I shall prove to you that the
defendant gained his first possession of these inventions by a series of
misrepresentations, false promises, oppressions and wrongs, and has used
them without license in consequence of the weakness, illness, poverty
and defencelessness of their rightful owner. I shall prove to you that
their owner was driven to insanity by these perplexities and the
persecutions of the defendant, and that even after he became insane, the
defendant tried to secure the execution of the assignment which he had
sought in vain during the sanity of the patentee.
"I will not characterize by the name belonging to it the instrument
which is to be presented in answer to the bill filed in this case,
further than to say that it has no legal status whatsoever. It is the
consummate fruit of a tree that was planted in fraud; and if I do not
make it so to appear, before the case is finished, I will beg pardon of
the court, of you, gentlemen of the jury, and especially of the
defendant and his honorable counsel. First, therefore, I offer in
evidence certified copies of the patents in question."
Mr. Balfour read these documents, and they were examined both by Mr.
Cavendish and the court.
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