Item #35857 ARGUMENT OF GEORGE GIFFORD, ESQ., OF NEW YORK, DELIVERED IN DECEMBER, 1852, AT WASHINGTON, BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, IN THE CASE OF HENRY O'REILLY, ET AL., APPELLANTS, VS. SAMUEL F.B. MORSE, F.O.J. SMITH ET AL., APPELLEES. BEING AN APPEAL FROM A DECISION OF THE U.S. CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY, IN FAVOR OF PROF. MORSE'S PATENTS FOR "THE AMERICAN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH." George Gifford.

ARGUMENT OF GEORGE GIFFORD, ESQ., OF NEW YORK, DELIVERED IN DECEMBER, 1852, AT WASHINGTON, BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, IN THE CASE OF HENRY O'REILLY, ET AL., APPELLANTS, VS. SAMUEL F.B. MORSE, F.O.J. SMITH ET AL., APPELLEES. BEING AN APPEAL FROM A DECISION OF THE U.S. CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY, IN FAVOR OF PROF. MORSE'S PATENTS FOR "THE AMERICAN ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH."

New York: Wm. C. Bryant & Co., Printers, 1853. 94pp. Stitched in original printed green wrappers [rear wrapper present but detached. Mild scattered spotting, Very Good.

Gifford argued for Morse. His opponent was Salmon P. Chase, the anti-slavery politician who became Lincoln's Treasury Secretary and Taney's successor as Chief Justice. The litigation resulted in the validation of Morse's 1840 and 1848 patents on the 'Electro-Magnetic Telegraphs.'
Gifford elaborately reviews the law of patents, and the history and development of Morse's invention. The claims of O'Reilly were not frivolous. Well-known to Congress as a tireless advocate of transcontinental wireless communication, he was an emigrant from Ireland. "After the invention of the telegraph (he) entered upon the work of extending the lines to the west, but became involved in lawsuits which almost ruined him financially" [Appleton].
FIRST EDITION. Not in Cohen. OCLC notes seven copies under two accession numbers as of February 2022. Item #35857

Price: $350.00

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