Benjamin Vaughan Abbott

“ They know, theoretically, that a patent, to be sustained in the courts, must be for an invention which is "new and useful"; but fail, practically, to apply the test. Evidently the existing system tends to betray an over-sanguine inventor. A solicitor of patents will cheerfully take a fee and undertake to obtain letters. The patent-office will accept further fees; will make an examination for novelty, which is good, as far as it goes, and in some measure a protection against launching an unprofitable venture; and will grant a patent. ”

“ Each State has, however, power to say how explosives shall be carried within her own boundaries; and this leads to another infelicity, which is, that the law of the Union and of a State may clash. For example, United States law requires the blasting-powders made from nitro-glycerine, and the oil itself, to be packed and labeled in a peculiar way, when they are to be sent by rail from one State to another. The law of Colorado imposes restriction on nitro-glycerine, but, as amended last summer, for the convenience of the miners, it exempts dynamite and other powders. ”

“ With respect to delay, while it is familiar that an inventor is not limited to any particular time within which he must apply, yet the Supreme Court has lately said, quite emphatically, that, unless he is vigilant and active in applying, or there is good excuse, such as sickness, poverty, etc., for his postponement, he runs the risk that his invention will be considered abandoned to the public. The story of the case was, that Woodbury, in 1848, applied for a patent for an improvement in planing-machines, but it was rejected. ”

“ For the proprietor of the "Times" it was argued that a newspaper like the "Times" is not a proper subject of copyright; and that, there being no copyright law available for articles in newspapers, the publisher has "a common-law right"—a natural property, independent of statute—by virtue of which he can forbid any one else from reprinting them. There is said to be a former English decision to this effect. But the judge decided, in respect to the Beaconsfield memoir, that the "Times" newspaper can be copyrighted, and that it should have been, in order to sustain the claim made. ”

“ The mixing of certain substances together or the heating of a substance to a certain temperature is a process. If the mode of doing it or the apparatus in or by which it may be done is sufficiently obvious to suggest itself to a person skilled in the particular art, then pointing out in the patent the process to be performed is sufficient, without giving directions, which would be supererogatory, as to the apparatus or method to be employed. ”

“ The purpose of any kind of picture intended to be hung as an ornamental work of art, and that of a mere pattern to be used as a guide for an embroiderer or artisan, are so different that the pattern can not be called a copy of the picture, in the sense that it violates the copyright law. ”

“ There have been noteworthy decisions on the effect of an inventor's disclosure of his invention, or of his delay in applying for a patent, to impair his right. They indicate that the importance to inventors of "keeping their own counsel" is not sufficiently understood. An inventor may make use of his invention to test its operation, ascertain its defects, and mature improvements, quite freely ”

“ Trade-marks have thus been distinctly dissociated from inventions, as they should be.
Just as naturalists pronounce it difficult to draw a distinct line between plants and animals, so lawyers are finding confusion between what is a book, what a machine. ”

“ A publisher copyrighted and brought out an 'arrangement,' made by an American musician, of a popular French waltz, christening it 'Manola Waltz.' A competitor republished it with scarcely any changes, and when the first publisher complained, 'Your waltz is only a copy of mine,' he answered, 'Yours is only a copy of the Frenchman's.' The judge said that a man need not be an original author—the sole creator of the work; the first publisher could fairly get a copyright for his arrangement' ”

“ Another English decision has said that, when two or more persons own together the copyright of an opera or drama, one can not represent it or license a manager to do so, without consent of the others. ”

“ More lately an explosion of dynamite on board the Glasgow steamer Severn is reported to have killed nine persons and injured forty-three, four of these fatally. These things have brought to public notice the want of any distinct, efficient law to punish the sending of explosives on board ship with the purpose of destroying her on her voyage. If an explosion occurs, if life or property is destroyed, the general laws against murder, piracy, or defrauding insurers, would probably apply. ”

“ This is as much as to say that a writer shall not be compelled to furnish manuscript which he withholds because he knows it will be published under another man's name in a way to deceive the public; but whether an author has a legal right to have his own name appear on a book he has sold outright is another question. ”

“ There is great increase in the number, variety, and potential energy of explosives, and they are causing a startling number of disasters; and these involve not only the proprietors who have the control, and the hands who do the work of the magazine, mine, quarry, factory, steam-ship, locomotive, in which the explosion occurs, but also the general public—by-standers, persons walking, riding, or lodging near, passengers by train or steamboat, carriers or purchasers of dangerous goods improperly packed, and many others. ”

“ Cities and towns very generally have ordinances which restrict carting them through the crowded streets, but these do not apply to long journeys. Before railroad days it was well understood that Congress controlled carriage of dangerous articles by water, for to regulate navigation was early understood to be a duty of-the Federal Government. But in those days nitro-glycerine was unknown, and the fulminates were little used. Hence both were ignored in the early laws of Congress regulating water-carriage of dangerous articles, which mentioned only gunpowder and acids, and the like. ”

