Terhune v. Phillips
| Decision Date | 01 October 1878 |
| Citation | 25 L.Ed. 293,99 U.S. 592 |
| Parties | TERHUNE v. PHILLIPS |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
APPEAL from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois.
This was a bill in equity by Matthias Terhune against John Phillips and Wellington Phillips, praying for an injunction restraining them from using or vending, or in any manner putting into practical operation or use, the corner sockets for show-cases for an improvement in which reissued letters-patent No. 5748 had been granted to the complainant by the United States, Jan. 27, 1874.
It appears by the specification forming a part of the letters-patent that the invention for which they were granted 'has for its object to provide a means for connecting the ends of the horizontal and vertical members of a show-case frame; and to that end it consists in a metallic corner-piece, provided with sockets adapted to receive the ends of the different members, whereby the same are firmly connected at the corners of the case.'
The court below dismissed the bill, whereupon the complainant brought the case here.
Mr. L. L. Coburn for the appellant.
No counsel appeared for the appellee.
The determination of this case is controlled by Brown et al. v. Piper, 91 U. S. 37. We cannot fail to take judicial notice that the thing patented was known and in general use long before the issuing of the patent. The substitution of metal for wood was destitute both of patentable invention and utility. The admission of improper testimony, if it occurred, was, therefore, immaterial. The case of the appellant as it appears in the record, without any testimony, is clear and conclusive against him.
Decree affirmed.
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... ... displaced by specific allegations in the bill. Brown v ... Piper, 91 U.S. 42; Terhune v. Phillips, 99 U.S ... 592; King v. Gallun, 109 U.S. 99, 3 S.Ct. 85 ... The ... grant of the patent is an adjudication which binds ... ...
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Gatch Wire Goods Co. v. WA Laidlaw Wire Co.
...beyond it into the answers and testimony, sua sponte, * * * have adjudged in favor of the defendant." Again, in Terhune v. Phillips, 99 U.S. 592, 593, 25 L.Ed. 293, in passing upon a patent for a metallic corner for showcases, the court said: "We cannot fail to take judicial notice that the......
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... ... scientific facts involved to determine whether the theory ... advanced can be sustained. Terhune v. Phillips, 99 ... U.S. 592; King v. Gallan, 109 U.S. 99; Underhill on ... Evidence, 366 and 371; Gas Light Co. v. Ins. Co., 33 ... Mo.App. 348; ... ...
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Graney v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Company
... ... determine whether the theory advanced can be sustained ... Nugent v. Milling Co., 131 Mo. 253; King v ... Gallan, 109 U.S. 99; Terhune v. Phillips, 99 ... U.S. 592; St. Louis Gas Light Co. v. Ins. Co., 33 ... Mo.App. 348; Underhill on Evidence, p. 371; 1 Greenleaf on ... ...