Burgess v. General Electric Company
Decision Date | 20 May 1968 |
Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 757-66. |
Citation | 285 F. Supp. 788 |
Parties | Edward S. BURGESS, Plaintiff, v. GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Defendant. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
Lum, Biunno & Tompkins, by Joseph R. McMahon, Newark, N. J., Laurence B. Dodds, Great Neck, N. Y., I. David Blumenfeld, Lynchburg, Va., of counsel, for defendant.
This is a suit for infringement of a patent, wherein the plaintiff seeks:
The case is before the court at the present time on defendant's motion to quash plaintiff's demand for a jury trial on all issues.
Very simply, it is the defendant's basic position in propounding this motion that plaintiff is not entitled to a jury trial because his complaint seeks solely equitable relief, namely, an injunction, accounting, treble damages, costs, and attorney's fees. Plaintiff, in opposing the motion, asserts that his request for an accounting is a request for legal relief, citing the United States Supreme Court decision in Dairy Queen Inc. v. Wood, 369 U.S. 469, 82 S.Ct. 894, 8 L.Ed.2d 44 (1962), which did much to blur the previously sharp distinction between complaints seeking "damages" and those seeking "an accounting."
Initially, it must be noted that, should it be here determined that plaintiff's request for an accounting is in fact a request for legal relief, plaintiff will be entitled to a jury trial on the questions of infringement and patentability raised by the pleadings in this case. See Beacon Theatres, Inc. v. Westover, 359 U.S. 500, 79 S.Ct. 948, 3 L.Ed.2d 988 (1959). That being the case, the sole issue remaining for determination is whether plaintiff's complaint seeks only equitable relief, or if, on the other hand, his request for an accounting is a request for legal relief. It being the court's view that the plaintiff's complaint, when examined in light of the Dairy Queen case, does seek legal relief, the defendant's motion to quash plaintiff's demand for a jury trial will be denied.
Considering the nature of the specific accounting sought by plaintiff in that case, and finding it to be of an uncomplicated nature, the Supreme Court determined that the "accounting" request in plaintiff's complaint was, effectively, a legal...
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...Inc. v. Cunningham, supra n. 13, 352 F.2d at 153; Swofford v. B & W, Inc., supra n. 13, 336 F.2d at 410-411; Burgess v. General Electric Co., 285 F.Supp. 788, 789-790 (D.N.J. 1968). 16 This subject is discussed in Dairy Queen where Mr. Justice Black said: "The respondents' contention that t......
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American Cyanamid Co. v. Sterling Drug, Inc.
...v. Drake Publishers, Inc., 629 F.Supp. 644 (D.Me.1986) (trademark infringement action seeking profits and damages); Burgess v. General Elec. Co., 285 F.Supp. 788 (D.N.J.1968) (jury demand upheld in patent infringement action seeking, inter alia, an accounting and Sterling Drug points out th......