Shawkee Mfg Co v. Co
| Decision Date | 15 May 1944 |
| Docket Number | HARTFORD-EMPIRE,No. 423,423 |
| Parties | SHAWKEE MFG. CO. et al. v. CO |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
See 322 U.S. 772, 64 S.Ct. 1281.
Mr. William B. Jaspert, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for petitioners.
Mr. Francis W. Cole, of Hartford, Conn., for respondent.
Here as in Hazel-Atlas Glass Company v. Hartford-Empire Company, 322 U.S. 238, 64 S.Ct. 997, decided today, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has declined to set aside judgments entered at a prior term. 137 F.2d 764. Both this case and the Hazel-Atlas case involve the validity of judgments obtained by Hartford-Empire adjudicating infringement of the 'gob feeding' patent No. 1,655,391 owned by Hartford. In the Hazel-Atlas case, supra, we have held Hartford's proven frauds in connection with obtaining and enforcing that patent were of such nature that the decree of infringement against Hazel-Atlas should be set aside, and have directed that appropriate orders be entered to accomplish that purpose. Nevertheless, it is argued that the decrees rendered against Shawkee and others should be allowed to stand because of certain differences between their situation and that of Hazel-Atlas. These are the differentiating facts:
Hartford's infringement suit against Shawkee and the other petitioners was not begun until 1933 after the decision of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals the previous year holding Hartford's 'gob feeding' patent valid and infringed by Hazel-Atlas. The District Court, having been reversed by that previous decision, held Shawkee and the others guilty of infringement. On appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, that court did not again quote from the spurious Clarke article but, like the District Court, simply held in favor of Hartford on the authority of the 1932 decision. 68 F.2d 726. While the appeal was pending final disposition in the Circuit Court, Shawkee's counsel communicated with Judge Buffington charging that the Clarke article was spurious; but at that time Shawkee had no direct proof of its charge. That proof, as pointed out in our Hazel-Atlas opinion, supra, was available only after the United States offered its evidence in the anti-trust suit in 1941.
None of these facts, we think, should deprive Shawkee and the others of relief against Hartford's fraudulent conduct. To obtain its judgment against them, Hartford successfully used the judgment against Hazel-Atlas without disclosing its previous misconduct. Keystone Co. v. General Excavator Co., 290 U.S. 240, 246, 247, 54 S.Ct. 146, 78 L.Ed. 293. Hartford can derive no aid from the fact that Shawkee reported to the Circuit Court its belief as to the deceptive authorship of the Clarke article. With that charge on the record, honest dealing with the...
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