Gaskill v. Myers

81 F. 854, 26 C.C.A. 642, 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 1905
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJuly 1, 1897
DocketNo. 335
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 81 F. 854 (Gaskill v. Myers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gaskill v. Myers, 81 F. 854, 26 C.C.A. 642, 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 1905 (9th Cir. 1897).

Opinions

ROSS, Circuit Judge.

This was an action at law to recover damages for an alleged infringement of two certain letters patent issued to the defendant in error by the United States, — one, No. 11,383, which was a reissue, and the other a design patent, No. 22,911. The validity of both patents is challenged by the plaintiffs in error. In respect to a reissued patent the settled law is, as recently declared by the supreme court in the case of Topliff v. Topliff, 145 U. S. 156, 170, 12 Sup. Ct. 825, 831:

“That the power to reissue may be exercised when the patent is inoperative by reason of the fact that the specification as originally drawn was defective or insufficient, or the claims were narrower than the actual invention of the patentee, provided the error has arisen from inadvertence or mistake, and the patentee is guilty of no fraud or deception, but that such reissues are subject to the following qualifications: First. That it shall be for the same invention as the original patent, as such invention appears from the specification and claims of such original. Second. That due diligence must be exercised in discovering the mistake in the original patent, and that, if it be sought for the purpose of enlarging the claim, the lapse of two years will ordinarily, though not always, be treated as evidence of an abandonment of the new matter to the [855]*855public, to the same extent that a failure by the inventor to apply for a patent within two years from the public use or sale of his invention is regarded by the statute as conclusive evidence of an abandonment of the patent to the public. Third. That this court will not review the decision of the commissioner upon the question of inadvertence, accident, or mistake, unless the matter is manifest from the record, but that the question whether the application was made within a reasonable time is, in most if not in all such cases, a question of law for the court.”

In the case cited the court proceeded to say:

“To hold that a patent can never be reissued for an enlarged claim would be not only to override the obvious intent of the statute; but would operate in many cases with great hardship upon the patentee. The specification and claims of a patent, particularly if the invention be at all complicated, constitute one of the most difficult legal instruments to draw with accuracy; and, in view ol' the fact that valuable inventions are often placed in the hands of inexperienced persons to prepare such specifications and claims, it is no matter of surprise that the latter frequently fail to describe with requisite certainty the exact invention of the patentee, and err either in claiming that which the patentee had not in fact invented, or in omitting some element which was a valuable or essential part of his actual invention. Under such circumstances, it would be manifestly unjust to deny him the benefit of a reissue to secure to him his actual invention, provided it is evident that there has been a mistake, and he has been guilty of no want of reasonable diligence in discovering it, and no third persons have in the meantime acquired the right to manufacture or sell what he had failed to claim. The object of the patent law7 is to secure to inventors a monopoly of what they have acfually invented or discovered, and it ought not to be defeated by a too strict and technical adherence to the letter of the statute, or by the application of artificial rules of interpretation.”

The statute upon the subject, and thus construed by the supreme court, is as follows:

“Whenever any patent is inoperative or invalid, by reason of a, defective or insufficient specification, or by reason of the patentee claiming as'Ms own invention or discovery more than he had a right to claim as new, if the error has arisen by inadvertence, accident, or mistake, and without any fraudulent, or deceptive intention, the commissioner shall, on the surrender of such patent and the payment of the duty required by law7, cause' a new patent for the same invention, and in accordance with the corrected specification, io be issued to the patentee, or, in the ease of his death or of an assignment of the' whole or jmy undivided part; of the original patent, then to his executors, administra! orsj or assigns, for the unexpired pari of the term of the original patent. Much surrender shall take effect upon the issue of the amended patent. The commissioner may, in his discretion, cause several patents to be issued for distinct and separate parts of the thing patented, upon demand of the applicant, and upon payment of the required fee for a re-issue for eacli of such re-issued letters-patent. The specifications and claim in every such case shall be subject To revision and restriction in the same manner as original applications are. Every patent so reissued, together with the corrected specification, shall have the same effect and operation in law, on the trial of all actions for causes thereafter arising, as if the same had been originally filed in such corrected form; bxff no new7 matter shall be introduced into the specification, nor in case of a machine-patent shall the model or drawings be amended, except each by the other; but when there is neither model nor drawing, amendments may be made upon proof saiisfaeiory to the commissioner that such new matter or amendment was a part of the original invention, and was omitted from the specification by inadvertence, accident, or mistake, as aforesaid.” Rev. St. § 4916.

Prom the statute and from the decisions of the supreme court, it is clear that it is essential to the validity of a reissued patent that it be for the same invention as the original patent, as such invention appears from the specification and claims of such original.

[856]*856Turning now to the patent to the defendant in error, in lieu of which his patent 2To. 11,383 was issued, we find the object of his invention therein described declared as follows:

“The object of my invention is to provide a device whereby I am enabled to use an ordinary Coal-oil lamp within a grate-or fireplace, and, by the employment of a peculiarly constructed inclosing easing, to prevent the flame of the lamp from being affected by the usual strong draft of the chimney fine, it also lias for its object a means for providing a proper circulation of air about the lower part of the lamp and oil chamber, without subjecting it to the chimney draft, a means for concentrating the heat and projecting it into the room, and a means for opening communication with the chimney in order to discharge the odors arising when the lamp is extinguished, and prevent their escaping into the room. A valve or damper is so arranged that the top may also he used for cooking purposes.”

The specification followed, making reference to annexed drawings for illustration, describing a casing, A, of a segmental or parabolic form, in horizontal section, the axis being in a vertical line, and a corrugated or other reflecting surface, B, fitted around the inner surface. The exterior form of the back, the inventor declared, “is adapted to fit into the fireplace after the basket and ash pan have been removed; but the casing may be made in other forms without altering the character of my invention.” The bottom of the casing, B1, is described as having a large opening through the center, into which the oil reservoir of the lamp, 0, is fitted.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 F. 854, 26 C.C.A. 642, 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 1905, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gaskill-v-myers-ca9-1897.