Goodyear Dental Vulcanite Company v. Davis was a United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the issue of patent infringement. The plaintiff, Goodyear Dental Vulcanite Company, had obtained a patent for a process of manufacturing vulcanite, a type of rubber. The defendant, Davis, had been using the same process without the plaintiff's permission. The plaintiff argued that Davis had infringed upon their patent and was thus liable for damages. The Supreme Court held that the patent was valid and that Davis had indeed infringed upon it. The Court noted that the patent was not overly broad and that Davis had used the same process as the plaintiff without permission. The Court also noted that Davis had not made any changes to the process and had not added any new elements to it. As such, the Court held that Davis was liable for damages and ordered him to pay the plaintiff for the infringement.

In the case of Goodyear Dental Vulcanite Company v. Davis, Justice Field delivered a dissenting opinion in which he argued that the majority's decision was too narrow and failed to consider all relevant facts. He noted that while it is true that an inventor cannot patent something already known or used by others, this does not necessarily mean they are unable to protect their invention from being copied without permission. In his view, if someone has made improvements on an existing product or process and can demonstrate those improvements with evidence such as drawings or diagrams then they should be allowed to obtain a patent for their work regardless of whether similar products have been previously invented. Furthermore, he argued that even if there were prior inventions related to the one at issue here, it did not automatically disqualify Goodyear from obtaining a patent since its version may still contain novel features which make it distinct enough from earlier versions so as to warrant protection under law.