Ball & Socket Fastener Co. v. Kraetzer

Citations

• 150 U.S. 111
• 14 S. Ct. 48
• 37 L. Ed. 1019
• 1893 U.S. LEXIS 2361

Syllabus

<p>The fourth and seventh claims in letters patent No. 325,088, issued to Albert G-. Mead, September 8, 1885, for a “button” are not infringed by glove fasteners manufactured under letters patent Nos. 359,614 and 359,615, issued to Edwin J. Kraetzer, March 22, 1887; and though it would be possible to make out a literal infringement of the sixth claim, by oom struing the claim broadly, the court holds that the patentee is not entitled to such construction.</p> <p>There is no equity in charging infringement upon a defendant in a patent suit, in consequence of an apparently accidental adoption of an immaterial feature of the plaintiff’s patent.</p> <p>When costs are unnecessarily increased by the incorporation of useless papers, costs may be imposed upon the offending party under Rule 10, Paragraph 9; and they are imposed in this case.</p>