Sherman, Clay & Co. v. Searchlight Horn Co.
Sherman, Clay & Co. v. Searchlight Horn Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit by appellee, the Searchlight Horn Company, against Sherman, Clay & Co., to enjoin the infringement of a patent, and for an accounting for profits realized and damages sustained by reason of the infringement. The complainant is the owner of the patent, and Sherman, Clay & Co. is a dealer in phonographic horns manufactured under the patent, and is selling them to retailers, who sell to users. Sherman, Clay & Co. purchases the horns from the Victor Talking Machine Company, of New Jersey. The Victor Company purchases from certain unknown manufacturers. The complainant is not now a manufacturer of the patented contrivance. Previous to the institution of this‘suit, complainant sued Sherman, Clay & Co. at law to recover damages for the infringement, and was successful, and in the present suit a preliminary injunction was granted. Both the judgment in the law action and the preliminary injunction in the present suit have been affirmed by this court. The damages sought in the present case are such as the complainant has sustained, since the commencement of the law action, by the continuation of Sherman, Clay & Co-, to sell the manufactured article notwithstanding the judgment. Sherman, Clay & Co. answers that it is a purchaser of the horns from the Victor Talking Machine Company, of New Jersey, in good faith,- and petitions the court to enjoin further prosecution of the suit, and for a stay thereof, on the ground that the complainant has, subsequent to the commencement of the present suit, instituted a suit against the Victor Talking Machine Company, in the District Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey, to enjoin the Victor Company from infringement and for an accounting, and for damages sustained by reason of the infringement. It is further alleged by the petitioner that, if the Searchlight Horn Company be not restrained from the
The case of Stebler v. Riverside Heights Orange Growers’ Ass’n, 214 Fed. 550, 131 C. C. A. 96, decided by this court, is relied upon as supporting the contention. That was a case where a manufacturer of the patented device was sued by the owner of the patent, who was also a manufacturer, both by way of injunction and for an accounting for profits derived from sales and damages arising from infringement. The owner also sued 27 users of the patented device, who had purchased from the alleged infringer. Under the peculiar circumstances of the controversy, the seller being engaged in the sale of other commodities aside from the infringed article, and being amply able to respond in damages covering the entire amount sustainable, it was declared that the owner of the patent should be enjoined from further prosecution of the suits against the users, and from bringing any other suits against users who had purchased from the infringing sélier, until the rendition of the judgment upon the master’s report on the accounting. 'This upon the ground that a recovery against the seller would cover all the damages that the holder of the patent would be entitled to recover against either the seller or the user, and that therefore such recovery would operate to release the article from the monopoly of the patent in the hands of the user. That was a
This disposes of the controversy. The decree of the district court denying the injunction prayed should be affirmed, and it is so ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- SHERMAN, CLAY & CO. v. SEARCHLIGHT HORN CO.
- Cited By
- 17 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Action In a suit by the owner of a patent for a horn for phonographs, not a manufacturer of the patented article, to enjoin infringement and for an accounting by a dealer in horns manufactured under the patent selling to retailers and itself purchasing from a vendor purchasing from unknown manufacturers, the defendant was not entitled to a stay of the suit on the grounds that complainant, after its commencement, began a suit to enjoin defendant’s vendor from infringement and for an accounting, that otherwise the present suit and other similar suits against purchasers from the same vendor would result in irreparable injury to such vendor, and that the recovery and satisfaction of judgment against such vendor would operate to release the article from the patent monopoly and leave defendant free to deal therein, since all dealers in such patented article without license from the patentee are tort-feasors who may be enjoined from dealing in such article, and since there may be as many causes of action and as many recoveries as there are joint tort-feasors, but only one satisfaction; and since the right to sue independent tort-feasors separately and prosecute to recovery and satisfaction in each case is also clear. ¡lid. Note.—For other cases, see Action, Cent. Dig. §§ 741-751; Dec. Dig. 2. Patents In a suit by the owner of the patent to enjoin its infringement by a dealer purchasing from one purchasing from unknown manufacturers, the burden is on the dealer to show that he is dealing with an article under license from the patentee, or in articles from which the patent monopoly has been released or removed. other cayos see same topic & KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests & Indexes LEd. Note.—For other cases, see Patents, Cent. Dig. §§ 544-549; Dec. Dig. 312.]