“ Dramatic copyright is a fruitful field of litigation. To protect a play by any legal methods is difficult, and the laws having that aim have not been so distinctly and judiciously framed as they might be. Several suits have been brought, in this country, within the past year or two, to protect noted plays. An English suit, which reached an authoritative decision in the House of Lords, arose upon two rival dramatizations of Eugene Sue's novel, "The Wandering Jew." ”

“ Folly of workmen solves many of this class of disasters. In Sawyer City, Pennsylvania, a gang of men digging a well were about to set a torpedo for blasting. The foreman, said to have been an intemperate man, hastily poured two quarts of nitro-glycerine into the shell, and then attempted to fit the cap to its place. It was tight, he gave it an angry blow with his fist, the charge exploded, and five men were killed, three others being badly hurt. Criminal use of dynamite has been detected in several cases. ”

“ A majority of existing law reports have been compiled by the reporters in the expectation of taking out a copyright and realizing a profit upon sales. The practice of paying a reporter a salary, now very common, is of recent introduction. ”

“ Aside from the hope that villains capable of forming such a plot are very few in number, it is well known that most of the cargo of ocean-bound steamers is received direct from responsible exporting houses, and a stranger could scarcely obtain access to their packing-rooms in order to conceal cartridges in their merchandise. Still there must always be some tons of miscellaneous parcels, and the ship-owners can know little or nothing of the senders of these. It must always be possible for a schemer, under pretense of taking passage, to send a trunk aboard containing an infernal machine. ”

“ Persons desiring to inform themselves with regard to the state of the art in any line of invention can gain much knowledge by procuring the specifications and drawings in the sub-class containing such invention, or can subscribe for future specifications and drawings in any desired class. ”

“ Such laws as exist are designed rather to forbid concealing the character of explosives in order to avoid the ship-owner's objection to take them, or his demand of a higher freight on the score of the danger, than to prevent the heinous offense of plotting the destruction of the vessel. For example, in New York city the authorities discovered that hands on board the Havana steamship Saratoga were concealing gunpowder packed in fourteen fifty-pound cans (seven hundred pounds in all) , underneath berths in state-rooms. ”

“ One can not judge from the brief accounts given what are the precise causes of such disasters, but there is reason to believe that ignorance is prolific; that many persons have only a vague knowledge of the qualities of nitro-glycerine, can not recognize it when they see it, and are not acquainted with the various forms in which it is compounded or with the peculiar dangers of handling it carelessly. ”

“ This article will describe some of the more salient steps—the legislation and lately reported decisions—which are of interest to all friends of practical science. That such readers have a general knowledge of the system which has been established by Congress in order "to promote the progress of science and the useful arts"—the patent and copyright laws—may be taken for granted. ”

“ A lawyer will readily spend a few hundred dollars in organizing a company, and will execute his task skillfully: he has no responsibility for the mercantile value of the project. Two or three thousand dollars more are easily expended in facilities for manufacture, in starting a sales-room, and in advertising. ”

“ A case of some hardship was that of a card-manufacturer who ran machines of his invention for several years under arrangements in-' tended to secure secrecy: a limited number of workmen were employed; the factory-doors were kept locked, each workman having a key ”

“ When explosions are mentioned, one naturally thinks first of gunpowder. Explosions in powder-factories in Maine and Missouri destroyed the entire building and killed, in one case one workman, in the other eleven. ”

“ The vice-chancellor thought his claim good; and, indeed, there is an earlier decision to much the same effect. But Miss Braddon's publisher learned that, as long ago as 1801, a novel written by still another author had been published under the same title—"Splendid Misery." Partly on the ground that this publication had rendered the title common property, so that now any one may use it, the Court of Appeal decided in favor of Miss Braddon's publisher. Apparently, however, the judges consider the general English law to be: 1. A title has no special protection by the copyright law ”

“ But the nitro-glycerine easily drains off from the powder and oozes from any crevice in the vessel in which the compound is kept. Drops of it thus bedewing the edges of a box may very easily be mistaken for oil escaping, and if workmen ignorantly endeavor to nail the box tighter or to open it for examination there will be a disastrous explosion. ”

“ He argued that it was impossible for him to know, when ordering books from America, that they contained English extracts, and that he ought not to be punished for simply importing and selling books in the ordinary way of business. ”

“ When the directory for London was established, which was about seventy years ago, the necessary information was gathered or furnished by post-office clerks; hence the book was called, naturally enough, the "Post-Office Directory." In later years the post-office aid was discontinued; the proprietor of the enterprise continued, however, to issue the book annually, on information gathered by his own canvassers. ”