"In a recent decision of the Supreme Court, not made, however, by the full court, and concurred in by only four justices, it was held that the seller of a patented mimeograph could bind the purchaser to use only his ink in the machine, though the ink was not patented"
About this Quote
The core outrage is the sleight of hand. A patent is supposed to be a limited monopoly on a specific invention. The Court, in Clark's telling, lets that monopoly leak sideways into an adjacent market - ink - that was never granted protection. The subtext is less about mimeographs than about tying arrangements: using control over one product to coerce purchases of another. Today we'd call it lock-in. Clark sees the legal system quietly authorizing it.
Context matters: this is the Progressive Era, when industrial consolidation and the trusts were forcing Americans to ask whether "freedom of contract" was just a nicer name for coercion when one side owned the chokepoint. Clark's phrasing is restrained, almost clinical, but the intent is pointed: if patents can be used to police unpatented consumables, then the boundary between innovation incentives and rent extraction collapses. The machine becomes an excuse to tax every refill.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Clark, John Bates. (2026, January 15). In a recent decision of the Supreme Court, not made, however, by the full court, and concurred in by only four justices, it was held that the seller of a patented mimeograph could bind the purchaser to use only his ink in the machine, though the ink was not patented. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-a-recent-decision-of-the-supreme-court-not-141865/
Chicago Style
Clark, John Bates. "In a recent decision of the Supreme Court, not made, however, by the full court, and concurred in by only four justices, it was held that the seller of a patented mimeograph could bind the purchaser to use only his ink in the machine, though the ink was not patented." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-a-recent-decision-of-the-supreme-court-not-141865/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"In a recent decision of the Supreme Court, not made, however, by the full court, and concurred in by only four justices, it was held that the seller of a patented mimeograph could bind the purchaser to use only his ink in the machine, though the ink was not patented." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-a-recent-decision-of-the-supreme-court-not-141865/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
