49 F. 747 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Minnesota | 1892
(charging ¡wry.) This suit is brought to recover damages for an alleged infringement of letters patent granted to
It is conceded that, during the time for which plaintiff seeks to recover, the price of wheat was 60 cents a bushel, the value of the cockle seed which is extracted also has been shown, and evidence has been introduced tending to show the saving effected by the use of the plaintiff’s invention. This evidence has been offered here, and it is very appropriate and pertinent, as going to show the utility and advantage of the invention of the plaintiff over the old modes or devices that have been used for working out similar results. Upon those data you are furnished with something by which you can arrive at perhaps not an accurate, but a proximate conclusion as to what amount of damage has been suffered by the plaintiff, if you think he is entitled to recover damages. I have been presented with many requests by counsel for defendants, some of which I will give you, some 1 have qualified, and others I have refused. I will read those I propose to give, and those I have qualified, giving the qualifications, and I state to you that these instructions I give are to be received by you as part of the law in the case. That, in case the jury find an infringement, the plaintiff is only entitled to the damages he has sustained, and, if the jury believe his machine to be impracticable, and useless practically, he would only be entitled to nominal damages for the infringement. That it is the duty of the plaintiff to set forth and prove the actual damage to which he claims to be entitled, and that,-if he-fails to show actual advantage to the defendants by the use Of'his machine,'he would be entitled to only nominal damages in case the defendants infringe. That it is necessary to the showing of actual damage by the plaintiff that he should prove the same directly, or show such facts as will enable the jury to ascertain the same, and that mere opinion as to the amount of that damage cannot be received or considered. That the proper measure for damages for the infringement of a patent is an indemnity to the plaintiff for the loss sustained by the-infringement. You will recollect that there is some claim with regard to this trough or this device with a flexible brush attached to it, — that it was unserviceable, and was not put on for any such purpose, as the wheat never rose up to that point. There is evidence on the part of the plaintiff that the wheat did rise up to that point. That is a question for you to determine. You are to determine what the operation of this brush was for that purpose, and what the operation of the machine was, and say do or do not the defendants infringe the combination in the patent issued to Mr. Lee. The plaintiff might have brought his suit in equity, and had it settled without intervention of a jury, but he presents his case in an action at law, as he has a-perfect right to- do.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $1,600.