5x6 Thoughts Suggested by Patent Rights. [October, 



Perhaps some will say that rarity is true of great inventions 

 and not of' small. The greater the invention, the greater 

 certainly is the truth of that for which we argue. The 

 smaller the invention is, the greater is the chance of many 

 persons making it. That is admitted. And surely there 

 ought to be some limit to the admission of an invention 

 into the patent list. There is a certain class of trivial 

 ideas that ought never to be admitted in our opinion, 

 and there is a class of dreamy patents which may be called 

 nonsense. A man ought to make his idea clear, otherwise 

 it is a speculation at best and unfit for the arts. Then 

 there is the whole class of subsidiary patents, such as 

 are mere branches of others. These seem to us the only 

 class difficult to deal with, but we trust in the wisdom of 

 our lawyers and scientific men to overcome these difficulties. 



Another point has been lately raised, shall we give 

 patents to those who bring inventions from abroad ? At 

 first, one is inclined to say, let the patents come from 

 any part so long as the community is benefitted. On 

 the other hand, it may be said, that a person who sees 

 an invention in a finished state abroad has really little 

 trouble in introducing it here, and cannot stand in the 

 place of the real inventor. The rule we believe is, that if it 

 exists in a foreign country unpatented for a few months 

 it cannot be patented here. We should make quite the 

 contrary arrangement. If it existed for a long time in a 

 foreign country patented or not patented, if it were only 

 useful, 'we should thank the man who brought it. If it were 

 a thousand years old and no man during all that time had 

 sense to bring it to us, we should reward him who at 

 last saw its advantage. His vision is his genius. 



Yet we confess the two classes stand on different bases, 

 but we prefer to treat them equally, and imitate, as a 

 nation, the abundant liberality of some of the Saracenic 

 and Eastern princes, who are said to have had beside them 

 the wisest and best men that could be found; each receiving 

 abundant reward for the importation of his wisdom and the 

 example of his goodness. The age haggles, splits hairs, 

 reasons small, and imagines itself to be sharp, but broad, 

 fine, human feeling, will bear down all this little appearance 

 of exactness. Who cares if every blade of grass on the 

 lawn has the same shape if only the whole lie smooth and 

 equal. A few great principles laid down would get rid 

 of much of the small reasoning and law-making. To 

 obtain a patent a man must declare that he is the first 

 inventor. This test act ought to be abolished. It seems as 



