Patentee

“ If the patentee is dealing with a manufacturer it is well to point out not only the possible advantage he may have by securing the control of the patent, but also the possible loss that his business may suffer by allowing one of his competitors to obtain its control. ”

“ Undoubtedly a patent, like any other written instrument, is to be interpreted by its own terms. But when a patent bears on its face a particular construction, inasmuch as the specification and claim are in the words of the patentee, it is reasonable to hold that such a construction may be confirmed by what the patentee said when he was making his application. The understanding of a party to a contract has always been regarded as of some importance in its interpretation. ”

“ The original conception and working out of an invention is usually a labor of love on the part of the inventor: having perfected his invention in every detail, he finds able and skilled counsel waiting to prepare and prosecute his application for patent before the Patent Office Examiner. When the patent is allowed or issued, the patentee's real work begins—that of turning the patent into money. This is the business end of the inventor's work, which is generally to his interest financially to undertake himself, or to have under his immediate supervision. ”

“ In our patent law, the inventor must file his specification before he can procure his patent. In England, the patent contains upon its face a condition that if the patentee shall not make and file a specification within a limited time after the date of the patent, then the patent, and all the liberties and advantages under it, shall cease and be void. ”

“ Unless there are a great many manufacturers in the line of industry to which the patent relates, and unless the invention has real merit so that it will be readily adapted by the manufacturers, the patentee cannot hope to realize any considerable amount from selling shop-rights alone. As a general thing, patents for mechanical inventions can be disposed of to better advantage by other means, or by selling shop-rights in connection with other methods; for example, if the patentee was selling his patent by territorial grants, he might grant shop-rights in such territory as he has not sold ”

“ However unacquainted he may be in a business way, every patentee can, more or less, in his immediate neighborhood, consult with merchants, friends, and others in the line of his invention, who can post him upon the right parties to submit the patent to, and the best way to see them about it, and perhaps go with him to visit such as might be interested in the invention. ”

“ In some cases, if the patentee does not wish to retain the whole patent for his own use, an excellent plan is to commence the manufacture of the invention in a suitable locality, and after the business is so far under way as to show progress and profit, then sell out the business with license under the patent. ”

“ The eighteenth section provides, in substance, that whenever any patentee of an invention or discovery shall desire an extension of his patent beyond the term of its limitation, he may make application therefor, in writing, to the Commissioner of the Patent-office, setting forth the grounds thereof. ”

“ Doubtless, a patentee is entitled to every use of which his invention is susceptible, whether such use be known or unknown to him; but the person who has taken his device, and, by improvements thereon, has adapted it to a different industry, may also draw to himself the quality of inventor. If, for instance, a person were to take a coffee mill and patent it as a mill for grinding spices, the double use would be too manifest for serious argument. ”

“ New light breaking in upon the patentee as the progress of improvement goes on, and as other inventors enter the field, and his monopoly becomes less and less necessary to the public, might easily generate in his mind an idea that his invention was really more broad and comprehensive than had been set forth in the specification of his patent. ”

“ That the patentee himself is the best selling agent there can be no doubt, for he is familiar with the construction and operation of his invention in every detail, and knows its merits and superior points far better than anyone else, besides manufacturers and others wishing to purchase patents invariably desire to deal with the patentee himself. ”

“ Generally speaking, it will not be hard to find a party willing to advance sufficient means to promote an invention which is protected by a patent for a certain percentage of the net receipts arising from its manufacture, sale, or territorial grants, and the patentee will probably find a person among his own acquaintances who will not only be glad to furnish the means necessary, but also be of value to the patentee in realizing from his invention. ”

“ Patents may also be granted for a machine or for a separate and distinct device, but it cannot be held that such a patent is valid unless it be proved that the patentee is the original and first inventor of the thing patented. ”

“ During the term for which the patent is granted the assignee of all the right, title, and interest of the patentee in the same may himself sell, assign, and convey the patent for the residue of the term granted, or he may continue to hold the same during that period, and may make, use, and vend the patented improvement, but his title to the invention terminates when the term of the patent expires ”

“ If the invention is a meritorious one there will be more than one of the manufacturers to whom the patentee may write, who will become interested, and when such a state exists, the patentee can begin to be more exacting as to his demands since competition has been created between the manufacturers. ”

“ Patents, whether basic or for improvements, must comply accurately and precisely with the statutory requirement as to claims of invention or discovery. The limits of a paen t must be known for the protection of the patentee, the encouragement of the inventive genius of others, and the assurance that the subject of the patent will be dedicated ultimately to the public. ”

“ If the patentee have not the means to successfully demonstrate the value of his patent by actual trial, as above outlined, then the next best course would be to inquire among reliable manufacturers and ascertain the lowest price for which the invention can be manufactured in large quantities, and the highest price at which it will retail ”

“ In recent years many inventors have been quite successful in organizing stock companies on the basis of their patents. This is considered one of the best ways for handling patents for large and promising inventions, and it is a method that any patentee, with ordinary business ability, should be able to carry out successfully, providing his invention is of sufficient merit and importance to form a suitable basis for a successful stock company. ”

“ Enough has already been remarked to show that all the principal claims of the original patent recognize the chamber or tunnel and its appendages as one of the primary ingredients of the patented invention, and it is absolulely certain that the specification of that patent contains neither suggestion, indication, nor intimation that the original patentee made any other invention to accomplish the described functions than the one which includes the whole four described ingredients. ”

