Miller-Magee Co. v. Carpenter

• Decision Date: 29 February 1888
• Citation: 34 F. 433
• Parties: MILLER-MAGEE CO. et al. v. CARPENTER.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

34 F. 433

MILLER-MAGEE CO. et al. v. CARPENTER.

United States Circuit Court, S.D. Ohio, Western Division.

February 29, 1888

Jere F Twohig and Howson & Sons, for complainants.

Parkinson & Parkinson, for defendant.

JACKSON J.

The complainants, citizens of Ohio and Pennsylvania, as the present owner and licensees of letters patent No. 281,101 for certain and useful improvements in book binding, issued February 26, 1883, to Andrew J. Magee, instituted this suit September 3, 1887, against the defendant, a citizen and resident of Covington, Ky., to restrain his use and infringement to said patent. Service of process was had upon the defendant at Cincinnati, Ohio. In obedience to said process, defendant has appeared, and demurred to the jurisdiction of this court 'for that it appears by said bill of complaint that this defendant is not an inhabitant of the district wherein the suit is brought, and for that it does not appear by said bill of complaint that the amount in controversy is sufficient to give jurisdiction to this court ' The bill makes no allegation or averment as to the amount involved in the controversy; and the second ground of demurrer assumes that, under the act of March 3, 1887, it must appear upon the face of the bill, in patent cases as in other civil suits, that the matter in dispute exceeds exclusive of interest and costs, the sum of $2,000, in order for this court to entertain jurisdiction. This position is not well taken. Under the statutes of the United States the circuit court has exclusive jurisdiction of all cases arising under the patent-laws of the United States, without reference to the amount involved. The act of 1875 in no way changed or affected the jurisdiction. The act of March 3, 1887, is only amendatory of the act of March 3, 1875, and in respect to patent cases, leaves the jurisdiction of this court just as it stood prior to and after the passage of the act of 1875, so far as the amount involved is concerned. Before the act of 1875, this court had jurisdiction in patent suits without reference to the amount involved. That act did not change this jurisdiction or introduce any requirement as to amount in dispute in patent cases; and in amending the act of 1875, no change in this respect is made by the act of March 3, 1887. The court is of the opinion that this ground of demurrer is not well taken and should be overruled.

The other ground of demurrer, viz., 'that it appears by said bill of complaint that the defendant is not an inhabitant of the district wherein this suit is brought,' presents a valid objection to the suit against the defendant in this district. It is not intended in holding this objection valid to decide that this court cannot, under the act of 1887 exercise any jurisdiction in cases like the present, when the defendant is not an inhabitant of the district...