CHAPTER 19

GOVERNMENT CONNIVANCE AT THE DESPOILING OF A POOR INVENTOR

Incredible, yet it is true, that if a patent is infringed upon, and for some reason the inventor, though cognizant of it, does not commence suit, it is held that he acquiesced in the same, and the parties who are stealing his invention, as well as others, can go on robbing him with impunity.

The "INTERFERENCE" trick is usually resorted to, to transfer a valuable invention from a poor but rightful owner to those who want it, and have the money to make profitable use of it and pay for the trick. The most surprising part of it is that it is done quite legally and generally successfully and with no "comeback." It is also very remarkable for its simplicity of procedure, which is usually as follows:

A manufacturer of a certain line of goods makes it his business promptly to obtain copies of all patents in his own line of goods as soon as they are issued. When he finds something that he thinks he wants or can use to advantage in his business, he promptly goes ahead, starts to make it by copying the patent illustration in the published records, and as promptly and innocently files a patent application in the patent office, which is an exact duplicate and copy of the other man's patent that has been issued and published.

In due course he gets the return of his patent application from the patent office with the citation against it of the other man's patent that he is copying. He then promptly notes the date of the patent application of the other man's patent and files what is called in the patent office as "INTERFERENCE," simply claiming that he invented his invention or thought about it, or dreamed about it at a previous time, allowing himself a sufficient margin of a year or two before the date of application of the other man's patent, and thereby claiming himself the rightful inventor of the same, boosting up his own false affidavit by one or two lying witnesses, which experience has demonstrated is a commercial commodity. Having done that, it is necessary for the right inventor, who has received due notice from the Patent Office, to come and defend his title to his patent, in spite of the fact that the patent has been issued to him after the customary and usual formalities in due legal form, and payment of all legal fees. In order to defend the same now, he is obliged to engage attorneys who require the usual and indispensable retainers, fees, etc., without any certainty at all of being able to retain his just claim to his patent, for the very simple reason that the time of the filing of his patent was probably within a reasonable time of the making of his invention, and he has to combat the sworn testimony of his adversaries, who have given themselves ample latitude in insuring their priority claim. While they are swearing falsely, they reason, and rightly so, that it is no more criminal to lie by the year than by the month, and consequently they make sure of it, and give themselves plenty of rope, with the result that the rightful inventor, after paying his original fees for the obtaining of the patents and the second fees for defending it, usually loses the same and his invention, simply because circumstances and his conscience do not permit him to defend himself against his adversaries with the same weapons he is attacked with, namely, perjury; thus he remains by force of circumstances an honest man considerably poorer, and a whole lot wiser by his experience.