[ CHAPTER 24
Public Attitude Towards Him Who Steals Physical and to the One Who Steals Mental Property]
Good people will justly gather up their coat-tails in holy horror, when perchance they come in contact with a man convicted of highway robbery, but when has a man been expelled from Church membership, or from fashionable clubs, who has lost a patent suit by a clear case of intentional infringement being proven against him?
At present it would seem that many inventors have a special reason for deploring the decadence of the Eternal Brimstone-Doctrine, as punishment for wrong-doing, especially for the breaking of the Eighth and Tenth Commandments, as its modern substitute of "Thou shalt not steal, less-than-necessary-for-lawyers'-fees-to-absolve-you-and-a-reasonable-margin-of-profit," manifestly is broad enough to include the stealing of inventive production.
[ CHAPTER 25
Present Available Means of Protecting an Invention]
To protect an invention is indeed a very serious problem, under any and all circumstances, yet there are certain conditions that will protect it in a measure.
The first and most potent is to have a good deal of money to fight infringements with, for money not only has the famed virtue of "covering a multitude of sins," but of keeping others from sinning against you.
BUT IS IT DIFFERENT OH! NOW! IF THE STOLEN PROPERTY IS A MENTAL INSTEAD OF A HAND PRODUCT?