Riverside Heights Orange Growers' Ass'n v. Stebler

240 F. 703, 153 C.C.A. 501, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 2426
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided February 13, 1917·No. No. 2772·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). [1, 2] 1. It is contended by the appellee that appellants’ second and third assignments of error, attacking the judgment of the lower court approving the allowance by the master of damages in excess of nominal damages, and of profits upon the entire machines sold by the defend[706] ant Parker, complete with bins and distributing systems, instead of upon the patented grader only, are defective, in that they raise objections which were not presented to or considered by the lower court. Other than this, there is no answering argument made by appellee with respect to the questions discussed in appellants’ brief under these assignments. It is a well-settled rule of law that:

“Exceptions to reports of masters in chancery are in the nature of a special demurrer, and the party objecting must .point out the error; otherwise, the part not excepted to will he taken as admitted.” Story v. Livingston, 13 Pet. 359, 366, 10 L. Ed. 200 (citing Wilkes v. Rogers, 6 Johns. [N. Y.] 566). “A party neglecting to bring in objections cannot afterwards except to the report.” Id.; McMicken v. Perin, 18 How. 507, 510, 15 L. Ed. 504. “Proper practice requires that objections to a master’s report shall be taken in that [the trial] court, that any errors discovered therein may be rectified by the court itself, or by a reference to the master for a correction of his report, without putting parties to the delay and expense of an appeal to this court.” Topliff v. Topliff, 145 U. S. 156, 173, 12 Sup. Ct. 825, 832 (36 L. Ed. 658).

See, also, Sheffield, etc., Railway Co. v. Gordon, 151 U. S. 285, 290, 14 Sup. Ct. 343, 38 L. Ed. 164.

After a careful reading of appellants’ exceptions to the master’s report, we are of opinion that they refer specifically to the right of the master to find, and his finding, that the modified machines, manufactured and sold by the appellant Parker'since the entry of the interlocutory decree herein, infringed appellee’s patent, and to the allowance of any profits and damages for such -infringement. They clearly furnish a basis for the first, sixth, and seventh assignments of error, which relate to the question of infringement by the modified Parker machines, but are restricted by their terms to that question alone. It is further apparent from its opinion that the lower court so construed these exceptions. There is nothing in the record to show that any of the points now urged by appellant under the second and third assignments were ever presented to or considered by the lower court, and this court will not review a master’s report upon objections taken here for the first time. ' '

[3, 4] 2. This brings us to the consideration of the decree of the court in sustaining the master’s report holding that the new apparatus placed on the market by the defendant Parker since the date of tire interlocutory decree was an infringement of the plaintiff’s invention. The first objection is that this Parker apparatus is claimed by the defendants to be a new device, differing from the apparatus held valid by this court in Stebler v. Riverside Heights Orange Growers’ Ass’n, 205 Fed. 735, 124 C. C. A. 29, to such an extent as not to be an infringement of plaintiff’s invention; that the question whether this new device was an infringement of plaintiff’s .invention was a matter of substantial dispute, and the issue-should have been determined upon a motion by the plaintiff for a supplemental decree. Such a motion, or an application to the court to enjoin the use of the new apparatus, would, we think, have been the better practice; but, as the issue appears to be fairly presented by the master’s report’and by the proceedings resulting in the decree of the court below confirming it, we shall consider the question on.its merits. The master in his report says:

[707] “That the defendants were guilty of infringing the plaintiff’s patent prior to November 7, 1913, was fully determined by the interlocutory decree entered herein on that date. Since that decree, by a modified construction of the infringing device, I find the defendant Parker has further infringed the plaintiff’s patent."

The court, in confirming this report, held:

“That the parts of the last-mentioned machine operate in substantially the same manner as to produce substantially the same result attained by plaintiff’s invention, and that, as I understand it, is sufficient to justify, and in fact require, the master to make a finding of infringement.”

This conclusion we believe to be error. Thé invention held valid by this court is a machine described in reissue letters patent No. 12,297 to R. Strain, dated December 27, 1904, for grading or assorting fruit with reference to size, and is used exclusively in the orange industry, where, in order to secure a uniform pack, it is necessary that all oranges in a box shall be practically the same size. Assortment by hand is too slow and inaccurate to meet the requirements of the industry, and hence the need and value of the invention. In the opinion of this court (205 Fed. 735, 124 C. C. A. 29) the prior state of the art was reviewed, and among other devices referred to was the machine known as the California grader, based upon a patent, No. 458,422, granted to J. T. Ish, August 25, 1891. Referring to this machine, the court said:

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Riverside Heights Orange Growers' Ass'n v. Stebler, 240 F. 703, 153 C.C.A. 501, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 2426 (9th Cir. 1917).

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