Mowry v. Whitney
Supreme Court of the United States
Asa Whitney, of Philadelphia, had obtained, on the 25th April, 1848, a patent for fourteen years for an improvement in annealing and cooling cast-iron car-wheels. This patent expired, of course, by its terms on the 25th of April, 1862. Just before its expiration, that is to say, on the 21st of March, Albert Mowry, of Cincinnati, also obtained a patent for fourteen yeárs, for a process for annealing car-wheels, of which he professed to be the inventor.
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Asa Whitney, of Philadelphia, had obtained, on the 25th April, 1848, a patent for fourteen years for an improvement in annealing and cooling cast-iron car-wheels. This patent expired, of course, by its terms on the 25th of April, 1862. Just before its expiration, that is to say, on the 21st of March, Albert Mowry, of Cincinnati, also obtained a patent for fourteen yeárs, for a process for annealing car-wheels, of which he professed to be the inventor. In March, 1862, Whitney — the expiration of his patent now approaching — applied to the Commissioner of Patents for an extension of the patent…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Miller
The bill was demurred to, and the demurrer sustained, on two grounds:
First. That the extended patent had expired, by its own limitation, before the bill was filed; and
Secondly. That the complainant could not, in his own right, sustain such a suit.
As regards the first of these propositions we do not deem it necessary to make any decision. When a case arises -in which the United States, or the Attorney-General, shall initiate a suit to have a patent declared null, ab initio, which, though no longer in force as to present or future infringements, is used to sustain suits for infringements during…
2Cited by66 opinions
- Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food MacHinery & Chemical Corp.Supreme Court of the United States · 1965
- Elizabeth v. Pavement Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1878
- Root v. Railway Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1882
- United States v. San Jacinto Tin Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1888
- United States v. American Bell Telephone Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1888
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