The Barbed Wire Patent

Glidden's patent, later acquired by Washburn (plaintiff), covered a barbed-wire design holding barbs in place without hammering, making the product far more commercially viable, though Glidden never claimed to have invented barbed wire generally; competing fence sellers (defendants) challenged the patent's validity, arguing the improvement lacked novelty since similar wire had already been patented and was allegedly already in use by others, and the circuit court agreed, finding no novelty.