410  Formulary  and  Proprietary  Remedies.  {^pdmb^inT' 
panying  question  of  property  right  in  an  invention  or  a  discovery. 
Broadly  speaking,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  originality  and  all 
invention  or  discovery  is  at  best  but  a  new  application  of  established 
knowledge  or  a  combination  of  established  principles  in  a  way  not 
apparent  to  or  recognized  by  the  general  public. 
This  thought,  conception  or  discovery  is  and  must  of  necessity 
remain  the  property  of  the  originator  so  long  as  he  cares  to  keep 
it  to  himself  but  becomes  public  property  so  soon  as  the  originator 
communicates  it,  either  by  word  of  mouth  suggestion  or  otherwise 
to  others. 
To  foster  the  development  of  human  knowledge  and  to  promote 
progress  in  science  and  the  useful  arts  civilized  governments  have 
instituted  patent  laws  ostensibly  designed  to  establish  the  property 
rights  of  an  individual  in  an  invention  but  in  reality  used  to  serve 
as  an  incentive  to  others  to  improve  and  to  enlarge  upon  the 
progress  recorded.  The  courts,  in  this  country  at  least,  have  elab- 
orated on  this  principle  and  have  ruled  that  under  established  laws 
an  inventor  or  discoverer  has  a  right  to  the  exclusive  enjoyment  of 
his  invention  or  discovery  and  that  his  right  is  secured  to  him  for  a 
limited  but  definite  period  of  time  by  our  patent  laws  and  for  an 
indefinite  period  of  time  by  strict  secrecy. 
Thus  it  has  been  decreed  (Tabor  v.  Hoffman,  118  N.  Y.,  30-8') 
that  "  independent  of  copyright  or  letters  patent  an  inventor  or 
author  has  by  the  common  law  an  exclusive  property  in  his  inven- 
tion or  composition,  until  by  publication  it  becomes  the  property 
of  the  general  public."  Publication  has  in  turn  been  defined  as  the 
freely  giving  or  the  selling  of  a  composition  or  an  article  to  another 
which  other  person  may  impart  his  knowledge  of  the  article  to 
others  or  further  elaborate  on  the  discovery  or  invention  and  thereby 
secure  for  himself  such  property  right  in  the  elaborated  invention 
as  may  be  available  under  the  provision  of  existing  laws. 
Thus  in  the  same  case  quoted  above  (Tabor  v.  Hoffman,  118 
N.  Y.,  30-8)  the  New  York  Court  said:  "If  a  valuable  medicine 
is  not  protected  by  patent,  is  put  upon  the  market,  anyone  may,  if  he 
can  by  a  chemical  analysis  and  a  series  of  experiments,  or  by  any 
other  use  of  the  medicine  itself  aided  by  his  own  resources  only, 
discover  the  ingredients  and  their  proportions.  If  he  thus  finds 
out  the  secret  of  the  proprietor  he  may  use  it  to  any  extent  that  he 
desires  without  danger  of  interference  by  the  courts." 
