US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

Reissued letters patent No. 4106, bearing date Aug. 23, 1870, granted to Charles Guidet for an improved stone pavement, are void, as before his application there were in use pavements consisting of rough blocks of the same form, and arranged in substantially the same way, as that described in his specification. His claim is for rougher side surfaces than those found in the old pavements, although he does not state the degree of roughness required, and the change being only in degree, is not patentable.

This is a bill in equity filed Jan. 29, 1874, by Charles Guidet, against the City of Brooklyn, wherein he alleges that the defendant was then making and using a stone pavement which, in whole or in part, was substantially the same in construction and operation as that for which reissued letters patent No. 4106, bearing date Aug. 23, 1870, were granted to him. The prayer of the bill is for an injunction and account.

The answer of the city denies the alleged infringement of the letters, and sets up that the pavement, which is their subject matter, was, with Guidet's knowledge and consent, in public use for more than two years before the date of his original application, and that he was not the original and first inventor of it, the same having before that date been described in various publications and publicly used in certain specified localities of a number of cities in the United States.

Upon final hearing, the court dismissed the bill, and Guidet appealed here. The remaining facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.