This file consists of Edison's brief before the Commissioner of Patents in the case of Ball v. Edison, which involved conflicting claims over ore separators. The former commissioner, William E. Simonds, had ruled in Edison's favor in the suit initiated by Clinton M. Ball of Troy, New York. Ball's attorneys appealed to the new commissioner, John S. Seymour, for a reconsideration of his predecessor's ruling. This brief from November 1893 argues against reconsideration both on the grounds of legal precedent and on the merits of Edison's case. Courtesy of the National Archives.