Meccano v. John Wanamaker, New York
Citation | 253 U.S. 136,40 S.Ct. 463,64 L.Ed. 822 |
Decision Date | 17 May 1920 |
Docket Number | No. 187,187 |
Parties | MECCANO, Limited, v. JOHN WANAMAKER, NEW YORK |
Court | United States Supreme Court |
Messrs. Reeve Lewis and W. B. Kerkham, both of Washington, D. C., for petitioner.
Mr. H. A. Toulmin, of Dayton, Ohio, for respondent.
Proceeding against Wagner and others in the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Meccano, Limited, obtained a decree (July 8, 1916) affirming the validity, and restraining infringement, of its patent for mechanical toys, also restraining unfair competition in making and selling such toys and the further infringement of its copyright upon trade catalogue and illustrated manual relating thereto. Meccano v. Wagner, 234 Fed. 912. An appeal was taken to the Circuit Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. The same corporation instituted the present suit in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York (December 9, 1916) seeking like relief against John Wanamaker, a customer of Wagner.
The trial court granted a preliminary injunction, asked upon the bill, supporting affidavits and exhibits—January 12, 1917, It expressed general agreement with the conclusions announced in the Ohio cause and said:
'It seems quite apparent that the patent is infringed and that diagrams and directions as to construction have been borrowed by defendant from complainant's copyrighted catalogues, and that the system of construction adopted by the defendant is a direct imitation of complainant's system.'
An appeal followed, pending which the Circuit Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit (November, 1917), reversed the Ohio District Court's decree so far as it sustained the patent, approved it otherwise, and remanded the cause for further proceedings. Wagner v. Meccano, 246 Fed. 603, 158 C. C. A. 573.
January 25, 1918, after argument, but before determination of appeal from the preliminary order, petitioner moved for final decision on the merits, claiming that the decree of the Circuit Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, 'is final and conclusive as to the case at bar, under principles enunciated by the Supreme Court.' Being opposed, the motion was denied—March 24, 1918. The court said of it:
'This was a motion for a 'decision on the merits of this cause' by this court under the following circumstances: A suit was brought in the District Court for the Southern District of New York for an injunction for infringement of a copyright, and of a patent, and for unfair competition in the manufacture of a mechanical toy in absolute imitation of the plaintiff's. The plaintiff applied for and got an injunction pendente lite , from which the defendant appealed. That appeal is still pending undetermined in this court. Meanwhile the plaintiff had in the District Court required the defendant to answer certain interrogatories, by which it appeared that the defendant procured from one Wagner the toys which it sold in alleged unfair competition and in violation of the patent, and also the 'manuals' which went with the toys and explained their uses, which are alleged to infringe the copyright. The interrogatories further showed that Wagner had agreed to hold the defendant harmless for any sales of the toys and manuals, and that in pursuance of that undertaking he had taken a share in the defense of this suit. While it did not appear exactly what that share was, it may be assumed, for the purpose of the motion only, that Wagner has assumed the chief conduct of the case, and that the defendant remains only formally represented.
250 Fed. 250, 162 C. C. A. 386.
April 15, 1918, the court below reversed the challenged preliminary order. After stating that the trial court very naturally followed the Ohio District Court, it referred to the partial reversal of the decree there announced and expressed entire agreement with the Circuit Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, in holding the patent invalid. And, having considered the evidence relating to copyright and unfair competition, it...
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