Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1883 — THE DRIVE-WELL PATENT. [ARTICLE]

THE DRIVE-WELL PATENT.

Tlie District Courts of Two States Render a Decision Holding that the Patent Is Void. The United States District Court, sitting in Des Moines—says a recent dispatch from that city—rendered a decision in the celebrated drive-well case, holding the patent void. The question was decided in the case of Andrews vs. Hovey, of Independence The case was brought before the courts of lowa and Minnesota together, the Judges being Love and Shiras, of lowa, and Nels on, of Minnesota, and is conclusive as to all ca?es pending in both States. Judge Shiras delivered the opinion, holding: 1. That the patent is invalid, because the inventor, Col. Green, of New York, allowed it to go into public use for more than two years prior to his application for a patent 2. That the reissue was void, because it was not for the same invention as the original patent, and void because that the instances of prior use were, in the main, mere experiments of wells at Independence. lowa, in 1861, and the successful use of several wells at Milwaukee in 1849 and 1850 were from substantially the same invention as Green’s. Judge Love concurred and held further that, under the act of Congress of 1889, it was immaterial whether prior use of the invention for the two years therein mentioned was with or without the consent and allowance of the Invent r, and that such prior use in either ca<e invalidated the patent Judge Nelson dissented The opinion was very long, and all th ; questions involved were discussed wi’h much learn'ng. Judge McCrary sat with the Judges dtlHng the reading of the opinion, which was listened to with the closest attention by the bar and a room full of spectatora The plaintiffs, if an appeal is made, will appeal on law points.