet in 

 all patent law no question is more intricate. 

 The words "invented or discovered " occur in 

 the statute, and the two words are held to be 

 synonymous. " Any new and useful art, ma- 

 chine, manufacture, or composition of matter, 

 or any new and useful improvement thereof, 

 not known or used by others in this country," 

 is the definition of patentable things. 



Human Contrivance. The first element which 

 will be seen to run through the four patentable 

 things is the element of human contrivance or 

 devising. The law only grants patents to the 

 products of the human brain. It does not pat- 

 ent natural forces. Newton is spoken of as 

 the discoverer of gravitation. If on investi- 

 gation he were found to be such, the law would 

 be morally as well as physically incapable of 

 granting him a patent for his discovery. Volta 

 and Galvani were the discoverers of dynamic 

 electricity. To-day we all see the role played 

 by this force in human affairs. Had they lived 

 to-day and made the discovery, they could not 

 have patented it. For, though they discovered 

 it, they did not do so in the sense of the word 

 as used in the statute they did not invent it. 

 The force itself was no product of their brain ; 

 it existed from the beginning of time, and all 

 they did was to discover means of localizing, 

 developing, and identifying it. The patentnble 

 discovery would be limited to some form of 

 galvanic or voltaic battery. The patentability 

 of such a thing .depends on whether it is a 

 work of man or of Nature. In the latter case, 

 it is the property of humanity at large, and 

 can not be secured. Morse tried to patent the 

 use of electricity for marking or printing at a 

 distance. This amounted -to claiming a mo- 

 nopoly of one of the laws of Nature. He had 

 harnessed the lightning, and made it his mes- 

 senger ; but he tried to patent the messenger 

 instead of the harness. His particular machine 

 could have been secured as the work of man. 



