United Indurated Fibre Co. of New Jersey v. Whippany Manuf'g Co.

83 F. 485, 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 2861
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey·Decided November 17, 1897·Published

Opinion

KIRKPATRICK, District Judge.

The bill filed in this case asks for an injunction against the Whippany Company and others, the defendants therein, prohibiting the manufacture by them of indurated' fibre ware, because the method used by them infringes upon the rights of the eomplainanis, as’protected by patent No. 2(>7,á¡)2 (reissue Ko. 10,282), and also because in the forming of the articles the defendants infringe claim 7 of another patent issued to Martin L. Keyes (No. 342.009), both of which patents are field by the complainants under valid assignments. The claims said to be infringed are as follows:

Patent No. 207,492 (reissue No. 10,282): “Claim 3. The process of rendering paper or paper-pulp articles hard, tough, and impervious; consisting in first saturating the said article in thickened drying oil, or oil and gums, at substantially the temperature specified, in such manner that the surface will be free from an oil film, ar.d then exposing said article to air and like, temperature, as set forth. Claim 2. Tlie process of rendering paper or paper-pulp articles hard, tough, and impervious; consisting of saturating said articles in a hot bath of oil, and freeing the surface from films of oil, and subsequently indurating the saturated articles. Claim 3. The described article of paper or paper pulp, having its pores filled with hardened linseed oil, or linseed oil with a proportion of gums, substantially as set forth.”
Patent No. 342,309: “Claim 7. As a new article of manufacture, a pail, or other similar article, formed from wood pulp, or other similar fibrous material, having an annular projection or chine around its bottom, said chine being formed with a uniformly laminated structure, substantially as described.”

[486] The defenses interposed are invalidity of patent, prior use, and non-infringement.

It appears from the record that in 1892 the complainants herein brought suit in this court against the New York Wood-Fibre Company for an infringement of the same claims of the patents charged to be infringed in this case. Some of the parties hereto were interested in the management of the business of the defendants in said suit. The case was fully and fairly presented to the court by able counsel. In it reference was made to many of the patents now relied upon as being anticipatory. There is no suggestion on the record of fraud or collusion. Upon a final hearing the validity of both of the above patents was adjudged. Under these circumstances, up olían application for a preliminary injunction the question of the validity of the patent is not at issue (American Paper Pail & Box Co. v. National Folding-Box & Paper Co., 2 C. C. A. 165, 51 Fed. 229), unless a new defense is interposed, so forceful as to satisfy the court that, if presented in the former case, a different result would have been obtained. The reason for this rule is stated in Electric Manuf’g Co. v. Edison Electric Light Co., 10 C. C. A. 106, 61 Fed. 834, to be “that an adjudication in the case of a patent is not only a judgment inter partes, but is a judicial construction of a grant by the government, and, in a broad sense, deals with and determines the rights of the public.” I have carefully considered the patents, which were not then considered, and fail to find in them anything which satisfies me that, if they had been urged in the former suit, it would have induced the court to reach a contrary conclusion. Giving that weight to the prior adjudication to which it is entitled (Purifier Co. v. Christian, 3 Ban. & A. 42, Fed. Cas. No. 307; Patent Co. v. Adams, 77 Fed. 191), I regard as established, for the purposes of this motion, the validity of the claims of the complainants’ patents which are said to be infringed, and that the only question to be determined by the court at this time is the one of infringement (Manufacturing Co. v. Hickok, 20 Fed. 116).

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United Indurated Fibre Co. of New Jersey v. Whippany Manuf'g Co., 83 F. 485, 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 2861 (circtdnj 1897).

83 F. 485 (United Indurated Fibre Co. of New Jersey v. Whippany Manuf'g Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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