o attribute dishonesty or cupidity as the root of the defence in all
patent litigation would be aiming very wide of the mark, for in no
class of suits that come before the courts are there any that present
a greater variety of complex, finely shaded questions, or that
require more delicacy of interpretation, than those that involve the
construction of patents, particularly those relating to electrical
devices. Indeed, a careful study of legal procedure of this character
could not be carried far without discovery of the fact that in numerous
instances the differences of opinion between litigants were marked by
the utmost bona fides.

On the other hand, such study would reveal many cases of undoubted
fraudulent intent, as well as many bold attempts to deprive the inventor
of the fruits of his endeavors by those who have sought to evade,
through subtle technicalities of the law, the penalty justly due them
for trickery, evasion, or open contempt of the rights of others.

In the history of science and of the arts to which the world has
owed its continued progress from year to year there is disclosed one
remarkable fact, and that is, that whenever any important discovery or
invention has been made and announced by one man, it has almost always
been disclosed later that other men--possibly widely separated and
knowing nothing of the other's work--have been following up the same
general lines of investigation, independently, with the same object in
mind. Their respective methods might be dissimilar while tending to the
same end, but it does not necessarily follow that any one of these other
experimenters might ever have achieved the result aimed at, although,
after the proclamation of success by one, it is easy to believe that
each of the other independent investigators might readily persuade
himself that he would ultimately have reached the goal in just that same
way.

This peculiar coincidence of simultaneous but separate work not only
comes to light on the bringing out of great and important discoveries
or inventions, but becomes more apparent if a new art is disclosed, for
then the imagination of previous experimenters is stimulated through
wide dissemination of the tidings, sometimes resulting in more or less
effort to enter the newly opened field with devices or methods that
resemble closely the original and fundamental ones in principle and
application. In this and other ways there arises constantly in the
United Sta