US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

U.S. Supreme Court

James v. Campbell, 104 U.S. 356 (1881)

James v. Campbell

104 U.S. 356

APPEALS FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED

STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Syllabus

1. Norton's reissued letters patent, dated Oct. 4, 1870, for an improved post office stamp for printing the postmark and cancelling the postage stamp at one blow are void by reason of not being for the same invention specified in the original.

2. If letters patent fully and clearly describe and claim a specific invention, complete in itself, so as not to be inoperative or invalid by reason of a defective or an insufficient specification, a reissue cannot be had for the purpose of expanding and generalizing the claim in order to embrace an invention not specified in the original. Burr v. Duryee, 1 Wall. 531, reaffirmed.