George Sutherland

“ While the analogy between the case of a reissue patent and that of copying for interference is not always an exact one, it is sufficiently so, as applied to the present case, to make these decisions pertinent, and the principle which they announce is controlling. ”

“ We have no hesitation in saying that the delay was unreasonable, and, under the circumstances shown by the record, constitutes laches, by which the petitioner lost whatever rights it might otherwise have been entitled to.
We do not overlook the importance of not applying so narrowly the patent law as to discourage the inventor from exercising his creative genius, or the manufacturer or capitalist from assisting in the necessary work of bringing the invention into beneficial use ”

“ Reiher, supra, and other reissue cases, which, as we have seen, adopt the two-year time limit by analogy to the law of public use before application for patent, and, while it is not said in terms, the plain import of the citation of and reliance upon these cases is that the effect of the two years' delay, as recognized in those cases, may be overcome where it 'is accounted for and excused by special circumstances which show it to have been not unreasonable,' and, properly understood, there is nothing in the opinion to the contrary. ”