Haley v. Flaccus

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Haley v. Flaccus, 193 Pa. 521 (Pa. 1899)
44 A. 566; 1899 Pa. LEXIS 1157
Brown, Ctteiajm, Dean, Fell, Green, McCollum, Mitchell, Rett, Ster

Haley v. Flaccus

Opinion of the Court

Pee Ctteiajm,

Plaintiff’s right to recover depended on questions of fact which were clearly for the consideration of the jury, and they were accordingly submitted to them by the learned president of the court below in a clear, comprehensive and substantially accurate charge of which the defendant has no just reason to complain. Their verdict for plaintiff necessarily implies a finding of all the material facts in his favor, and unless the trial judge erred in his rulings on questions of evidence or-in his charge, the judgment entered on the verdict should not be disturbed.

Our consideration of the questions presented by the specifi*527cations of error has not satisfied us that either of them should be sustained. On the contrary we think the defendant’s objections to the offers of evidence referred to in the first three specifications were not well taken and hence they were rightly overruled. There is no error in the excerpt from the court’s charge, recited in the fourth and last specification. Considered as a whole, the charge is free from substantial error.

Judgment affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
William Haley, to use of the National Mold & Casting Company v. C. L. Flaccus
Status
Published
Syllabus
Patents—Patentable invention. In an action to recover royalties for the use of a patent where the defendant alleges that the device was not patentable, the plaintiff may show that the application was first refused, the plans for the device modified, application withdrawn and subsequently renewed and a patent granted. Patents—Patentable invention—Expert evidence. In an action where the patentable character of an invention is in question, a witness who testifies that he has a general knowledge of other devices of a similar nature may testify in favor of the patentable character of the invention.