Lincoln Ironworks v. W. H. McWhirter Co.

Citations

• 131 F. 860
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4956

Syllabus

<p>1. Patents — Suit fob Infringement — Parties.</p> <p>In a suit against a patentee, it was adjudged that, by virtue of an agreement made before the application was filed, plaintiff was entitled to a half interest in the invention; and it was decreed that the patentee should convey to him “the equal undivided one-half of whatever interest he may have acquired” to the invention, and a conveyance was accordingly made in the terms of the decree. At the time the patentee held the title to a one-half interest only in the patent, having assigned the other half interest. Held, that the conveyance carried his entire interest, and divested him of all title, so that he was not a necessary party to a subsequent suit for infringement.</p> <p>2. Same — Anticipation—Stone Planing Machine.</p> <p>The Gilmour patent, No. 575,154, for a stone planing machine, having two tables or platens, which may be operated separately, or locked together and operated as one, was anticipated as to the general idea, which was conceived by another, from whom the patentee obtained it, and who afterward embodied it in concrete form; and the patent is valid only as to the specific means for locking the two platens together, shown in claim 3. Such claim held not infringed.</p>