Dobson v. Hartford Carpet Co Same v. Bigelow Carpet Co
| Decision Date | 20 April 1885 |
| Citation | 29 L.Ed. 177,114 U.S. 439,5 S.Ct. 945 |
| Parties | DOBSON and another v. HARTFORD CARPET CO. 1 SAME v. BIGELOW CARPET CO. (Two Cases.) 1 |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
H. T. Fenton and R. P. White, for appellants.
A. v. Briesen, for appellees.
These are three suits in equity brought in the circuit court of the United States for the Eastern district of Pennsylvania, against John Dobson and James Dobson, trading as John and James Dobson and as 'The Falls of Schuylkill Carpet Mills.' No. 1 is brought by the Hartford Carpet Company, for the infringement of design letters patent No. 11,074, granted March 18, 1879, to the plaintiff, as assignee of Winthrop L. Jacobs, for three and one-half years, for a design for carpets. No. 2 is brought by the Bigelow Carpet Company, for the infringement of design letters patent No. 10,778, granted August 13, 1878, to the plaintiff, as assignee of Hugh Christie, for three and one-half years, for a design for carpets. No. 3 is brought by the Bigelow Carpet Company, for the infringement of design letters patent No. 10,870, granted October 15, 1878, to the plaintiff, as assignee of Charles Magee, for three and one-half years, for a design for carpets.
No. 1 was commenced on the twenty-sixth of April, 1879, and Nos. 2 and 3 on the seventh of May, 1879. In No. 1 and No. 3 the defendants appeared by a solicitor, but did not plead, answer, or demur to the bill, and it was taken as confessed, in each suit, on the eleventh of July, 1879; and on the second of September, 1879, and interlocutory dec ee was entered in each suit, awarding a perpetual injunction, and an account of profits and damages. In No. 2, an answer was filed on the third of September, 1879, denying infringement and setting up want of novelty. A replication was filed, and on the fifth of November, 1879, a preliminary injunction was granted. Testimony was taken, and on April 23, 1880, on final hearing, a decree was made for a perpetual injunction, and an account of profits and damages. Some testimony on the accounting in Nos. 1 and 3 was taken in November, 1879, but most of the evidence before the master was taken in the three suits at the same time, in June, 1880.
In No. 1, the master filed a report on January 18, 1881, setting forth that the plaintiff, before the master, waived all claim for profits, and limited its claim to the damages it had suffered by the infringement; that the defendants had sold 20 pieces, of 50 yards each, of carpet containing the patented design; that the plaintiff claimed $13,400 damages, being 67 cents a yard, on 400 pieces of carpet, of 50 yards each, as being the decrease of the plaintiff's sales caused by the infringement, estimating the cost to the plaintiff of making and selling the carpet at $1.08 per yard, and his selling price at $1.75 per yard; and that the master had rejected that claim, as founded on inadmissible evidence, and a further claim of $3,000 damages, for expenses caused to the plaintiff, by the infringement, in getting up other designs, and changing its looms to other carpets. The report was for six cents damages. The plaintiff excepted to the report because it did not find profits to have been made by the defendants, and did not report more than nominal damages. The court sustained the exceptions, and decreed to the plaintiff $737, being for 20 pieces of infringing carpet made and sold by the defendants, at 55 yards perpiece, or 1,100 yards, at 67 cents per yard, as the plaintiff's profit per yard on carpet of the patented design. The final decree was for $737 and costs, and a perpetual injunction. The defendants have appealed.
In No. 2, the master filed a report on January 18, 1881, setting forth that the plaintiff, before the master, waived all claim for profits, and limited its claim to the damages it had suffered by the infringement; that no testimony had been taken showing the amount of the defendants' sale of the infringing carpet; that the plaintiff claimed $11,250 damages, being 75 cents a yard, on 300 pieces of carpet, of 50 yards each, as being the decrease of the plaintiff's sales, caused by the infringement, estimating the cost to the plaintiff of making and selling the carpet at $1.10 per yard, and his selling price at $1.85 per yard; and that the master had rejected that claim as not sustained by the evidence, and also a further claim for expense caused to the plaintiff by the infringement, in getting up another design, and in resetting its looms to manufacture the same. The report was for six cents damages. The plaintiff excepted to the report for not finding more than nominal damages. The court sustained the exceptions, and decreed to the plaintiff $750, being for 20 pieces of infringing carpet made by the defendants, at 50 yards per piece, or 1,000 yards, at 75 cents per yard, as the plaintiff's profit per yard on carpet of the patented design. The final decree was for $750 and costs, and a perpetual injunction. The defendants have appealed.
In No. 3, the master filed a report on January 18, 1881, setting forth that the plaintiff, before the master, waived all claim for profits, and limited its claim to the damages it had incurred by the infringement; that the defendants had sold 31 pieces, amounting to 1,684 1/4 yards, of carpet containing the patented design; that the plaintiff claimed $3,750 damages, being 75 cents a yard on 5,000 yards of carpet, as being the decrease of the plaintiff's sales, caused by the infringement, estimating the plaintiff's profit on making and selling the carpet at 75 cents per yard; and that the aster had rejected that claim as not sustained by the evidence, and also a further claim for the cost of getting up another design to replace the one infringed. The report was for six cents damages. The plaintiff excepted to the report, because it did not find profits to have been made by the defendants, and did not report more than nominal damages. The court sustained the exceptions, and decreed to the plaintiff $1,312.50, being for 35 pieces of infringing carpet made and sold by the defendants, at 50 yards per piece, or 1,750 yards, at 75 cents per yard, as the plaintiff's profit per yard on carpet of the patented design. The final decree was for $1,312.50 and costs, and a perpetual injunction. The defendants have appealed.
The circuit court proceeded on the ground, as stated in its decision, (10 Fed. Rep. 385,) that it was to be presumed that the defendants' carpets displaced in the market an equal quantity of the plaintiffs' carpets; and that the profits which the plaintiffs would have made on that quantity of carpets was the measure of their damages. It rejected the claims for losses for any greater decline in the plaintiffs' sales, and on looms, as 'too remotely connected with the defendants' acts as their supposed cause,' and 'too speculative in their character,' to be allowed.
Leaving out of view all question as to the presumption that the plaintiffs would have made and sold, in addition to the carpets of the patented designs which they did make and sell, the infringing carpets which the defendants made and sold, which are alleged to have been of poorer quality and cheaper in price, it is plain that the price per yard allowed as damages was the entire profit to the plaintiffs, per yard, in the manufacture and sale of carpets of the patented designs, and not merely the value which the designs contributed to the carpets. There was no evidence as to that value.
It is provided by section 4921 of the Revised Statutes, that, in a suit in equity for the infringement of a patent, the plaintiff may, on a decree in his favor, recover the damages he has sustained, in addition to the profits to be accounted for by the defendant, such damages to be assessed by the court, or under its direction, and with the same power to increase the damages, in the discretion...
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