Morgan v. Seaward

Name: Morgan v. Seaward
Cite: 1 Web Pat Cas 187
Year: 1837
Bluebook cite: Morgan v. Seaward, 1 Web Pat Cas 187, 197 (1837).
Author
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Item Type: case
Summary: " A grant of a monopoly for an invention which is altogether useless may well be considered as mischievous to the State, to the hurt of trade, or generally inconvenient, within the meaning of the statute of Jac. 1., which requires, as a condition of the grant, that it should not be so; for no addition or improvement of such an invention could be made by any one during the continuance of the monopoly, without obliging the person making use of it to purchase the useless invention; and on a review of the cases, it may be doubted whether the question of utility is anything more than a compendious mode, introduced in comparatively modern times, of deciding the question whether the patent be void under the Statute of Monopolies."

on 172, "It is not for you to consider to what extent the thing is useful. If it is a useful invention, then it is a subject to be protected by patent, and if, on the other hand, it is of no use, then it is no subject to be protected by patent. The issue is, whether it is of any use at all."

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