Streat v. White

• Decision Date: 02 July 1888
• Citation: 35 F. 426
• Parties: STREAT v. WHITE et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

35 F. 426

STREAT v. WHITE et al.

United States Circuit Court, S.D. New York.

July 2, 1888

Samuel R. Betts, for plaintiff.

Reuben L. Roberts, for defendant.

SHIPMAN J.

This is a bill in equity to restrain the defendants from the infringement of design patent No. 16,379, dated November 10 1885, to George Streat, for a design for textile fabrics specially to be employed in printing calicoes and similar fabrics. The leading feature of the design consisted in a stripe of a solid block of color, or in the form of dots or pin-points applied closely together, 'parallel to and alternating with a stripe which is crossed at right angles by alternate light and dark lines, which are blended into each other by shading. ' The general color or tint of the stripes is immaterial. The claim is as follows:

'The design for textile fabrics herein shown and described, the same consisting of the stripes, a, a, parallel to and alternating with the stripes, b, b, the latter being crossed at right angles by alternate light and dark lines, which are blended into each other by shading, substantially as described.'

This was intended to be and was an imitation in printed cloths of a well-known and popular woven fabric, called 'seersucker,' which presents a smooth stripe parallel and alternating with a ridged or crinkled stripe. The object of the alternate light and dark cross-lines in the stripes, b, b, was to represent the crinkled effect of the corresponding woven stripe in the seersucker. The idea of imitating, in printed cloths, the woven seersucker was not a new one at the date of the alleged invention. It had frequently been attempted. Alternate light and dark cross-bars, at right angles with the stripes, to imitate the crinkled appearance of the ridged stripe, had been used; but I assume that the blending into each other of these lines by shading was novel. The design quickly attracted the fancy and the favor of the public, and became very popular. The point in the case which I deem of most importance and of most danger to the patent is in regard to the fact of invention by Streat. He conceived the idea of imitating a seersucker fabric, and of having one stripe crossed at right angles by cross-bars, in which there was no novelty, and then submitted the project of an imitation to Mr. Gilmore, the manager of a factory for printing cotton goods, with the request that he cause it to be produced which was done by the designer and engraver in Gilmore's factory. The patentee now desires to represent, in general and somewhat vague terms, that he conceived the idea of the blending together of the cross-lines by shading, and desired Gilmore...