Mason v. Hepburn
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
13 App. D.C. 86, 1898 C.D. 510 (1898)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
Hepburn (defendant) applied for a patent on a one-piece firearm magazine in April 1894 and received the patent in September of that year. Mason (plaintiff) filed an application to patent the same invention in December 1894. However, in an interference proceeding, Mason offered evidence that he had conceived of the magazine in 1887 and reduced it to practical form in the shops of a gun company. Mason’s work on the invention was limited to the creation of a single magazine, of which only Mason and one or two gun-company employees were aware, after which the invention simply sat in storage. The commissioner of patents ruled that Hepburn was the rightful patentee. Mason appealed. The case came before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Shepard, J.)
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