Sommer & Maca Glass Machinery Corp. v. Howe-Simpson, Inc.

3 F.R.D. 414, 60 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 451, 1943 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1605
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedMarch 15, 1943
DocketNo. 347
StatusPublished

This text of 3 F.R.D. 414 (Sommer & Maca Glass Machinery Corp. v. Howe-Simpson, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sommer & Maca Glass Machinery Corp. v. Howe-Simpson, Inc., 3 F.R.D. 414, 60 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 451, 1943 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1605 (S.D. Ohio 1943).

Opinion

UNDERWOOD, District Judge.

This cause came on for consideration by the court upon the bill of particulars filed herein by the plaintiff and tb objections of the defendant filed thereto. In view of the importance of the question and the peculiar circumstances shown by the pleadings, the court deems it expedient to discuss the matter at some length and to give full consideration to the pleadings insofar as they have bearing upon the present question.

Paragraph “V” of plaintiff’s complaint alleges:

“Defendant, Howe-Simpson, Inc., has infringed and is infringing, said Letters Patent No. 1,833,898 by manufacturing and selling in the Southern Judicial District of Ohio, Eastern Division, and by selling elsewhere in the United States, glass and other ceramic material drilling machines embodying the invention and subject matter of said Letters Patent No. 1,833,-898 and claims thereof, without the license or consent of the plaintiff, and will continue to infringe said Letters Patent No. 1,833,898 unless enjoined by this Court from so doing;”

Thereafter, the 'defendant filed its motion for further and better particulars of plaintiff’s claim. The motion sought to require the plaintiff to:

“1 — Specify and suitably identify each and every glass and other ceramic material drilling machine alleged in paragraph V of the Bill of Complaint, to be manufactured and/or sold by defendant and containing the alleged improvements embodied in the Letters Patent alleged to have been infringed and state when, to whom and where such machines were sold.

“2 — File in this Court or furnish to defendant a sample of each such glass or other ceramic material drilling machine of defendant so alleged to contain the improvements embodied in said Letters Patent, and permit the same to be suitably marked for identifications.

“3 — Specify each claim of the patent alleged to be infringed, that Plaintiff will rely upon to establish infringement by each such glass or other ceramic material drilling machine specified in answer to paragraphs 1 and 2 hereof.”

On April 21, 1941, the plaintiff filed a memorandum making the following representations :

“The plaintiff has no objection to complying with the defendant’s aforesaid motion for a bill of particulars, with the possible exception of paragraph 2 of said [415]*415motion, * * * ”. (Page 2, last paragraph.)

Concerning said paragraph 2 of the motion, plaintiff made no objection to furnishing the “alleged infringing drill”, but made some suggestions as to where it should be kept. These questions with regard to the keeping of the “infringing drill” were worked out by counsel and no longer present any problem.

In the second paragraph on page 3 of the same memorandum, plaintiff further represents:

“Plaintiff is entirely agreeable to answering the above quoted paragraphs 1 and 3 of the defendant’s motion for the proposed bill of particulars, which paragraphs call upon the plaintiff to identify every glass and other ceramic drilling machine charged to infringe the patent in suit, and the claims thereof upon which the plaintiff will rely at the trial.”

In concluding the memorandum, plaintiff adds oh page 4 thereof:

“It is submitted, therefore, that an order should be entered substantially as follows:

“1 — Calling on the plaintiff to file a bill of particulars setting forth the information called for in paragraphs 1 and 3 of the defendant’s ‘Motion for Further and Better Particulars of Plaintiff’s Claim’ ”.

Therefore, to this point, there was no dispute between the parties as to furnishing the information required by the first and third paragraphs of the motion; both agreed that it was proper and should be furnished. The court so found, and filed a memorandum to that effect on October 21, 1941.

On October 31, 1941, plaintiff filed its bill of particulars, containing the following:

“1 — In answer to Paragraph 1 of defendant’s aforesaid request for a bill of particulars, which reads: ‘Specify and suitably identify each and every glass and other ceramic material drilling machine, alleged in paragraph V of the Bill of Complaint, to be manufactured and/or sold by Defendant and containing the alleged improvements embodied in the Letters Patent alleged to have been infringed and state when, to whom and where such machines were sold,’ plaintiff states as follows:

“Without limiting itself thereto and without waiving any fight or rights relative to any other glass or other ceramic material drilling machine which the defendant, or those holding by, through or under the defendant, or acting in behalf of the defendant, may have manufactured or sold prior or subsequent thereto, and as to which the plaintiff is not now informed but as to which plaintiff may hereafter be informed, plaintiff states that the so-called ‘H. S. Standard Kit No. 29* which was filed in the office of the Clerk of the United States District Court at Columbus, Ohio, on May 9, 1941, and which by agreement between counsel, was marked ‘Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 4 for Identification’, contains or embodies a glass and other ceramic material drilling machine of the character referred to in paragraph V of the complaint, as manufactured and/or sold by the defendant and therein charged to infringe Letters Patent No. 1,833,898, in suit, and that said ‘H. S. Standard Kit No. 29’, (Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 4 for Identification), containing or embodying the glass or other ceramic material drilling machine which is charged to infringe Letters Patent No. 1,833,898, in suit, was sold and delivered by the defendant, in the City of Columbus, Ohio on or about February 14, 1941, to Mr. Edgar C. Hill, whose address is 244 North 4th Street, Columbus, Ohio, by whom it was delivered to the plaintiff:”

*****

“3 — Paragraph 3 of the defendant’s ‘Motion for Further and Better Particulars of Plaintiff’s Claim’, reads as follows:

“ ‘Specify each claim of the patent alleged to be infringed, that Plaintiff will rely upon to establish infringement by each such glass or other ceramic material drilling machine specified in answer to paragraphs 1 and 2 hereof.’

“Answering the aforesaid Paragraph 3 of defendant’s ‘Motion for Further and Better Particulars of Plaintiff’s Claim’, and without waiving any of its rights as to any other glass or other ceramic drilling machine which the defendant, or those acting by, through, or under the defendant, or acting for or in behalf of the defendant, may have manufactured or sold prior or subsequent thereto, and as to which the plaintiff is not now informed, but as to which the plaintiff may hereafter be informed, plaintiff states that the glass and other ceramic material (sic.) drilling machine contained or embodied m [416]*416the aforesaid ‘H. S. Standard Kit No. 29’ (Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 4 for Identification), which is now on file in the office of the Clerk of the United States District Court at Columbus, Ohio, infringes the following claims of patent No. 1,833,898, in suit, namely, claims 7, 8, and 10, and that as to the ceramic material drilling machine which is contained or embodied in the said ‘H. S. Standard Kit No. 29* (Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 4 for Identification) plaintiff at the trial of this case will rely upon the aforesaid claims 7, 8, and 10 of the Letters Patent No. 1,833,898 in suit.”

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3 F.R.D. 414, 60 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 451, 1943 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1605, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sommer-maca-glass-machinery-corp-v-howe-simpson-inc-ohsd-1943.