Beedle v. Bennett

Citations

• 122 U.S. 71
• 7 S. Ct. 1090
• 30 L. Ed. 1074
• 1887 U.S. LEXIS 2088

Syllabus

<p>If a bill in equity to restrain an infringement of letters-patent be filed • before the expiration of the patent, the jurisdiction of the Ci. ,/uit Court is not defeated by the expiration of the patent by lapse of time before . the final decree.</p> <p>The case of Eames v. Andrews, just decided, is applied to the issues in this case, so far as they are identical with those in that case.</p> <p>The use of this 'invention by the inventor in the manner stated in the opinion of the court, and his delay in applying for a patent under the circumstances therein detailed for more than two years prior to his application, did not constitute an abandonment of his invention, or a dedication of it to the public, and did not forfeit his right to a pat.ent under the law, as it stood at the time of his application.</p> <p>The use by the respondents of driven wells for their personal use on their farms, which wells were operated by means of the process patented to Green, constituted an infringement of that patent.</p>