Agawam Company v. Jordan

First. 'This defendant denies that the said Goulding ever bestowed any ingenuity upon the invention or improvement mentioned in either of the letters patent aforesaid, and alleges that the improvements therein described, were invented and applied by one Edward Winslow, then of Dedham, from whom said Goulding first obtained knowledge of the same, and fraudulently and surreptitiously obtained a patent on the 15th day of December as aforesaid, for that which he well knew was the invention of said Winslow, at and before the application by him for a patent, as set forth in said bill.' Second. That at the time of Goulding's application for a patent, the invention had been on sale, and in public use, with his consent and allowance, for a long time; and that he abandoned the same to the public. Sale and public use for more than two years, prior to the application for a patent, were not, however, alleged in the answer. Third. That the certificate on the reissued letters patent of 1864, was not in conformity with the act of Congress, and did not contain the limitations or conditions as annexed to the patent, as extended; and, therefore, that the reissued patent was void.