Keyes v. Eureka Consolidated Mining Co.

Citations

• 158 U.S. 150
• 15 S. Ct. 772
• 39 L. Ed. 929
• 1895 U.S. LEXIS 2239

Syllabus

<p>A person in the employ of a smelting company invented a new method of tapping and withdrawing molten metal from a smelting furnace. He took out a patent for it, and permitted his employer to use it without charge, so l,b.ng as he remained in its employ, which was about ten years. After that his employer continued to use it, and, when the patent was about to expire, the patentee filed a . bill against the company, praying for injunctions, preliminary and perpetual, and for an accounting. Before the return of the subpoena the patent had expired. On the trial it appeared that the invention had been used for more than seventeen years with the knowledge and assent of the patentee, and without any complaint on his part, except that the company had not paid royalties after he quitted its employment. The defences were, (1) that the Circuit Court had no jurisdiction of the case.because no Federal question was involved and there was no diversity of citizenship of the parties; (2) that, even if there was a Federal question involved, the Circuit Court as a court of equity had no jurisdiction of the case because complainants had a plain, adequate, and complete remedy at law. The court below sustained both of the defences and dismissed the bill. Held, that the decree was fully justified.</p>