Facts of the Case
This is a writ of error to the Circuit Court of Pennsylvania. The original action was brought by the plaintiffs in error for an asserted violation of a patent, granted to them on 6 July, 1818, for a new and useful improvement in the art of making leather tubes or hose for conveying air, water, and other fluids. The cause was tried upon the general issue, and a verdict was found for the defendant upon which judgment passed in his favor, and the correctness of that judgments is now in controversy before this Court.
Conclusions
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The true construction of the patent law is that the first inventor cannot acquire a good title to a patent if he suffers the thing invented to go into public use or to be publicly sold for use before he makes application for a patent. This voluntary act, or acquiescence in the public sale or use, is an abandonment of his right, or rather creates a disability to comply with the terms and conditions of the law on which alone the Secretary of State is authorized to grant him a patent.
The America Invents Act May Be Constitutionally Infirm if It Repeals the Bar Against Patenting After Secret Commercial Use
Engage Volume 13, Issue 3 October 2012
Note from the Editor: This paper analyzes the constitutionality of the new conditions for patentability...