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Abraham Lincoln as patent litigator

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

There has been much discussion about Abraham Lincoln's patent, and of Lincoln's "fire of genius" speech, but less is said about his forays into patent litigation.

Lincoln had brief exposure in defending one John Manny against the McCormick reaper patent:

In 1855 Abraham Lincoln went to Cincinnati to act as co-counsel for John H. Manny. The other Manny Company attorneys ? Peter H. Watson, George W. Harding and Edwin M. Stanton ? froze him out of their work in the McCormick-Manny patent infringement case. (...) Historian Francis P. Weisenburger wrote: ?Stanton was far from impressed by Lincoln?s personal appearance and has been credited with extremely biting comments regarding it....During the Cincinnati sojourn Lincoln stayed at the home of Judge and Mrs. William M. Dickson, the latter a cousin of Mary Todd LIncoln, and he visited many places of interest in the vicinity. Judge [John] McLean entertained at dinner for the counsel for both sides at his home at Clifton, near Cincinnati, but Lincoln apparently was not deemed important enough to merit an invitation.

Full post as published by IPBiz on March 28, 2008 (boomark / email).