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This case has been decided in favor of the Bell Telephone Company by Judges Dan A. Pardee and Edward C. Billings. The argument by Mr. J. R. Beck- with, in opposition to the injunction motion, was quite a novelty in its way. It was accompanied by the exhibition of a number of experiments in the court room on the quality of sound, rapid circuit breaking, and other points. Twenty-one days was the duration of the argument and presentation of evidence in the motion. Much was hoped from this suit by the opponents of the Bell patents, but the judges decide strongly in Bell's favor. The operativeness of the 1876 patent as a speaking telephone, and of Reis' inventions, is considered in the decision. The hopes of a different result were founded on the fact that the case was heard in the South, away from the circuits where the patent has been so often sustained. Meanwhile, one point must not be overlooked. The Bell patent has only seven years to run. Time, that cures so many ills, will soon remedy thiS one. But it is to be hoped, in the interests of abstract justice, that the case will go to the Supreme Court, and be heard on its merits there. The government suit may decide the patent invalid, but me prospects can hardly be called as favorable for that issue as they were esteemed for the chances of the New Orleans suit, that has gone the other way.
