Why Has America Stopped Inventing? by Darin Gibby

Author:Darin Gibby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
Published: 2017-03-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

COLT TURNS TO THE COURTS

After struggling for twenty years, Colt had—with the help of the Mexican War—turned himself into a millionaire almost overnight. But he was facing a major problem. By 1848, copycats were hitting the gun stores and Colt’s patent was about to expire. Valid for 14 years, the patent was set to lapse in 1850. Without his patent, Colt would be hard pressed to stop gun makers from producing revolvers.

Fortunately, Colt had one of the country’s best patent attorneys, Edward N. Dickerson, who knew how to make the most of the patent system. Seeing that litigation was imminent, in 1848 Dickerson filed a request to have Colt’s patent “reissued.” This was a process where Colt could argue that the patent was partly defective; that is, Colt had left out some kind of improvement or failed to fully explain his idea. Because the patent was defective, Colt could fix the mistake in the patent office. It was a common practice, done by Morse as well, and it enabled Colt to strengthen his patent before initiating a lawsuit.

A year later, Dickerson petitioned to have Colt’s patent extended for another seven years. To qualify, Colt had to show that this was a valuable patent to the country and that Colt was unable to reap the expected profits. As part of this process, Colt had to give notice of his intention to let others, usually competitors, object to the extension. When all the evidence was considered, Congress granted the petition, extending Colt’s patent until February 25, 1857.

With more patent life, Colt focused his attention on wielding his patent to stop the infringements. In the spring of 1851, Colt decided to enforce his patent against Massachusetts Arms in a Boston court, which also was where Goodyear was preparing to assert his patent against Day.

Boston was a good choice for Colt to start his fight. It was close to home, meaning he would have more time to spend on other pursuits, such as spending his new-found wealth. Colt had recently purchased a speculative tract of land on the Connecticut River and was studying how to keep out the flood waters so he could build a factory. At the same time, he was also making plans to sail for England where he would exhibit five hundred guns at London’s Crystal Palace Exposition with a not-so-novel marketing strategy—pouring free brandy down the parched throats of his visitors.

The trouble with Colt’s most formidable infringer began when two of Colt’s former employees started manufacturing their own revolvers in Springfield, Massachusetts. The company was aptly named the Massachusetts Arms Company. Secretly, Colt had his cousin purchase one of the infringing revolvers from the factory. “I do not want them to know the arms are for me,” he told his cousin. “I want them immediately & you will confer a grate favour on me by getting & forwarding them as soon as you can, & much oblige.”

Convinced the revolvers infringed his patent, Colt had his patent lawyer, Dickerson, promptly file a patent infringement suit in Boston in May 1851.

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