Sperry Gyroscope Co v. Arma Engineering Co

• Decision Date: 24 May 1926
• Docket Number: No. 239,239
• Citation: 271 U.S. 232,70 L.Ed. 922,46 S.Ct. 505
• Parties: SPERRY GYROSCOPE CO. v. ARMA ENGINEERING CO
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

271 U.S. 232

46 S.Ct. 505

70 L.Ed. 922

SPERRY GYROSCOPE CO.

v ARMA ENGINEERING CO.

No. 239.

Argued April 15, 1926.

Decided May 24, 1926.

Messrs. Melville Church, of Washington, D. C., D. Anthony Usina, of New York City, and Herbert H. Thompson, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for appellant.

Messrs. Dean S. Edmonds, of New York City, and Charles Neave, of Boston, Mass., W. Brown Morton, and R. Morton Adams, all of New York City, for appellee.

Messrs. William D. Mitchell, Sol. Gen., of Washington, D. C., Harry E. Knight, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., and Henry C. Workman, of Washington, D. C., amici curiae.

Mr. Justice Mc,REYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.

Appellant brought suit against the Engineering Company, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, for damages, profits, etc., on account of the manufacture by it of gyroscopic compasses, covered by patents, for the United States; also for an injunction against further infringements. The allegation which demands special consideration follows:

'That the defendant, well knowing the premises, but with intent to injure the plaintiff, to interfere with its business, and to deprive it of the profits derived and to be derived from making, using, and selling said inventions, has, within the Eastern District of New York, and without the license or consent of plaintiff, but against its positive protest, made a number of gyroscopic compasses for and sold them to the United States Navy Department under contract with the said Navy Department, subsequent to the dates of said patents and within six years next preceding the filing of this complaint, to wit, during the years 1918 to 1923, all in infringement of the aforesaid letters patent, and that defendant is preparing and threatening to infringe said patents more extensively by the manufacture of said infringing apparatus for and its sale to the United States Navy Department under contract with the said Department and thus to inflict further injury, damage, and loss upon the plaintiff; but to what extent the defendant has profited by reason of the aforesaid infringement plaintiff is ignorant and cannot set forth, and prays an account thereof.'

The contract with the United States is not set forth. Whether it undertook to protect them against claims arising under appellant's patents, or whether the compasses were delivered before or after July 1, 1918, or whether the arrangement necessarily involved an infringement of the patents, does not appear.

The trial court dismissed the bill for lack of jurisdiction, and granted this direct appeal December 30, 1924. Such appeals were permitted by section 238, Judicial Code (Comp. St. § 1215), 'in any case in which the jurisdiction of the court is in issue, in which case the question of jurisdiction alone shall be certified to the Supreme Court from the court below for decision.' We are now concerned only with the power of the trial court to decide the controversy revealed by the record.

Under section 24, Judicial Code (Comp. St. § 991), District Courts have original jurisdiction:

'Seventh. Of all suits at law or in equity arising under the patent, the copyright, and the trade-mark laws.'

Appellant charged that the Engineering Company had infringed its patents by making and selling compasses to the United States, under contract, during the years 1918 to 1923, and intended further to infringe by continuing so to do. It asked for damages and an injunction. But for the allegation that the inventions were made and sold under such a contract, this...