dedication to the public
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 326 U.S. 249 - Scott Paper Co. v. Marcalus Manufacturing Co. · 1945Most cited · 559 citing opinions
expired patent
the patent laws dedicate to all the public the ideas and inventions embodied in an expired patent. They do not contemplate that anyone by contract or any form of private arrangement may withhold from the public the use of an invention for which the public has paid by its grant of a monopoly and which has been appropriated to the use of all. The rights in the invention are then no longer subject to private barter, sale, or waiver.
How often courts cite the cases defining “dedication to the public”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “dedication to the public” — 756 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1940–1945
- 1940·310 U.S. 281 - Sontag Chain Stores Co Limited v. National Nut Co of California[p38]· cited 197×ORIGINAL
The claim of a specific device or combination, and an omission to claim other devices or combinations apparent on the face of the patent, are, in law, a dedication to the public of that which is not claimed. This legal effect of the patent cannot be revoked unless the patentee surrenders it and proves that the specification was framed by real inadvertence, accident, or mistake.