“ A few dollars invested in circulars will frequently be found of great value to the patentee if he intends to negotiate the sale of his patent mainly by advertising and correspondence, as they will save a great deal of writing and explaining as well as appear more business-like and attractive, and may be the means of more readily effecting a sale. ”

“ The patents under consideration expressly declare, for the most part, what the patentee claims; generally referring, it is true, to the specification as embodying the substantial form of the invention. Such a reference is proper if it does not introduce confusion and uncertainty, and is often necessary for restraining the too great generality, or enlarging the literal narrowness of the claim.
These remarks apply to reissue 1038, which we are now considering. We regard it as sufficiently explicit; and we think the patent is valid. ”

“ It will be well for the patentee to order some printed copies of his patent, as manufacturers and others usually ask for them if interested, in order that they may examine the patent, or have an expert to examine it, to ascertain its validity, novelty, andp. 52 what protection is really afforded by the patent. It cannot be denied that in either case the invention will suffer a cold-blooded rigid examination, and must stand or fall solely upon its merits. ”

“ Equivalents may be claimed by a patentee of an invention consisting of a combination of old elements or ingredients, as well as of any other valid patented improvement, provided the arrangement of the parts composing the invention is new, and will produce a new and useful result. ”

“ There are a number of plausible methods to which the patentee may resort in disposing of his patent without the aid of questionable selling agents, and it is the purpose of the following pages and succeeding chapter to set forth such methods as have in the past proved beneficial to patentees; those along which success have been achieved, and such as are employed by the most successful inventors of the present time in handling their patents. ”

“ If a man invent a new mode of printing, or of propelling boats, then a patent is secured to him for that particular invention, but it does not prevent another man from making use of the same power and improving on the machinery. But there is this benefit accruing to the original patentee, the one who makes the improvement after him is compelled to purchase a right of him. ”

“ I have some of those filters. The manufacturer of these things, who had no Patent, came to me to consult me upon the subject. I at once saw how the case stood, having regard to the specification of the Liverpool patentee, that he (the latter) had taken out a Patent for that which another man had before done, so exactly that the words of the specification and the drawings fitted the first man’s invention, which was without a Patent, therefore his Patent would have been null and void. ”

“ The extension of the patent under the eighteenth section is a new grant of the exclusive right or monopoly in the subject of the invention for the seven years. All the rights of assignees or grantees, whether in a share of the patent, or to a specified portion of the territory held under it, terminate at the end of the fourteen years, and become reinvested in the patentee by the new grant. ”

“ My second job is a patent saw-sharpening affair for circular saws. They want half-a-dozen different plane views, and a perspective arrangement, to be worked up from a few rough tracings, a rougher specification, and a photograph with a man in it—the patentee, I believe—so if I flatter him in the matter of unlikeness he is bound to be well pleased. I don’t know yet, though, if he has to go in or not. The Patent Office is bound to keep a record, in pictures or models, of the results of mens’ brains, whether eccentric or otherwise, but not of the general appearance of their possessors. ”

“ If, however, the invention is adjudged to have real merit and properly protected by the Letters Patent, business negotiations will likely begin, and the patentee will perhaps speedily make a satisfactory deal. ”

“ In order to thus demonstrate the value of a patent, the patentee must possess and advance the necessary means to carry it forward, though, if the experiment prove at all successful, the profits derived from the articles sold will in nearly all cases more than offset the expense incurred. ”

“ In this manner the patentee will probably get the best up-to-date list obtainable, and it may be set down as a fact, with very few exceptions, that if manufacturersp. 49 and dealers who make and handle just such articles as the patent calls for cannot be interested, it is very hard to interest others not engaged in such line, except when the invention is large, and requires a great deal of capital to work the same. ”

“ Having determined upon a visit, the patentee should endeavor to get a friend known by the parties to go with him to make their acquaintance. If the friend cannot go with the patentee, he will probably give him a note of introduction. ”

“ This patent, besides a grant of the territory, upon the terms and tenure of the original patent of 1620, included an authority to the patentee (William Bradford) and his associates "to incorporate, by some usual or fit name and title, him or themselves, or the people there inhabiting under him or them, and their successors ”

“ It may happen that his friend does not know the parties whom the patentee wishes to see, in that event he may know of someone who does, to whom he can introduce the patentee and who in turn may either go with him or arrange to make him known to the parties solicited. ”

“ Such an invention, if it produces a new and useful result, is the proper subject of a patent, and such a patent is valid and operative; but the right of the patentee under it differs in one respect from those of a patentee for an invention which consists of an entire machine, or of a new and useful device, as the rights of a patentee for a mere combination of old ingredients are not infringed, unless it appears that the alleged infringer made, used, or sold the entire combination. ”

“ Those who have any experience in business at the Patent Office know the fact, that the constant struggle between the office and applicants for patents has reference to the claim. The patentee seeks the broadest claim he can get. ”

“ The patentee should name a reasonable price for the patent, allowing the agent a liberal commission upon the price, and encouraging the agent by allowing him a certain percentage of all he may be able to get over and above the price named. This will encourage the agent to work for the highest price obtainable. The inventor should make every effortp. 45 to be able to personally attend to the details of selling, and keep the business under his personal supervision. ”