Stephens v. Salisbury

Citations

• 1 MacA. Pat. Cas. 379
• 22 F. Cas. 1281

Syllabus

<p>Drawing and model to be consulted. — The drawing and model filed with an application are to be taken together in explanation of the specification.</p> <p>Specification — liberally construed — requirements of. — The construction which ought to be given to the specification should not be too strict and technical. The proper inquiry is, Has the specification substantially complied with that which the public has a right to require; has .the appellee communicated to the public the manner of carrying his invention into effect, so that a skillful workman can carry into execution the plan of the invention?</p> <p>Effect of the rules of the office. — Whatever may be the meaning or effect of rule ? of the Patent Office rules, the law must always be looked to, and whatever principle stated in the rules is not found in the provisions of the law cannot be depended on.</p> <p>Reduction to actual use — not required by law before patent. — There is no express requirement in the patent laws that an inventor shall reduce his invention to actual use before he can obtain a patent, nor is there any time limited within which he is to disclose his invention before application for a patent.</p> <p>Delay in filing application — abandonment.—The inventor is allowed a reasonable time within which to mature his invention, according to the circumstances of the case, and his right can be affected by no lapse of time short of that which will be sufficient to show an abandonment of his claims, during which time no subsequent inventor, however original or bona fide, can deprive him of his priority.</p> <p>Measure of proof varies — verbal description of intricate devices. — The measure of proof requisite to show the date of an invention on an issue of priority depends upon the nature of the invention, the capacity of the witnesses, and the distance of time. Where the invention is complicated of many parts, contrivances, and devices, mere verbal description may be insufficient to establish the pri