275 F. 123 | D.R.I. | 1921
(orally). The bill charges infringement of design patent No. 55,488, June 15, 1920, to Samuel Sampson, for collar holder.
The charge of infringement, and infringement after notice, is established. The defendants have stood upon their rights, and now insist upon their right to manufacture the alleged infringing article, and state that they are the owners of design patent No. 58,295, July 5, 1921, to Charles Silverman, for collar holder. They invoke the presumption of difference arising from a subsequently issued patent.
The essential feature of the design of the Sampson patent in suit is exhibited in Figure 1. Figure 2, which is an. edge view of the entire structure, comprises on its upper portion features which relate wholly to mechanical functions; and the only part of Figure 2 which relates to design, properly speaking, is that which illustrates an edge view of what is shown in Figure 1.
United States patent No. 1,214,205, January 30, 1917, to J. A. Mariner, for collar holder, shows a device of the same class with a bowed front constituting the visible part of the collar holder. The ends, however, display a loop or backward fold of the material. It is urged that this patent is an anticipation of the design of the patent in suit.
A characteristic difference in the patent in suit is the upturned outer ends of a single thickness of material, and the absence of loops or folds, which are characteristic of the Mariner design and which are Inherent in his mechanical construction. The design of the patent in
In dealing with patents for design we must bear in mind that simplicity of line is often more desirable than ornate treatment, and that the evidence afforded by public acceptance of a design is entitled to-special weight. Those who manufacture articles of ornament appealing to the public, and who adduce evidence showing a high degree of public satisfaction with the design, and who also adduce evidence from other manufacturers of their acceptance of the design and their-application'for licenses to manufacture, may invoke the doctrine that the presumption of validity is to have weight with a court, especially against an infringer, who, by copying the design, had added his own': evidence to its value and utility.
In Westinghouse Co. v. Wagner Co., 225 U. S. 604, 616, 32 Sup. Ct. 691, 695 (56 L. Ed. 1222, 41 L. R. A. [N. S.] 653), it is stated:
“The patent was itself evidence of the utility of claim 4, and the defendant was estopped from denying that it was of value.!'’
I am of the opinion that the patent in suit is valid, that the defendants-infringe, and that the plaintiff is entitled to an injunction.
A draft decree may be presented accordingly,