Nat Lewis Purses v. Carole Bags
| Decision Date | 11 May 1936 |
| Docket Number | No. 344.,344. |
| Citation | 83 F.2d 475 |
| Parties | NAT LEWIS PURSES, Inc., v. CAROLE BAGS, Inc. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Nathan Schoenberg, of New York City (Harris Jay Griston, of New York City, of counsel), for appellant.
Halpert & Burger, of New York City (Louis Schumacher, of New York City, of counsel), for appellee.
Before L. HAND, SWAN, and CHASE, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from a decree denying an injunction pendente lite for the acknowledged infringement of design patent, No. 96,768. Though the patent, which is for a woman's purse, has never been adjudicated, the defendant must make some attack upon its validity to justify its conduct. It does; it has produced Specht's patent, 1,022,976, and some purses manufactured in accordance with its disclosure. There are differences between these and the patented design; the tab or flap is larger in proportion to the whole purse and there is a button upon it, but if Specht's purse were made larger, the tab would ordinarily keep its size, for it is only meant for the thumb and forefinger to grasp. There are also differences in proportion, though these, too, are accounted for by the fact that the relation between mouth and bag will vary with the gross size of the purse. Finally, the general effect of the patented design is more pleasing and trimmer, so that if the defendant confined itself to Specht's design, the plaintiff would be content. Nevertheless, it is plain to us that it was a very simple matter, with Specht's purse before him, for any ordinary designer to produce the patented design; as we have just intimated, no more was really involved than changing the size. If the test of invention is the same for design, as for mechanical, patents, the patent in suit cannot survive.
There has undoubtedly been some vacillation about that question in the books. Some opinions appear to imply that if a design be new and pleasing enough to catch the trade, nothing more is required. Wood & Sons v. Abelson's, Inc., 74 F.(2d) 895 (C.C.A.3), may possibly be so read, and something very close to it appeared in Graff et al. v. Webster, 195 F. 522 (C. C.A.2); Dominick & Haff v. Wallace & Sons Mfg. Co., 209 F. 223 (C.C.A.2); and Mygatt v. Schaffer, 218 F. 827 (C.C.A.2). When Steffens v. Steiner, 232 F. 862 (C. C.A.2), was in the District Court, the judge sustained some patents for cigar bands, which were new but to whose production no greater talents were necessary than those of journeymen designers....
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Amerock Corporation v. Aubrey Hardware Mfg., Inc.
...Corp., 7 Cir., 1950, 182 F.2d 1000, 1004; S. Dresner & Son, Inc. v. Doppelt, 7 Cir., 1941, 120 F.2d 50, 52; Nat Lewis Purses v. Carole Bags, 2 Cir., 1936, 83 F.2d 475, 476. Likewise, "neither is it sufficient simply to show that no prior design is `like' the one in suit." Burgess Vibrocraft......
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Chas. D. Briddell, Inc. v. Alglobe Trading Corp.
...Gilbert Co. v. Shemitz, 2 Cir., 45 F.2d 98, 99; Neufeld-Furst & Co. v. Jay-Day Frocks, 2 Cir., 112 F.2d 715, 716; Nat Lewis Purses v. Carole Bags, 2 Cir., 83 F.2d 475, 476; White v. Leanore Frocks, Inc., 2 Cir., 120 F.2d 113, 115; Alfred Bell & Co. v. Catalda Fine Arts, 2 Cir., 191 F.2d 99,......
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Lewis v. Vendome Bags, 76.
...justifying a design patent which must disclose originality and invention similar to that of a utility patent. Nat Lewis Purses, Inc. v. Carole Bags, Inc., 2 Cir., 83 F.2d 475 (ladies' purse); Steffens v. Steiner, 2 Cir., 232 F. 862 (cigar bands); Knapp v. Will & Baumer Co., 2 Cir., 273 F. 3......
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Hygienic Specialties Co. v. Salzman, Inc.
...The fact that the design may be "new and pleasing enough to catch the trade" alone is not sufficient. Nat Lewis Purses, Inc. v. Carole Bags, Inc., 83 F.2d 475, 476 (C.C.A.2, 1936); Amerock Corp. v. Aubrey Hardware Mfg., Inc., 275 F.2d 346, 348 (7th Cir. 1960). Concededly, this concept of in......