The Axiom “Don’t Try to Reinvent the Wheel” Holds True for Door Knobs
“I’ve a superb idea that is going to make us rich!” said John G. Hotchkiss, resident of New Haven, Connecticut, from Staffordshire, England.
“Really? And what is that my fine fellow?” remarked his compatriot John A Davenport resident of New York, also from Staffordshire.
“Well, the simplicity is the beauty of it. Let’s get a patent for the door knobs that they make back in our motherland of merry ole England, and sell them like mad to our new fellow citizens in the States. Of course, you will recall the door knobs of which I speak. Those made of clay and porcelain. They are of a superior quality to the wretched wooden door knobs found in this town.”
“Genius! Why didn’t I think of that before. Is Daniel Webster still practicing patent law down on Orange Street? Why don’t we set up a meeting?”
The above is based on a true story that ended in the Supreme Court of the United States in 1850. Although the inventors did indeed secure a patent that was countersigned and sealed by the United States Patent Office, the patent turned out to be worthless. The inventors had to find out the hard way after bringing patent infringement lawsuit against a defendant for making clay and porcelain doorknobs.
In the lower courts, the defendants argued that clay and porcelain door knobs had been around long before the inventors claimed that they had been. The defendants set out to prove that these same knobs were well known, practiced, and used in cities from Albany, Brooklyn, and Jersey city, among others in the U.S., and other cities across the Atlantic including Burslem, Sandyford, and Tunstall in England. The defendants argued that because other people had been making and using the said doorknobs long before the inventors secured their patent, they were not infringing.
In essence, the inventors should not have been granted a patent because their invention was obvious. There was no inventive step, no novelty, and nothing useful at all. As Supreme Court Justice Nelson wrote in the opinion on the matter “the knob is not new . . . [it is] well known, and in common use. . . . [T]he only thing new is the substitution of a knob of a different material. . . . The difference is formal, and destitute of ingenuity or invention. . . . In other words, the improvement is the work of the skillful mechanic, not that of the inventor.”
It is hard to imagine how this seemingly simple case about door knobs wound its way all the way up to the high Court, but of course those were different times devoid of instantaneous information retrieval. What has remained constant, however, is that if you want to obtain a valuable patent, don’t try to reinvent the figurative wheel. You must bring something new to the table or your patent will be worthless.
To see the case in its entirety, visit here.
André Ausseresses
Law Clerk at
JAFARI LAW GROUP®, INC.