Yassin v. United States

76 F. Supp. 509, 110 Ct. Cl. 211
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMarch 1, 1948
Docket46985
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 76 F. Supp. 509 (Yassin v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yassin v. United States, 76 F. Supp. 509, 110 Ct. Cl. 211 (cc 1948).

Opinion

*511 LITTLETON, Judge.

The defendant filed a demurrer to plaintiff’s original petition and in his response thereto plaintiff filed a motion for leave to file an amended petition which was allowed, and an amended petition was filed. Defendant has filed a demurrer to the amended petition.

Plaintiff is a citizen of the United States. He is a professional engineer duly licensed under the laws of New York, of which state he is a resident and citizen.

In the caption of the petition plaintiff makes the United States the sole party defendant but in paragraph Second of the petition he sets forth “that this is an action brought by Plaintiff against the defendant [under 35 U.S.C.A. § 68 and certain other U. S. statutes] and its ally the Government of Great Britain [pursuant to certain international agreements as amended by the agreement dated March 27, 1946, effective January 1, 1942 (60 Stat. Part II, 1566), the Act of March 11, 1941, and Section 6 of the Act of October 31, 1942], to recover reasonable compensation for the manufacture by or for the United States or use by it of certain devices claimed to infringe United States Letters Patent to the Plaintiff No. 2,363, 767; United States technical design Copyrights Nos. 23003 and 23004; and United Kingdom Letters Patent to the Plaintiff No. 505813, relating to portable bridge structures and improvements thereof.” This paragraph of the amended petition further states that “The copyrighted designs for the purpose of the suit within the jurisdiction of this Court [on the patents] may be considered as supplementary documentary exhibits to the patents.” Plaintiff disclaims any attempt to include in his petitioin an alleged cause of action for infringement of his Design Copyrights and admits “that the copyrights are not subjects of suit within the jurisdiction of this Court.”

The grounds of the demurrer to the amended petition are (1) that the court has no jurisdiction to entertain a suit against the Government of Great Britain; (2) that the court has no jurisdiction to entertain a suit against the United States for the alleged infringement or unauthorized use of a patent granted by the United Kingdom of Great Britain; (3) that the court has no jurisdiction to entertain a suit against the United States for alleged infringement of copyrights; and (4) that the court has no jurisdiction to hear and determine any claim growing out of or dependent upon an international agreement between the Government of the United States and the Government of Great Britain.

In paragraph Third plaintiff alleges that the devices alleged to have infringed his United States and British patents were as follows:

(1) The spud pierheads (pierheads and docks used in the English Channel during the War for unloading ships) in combination with the floating roadways bridge system (pontoon bridges from the pier-heads and docks to shore) of the artificial harbor, known as “Mulberry,” used in the invasion of Normandy, France, in World War II, on June 6, 1944, by the allied forces of the United States and Great Britain. Photographs of these alleged infringing structures are attached to the amended petition.

(2) The portable army “Scissors” type bridge, consisting of the United States type and the British type, used during World War II for general purposes by the allied forces. Photographs of the portable “Scissors” type bridges used are attached to the amended petition.

(3) The material, means of connection of the units and the principle of variation of the load carrying capacity of the bridge structure known as the Bailey bridge utilized and used during World War II.

In paragraph Fifth of the amended petition plaintiff alleges in paragraphs (b) (1), (2) and (3), that the “Mulberry” bridge structures, the “Scissors” bridge and elements of the Bailey bridge are definite adaptations of the structures described in his United States and British patents in suit or are infringing equivalent structures. In paragraph (b) (1) the petition sets forth allegations as to “specific infringement details,” and alleges that the part of the “Mulberry” comprising the *512 floating spud pierheads and connecting floating roadways made up of prefabricated, trussed bridge units connected together by pin joints and supported at these joints by pontoons, are equivalent adaptations to water of the bridge structures described and claimed in claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 of plaintiff’s British Patent No. 505813, for Improvements in Portable Bridge Structures, and claims 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9 of his U. S. Patent No. 2363767, for a portable bridge structure.

In paragraph (b) (2) of paragraph Fifth, plaintiff alleges (omitting details) that the Army “Scissors” bridge manufactured and used is described and claimed in an almost identical structure in claim 7 of his U. S. patent and shown in Figs. 3 and 8, and infringed said' claim of this patent. Paragraph (b) (2) further alleges that “The British ‘Scissors’ bridge differs from the American bridge in being carried on a Valentine tractor tank unit [instead of a trailer truck] and instead of cables [used in connection with the American structure] uses a hydraulically operated lever to perform the operation of pivoting the two bridge roadway sections so that they form one continuous roadway. In view of the allied status of the United States and Great Britain and .because of Ref. D [the National Inventors Council], available to be used by the Allies under lend lease, infringement of the British version is claimed on the U. S. patent. The infringements on the joint matter of Refs. A and B [the British and American patents] are claimed for all cases of this suit as a mutual liability of both American and British authorities due to their allied status and special war conditions of lend lease and other intercountry agreements.”

In paragraph (b) (3) it is alleged that certain features of the Bailey bridge, which are detailed in the amended petition, infringed claims 2 and 4 of the British patent and claim 5 of the U.S. patent, in that these claims and the patent specifications set forth the essential ideas from which the alleged infringing features could have been taken. Upon information and belief plaintiff alleges that knowledge of his structures was the basis for the incorporation of his particular principles in the Bailey bridge and that such bridge constitutes an infringement as an equivalent structure insofar as those features are concerned. It is alleged that the structures disclosed and claimed in his patents contain all the features of the infringing Bailey bridge structures.

In paragraph Fourth the petition alleges that plaintiff attempted to interest the military departments concerned, of both the United States and Great Britain, with the development and use of such-structures as are described and covered in and by the United States patent and copyrights and the British patent; that from a time in 1938, shortly after the first filing of the patent applications until the outbreak of war in Europe on September 1, 1939, and subsequently, he engaged in correspondence with and submitted material for study to the military departments concerned of the United States and Great Britain, with the result that plaintiff’s- inventions were then rej ected.

In section (a) of paragraph Fifth of the petition, it is alleged that plaintiff first approached the U. S.

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Bluebook (online)
76 F. Supp. 509, 110 Ct. Cl. 211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yassin-v-united-states-cc-1948.