O'reilly v. Morse

56 U.S. 62 (1854)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P invented an effective telegraph by the use of repeaters to boost the signal as it degraded in transmission. P’s invention enabled long-distance communications within minutes. This invention encompassed two patents granted in 1940 and another in 1848. Ds copied P’s invention and set up their own telegraphic network. P sued D for infringement. Ds claimed the patents were invalid contending that all, or at least some European telegraphs, were invented and made public before the discovery claimed by P; and that the process and method by which he conveys intelligence to a distance is substantially the same, with the exception only of its capacity for impressing upon paper the marks or signs described in the alphabet he invented. The court found the patent valid and Ds appealed. At issue, in part, was the eighth claim wherein P claimed ownership rights to any future invention that used electro-magnetism to print characters or letters at a distance.