Bloomer v. Gilpin

3 F. Cas. 726, 4 Fish. Pat. Cas. 50
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern Ohio
DecidedOctober 15, 1859
StatusPublished

This text of 3 F. Cas. 726 (Bloomer v. Gilpin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bloomer v. Gilpin, 3 F. Cas. 726, 4 Fish. Pat. Cas. 50 (circtsdoh 1859).

Opinion

LEAVITT, District Judge.

This was a bill for an injunction to restrain the defendants from infringing the plaintiff’s exclusive right to the invention known as “Woodworth’s Patent Planing Machine,” and for an account of profits. It avers, that on December, 27, 1S2S, a patent issued to William Wood-worth, for a machine for “planing, tonguing, and grooving boards, planks, and other materials;” that in December, 1842, the patent was extended to William W. Woodworth, as administrator, pursuant to the provisions of law, for the period of seven years; that on August 9, 1843, said administrator assigned his interest in the patent for the extended term, to James G. Wilson, for the territory named in the assignment; that in January, 1844, the patent, excepting the state of Vermont, was ¿ssigned to said Wilson; that the patent was extended in February, 1845, by special act of congress, to December 27, 1856; that by deeds dated respectively March 14, and July 9, 1845, the administrator assigned the patent for the whole of the extended term to the said Wilson; and that on July 2, 1849, Wilson assigned to the complainant, Bloomer, his interest in the patent, for the county of Hamilton, and five miles of the adjacent territory of Kentucky, along the Ohio river, together with “the proceeds arising out of thirteen licenses theretofore granted for using said machine within said territory.”

The bill then avers that the defendants, about July 1, 1853, at Cincinnati, “without any legal grant or license therefor, and in violation and defiance of the patent rights aforesaid, did make and construct, or cause to be made and constructed, and set up and put in operation, a machine, or machines, for planing, tonguing, and grooving, etc., in all material parts, substantially like, and upon the plan of the machines invented, made, and put in operation by said Woodworth, and described, in said letters patent; by reason of which infringement, the plaintiff alleges, he has been greatly injured, and the defendants have made profit, to an amount not less than five thousand dollars.”

The bill also refers to the claim of the defendants to use a planing machine, under a license from Wilson to Bicknell & Jenkins, and alleges that the conditions on which said license was granted have not been complied with, and that no rights have accrued to the defendants under it. It is alleged as a specific violation of the conditions of said license, that the. defendants have planed boards at a less price than seven dollars the thousand, and have received payment therefor in lumber, instead of cash. It is also alleged that the license under which the defendants claim is inoperative and void, for the reason that Wilson has never given his written consent to its transfer to them, as required by the contract between Wilson and Bicknell & Jenkins. And the bill also avers that the defendants have used and kept in operation a machine for the sole purpose of planing the surface of boards, without the machinery for tonguing and grooving, constructed on the precise plan of the AVood-worth patent, in addition to that for which the license was granted, and in plain violation of the plaintiff’s rights.

In their answer the defendants admit that, since September 2, 1S53, they have had in operation, at Cincinnati, a Woodworth planing machine, complete in all its parts, in virtue of a license granted by said Wilson to Bicknell & Jenkins, under a contract executed between the said parties, April 21, 1846; which license has legally vested in them by assignment. The defendants deny that they have made for sale, or sold, any of said patented machines.

They admit that they have, in some cases, received payment for the work done by said machine in lumber, but deny that they have ever charged or received less than seven dollars the thousand feet for such work. But they admit that they have erected and used a machine for planing the surfaces of boards, without the appendages for tonguing and, grooving, constructed on the plan and principle of the AVoodworth patent, which is entirely distinct from the complete machine, and which 'they have never used when the other was in operation. This, they aver, has been done merely to avoid the inconvenience and loss of time resulting from the adjustment of the entire machine for the single operation of planing the surface of boards; and they say it is not a violation of the plaintiff’s exclusive right, or of any of the conditions of the license under which they claim.

This brief statement of the averments of the bill and answer will suffice to indicate the questions arising in this case. Before passing to their consideration it will be proper to notice some of the provisions of the contract, before referred to, between Wilson and Bicknell & Jenkins. By this contract, Wilson assigned to Bicknell & Jenkins the exclusive right to the patent, within the territory before described, for its whole term, subject to certain conditions and exceptions stated. It is provided, among other things, that the licenses previously granted by Wilson shall continue in force so long as the licensees shall comply with the conditions on [728]*728which they were granted; and Wilson also reserves the right of granting other licenses, with the restriction that the whole number shall not exceed thirteen; and that Bicknell & Jenkins shall not make or use any machines within the territory described, until the number licensed shall be reduced to eight, and that when so reduced they shall be kept at that number. It is also agreed that the licensees shall pay Wilson one dollar and twenty-five cents for every thousand feet of lumber passing through any of the licensed machines, and that no licensee shall receive less than seven dollars the thousand feet for boards planed; and that a violation of any of these conditions shall work a forfeiture of the license. It is also stipulated that the licensees shall render monthly accounts of the work done by the machines, and promptly pay the amounts due to Wilson, or his assignee.

In the argument of the defendants’ counsel it is insisted that, in this state of the case, the court has no jurisdiction; and this point is to be first considered. It is urged, in support of this position, that the plaintiff’s claim to a decree is based on an alleged violation of the conditions of a license to use a patented machine, and is not, therefore, cognizable in this court under the patent laws of the United States conferring exclusive jurisdiction on the circuit courts in certain cases. And this objection must prevail, unless, in connection with his claim for an account of profits, he has proved an infringement of the patent. It is clearly no ground of jurisdiction, under the patent law, that the contract between the parties relates to a patent right. But if an infringement is proved, jurisdiction is conferred; and, having power to protect the rights of a party under a patent, the court will take cognizance of other matters, as incidental to the' infringement. This is the doctrine which has been long recognized by the federal courts, and was distinctly held by Judge McLean, in the case of Brooks v. Stolley [Case No. 1,962].

But aside from this consideration, it is not perceived why this court has not jurisdiction on the ground of contract. The plaintiff avers in his bill that he is a citizen of the state of New Tork; and it sufficiently appears that the sum claimed and in controversy exceeds five hundred dollars. This meets the requirements of the statute conferring jurisdiction on the circuit courts of the United States.

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Bluebook (online)
3 F. Cas. 726, 4 Fish. Pat. Cas. 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bloomer-v-gilpin-circtsdoh-1859.