Digital Commons Network^™

The Scope Of Copyright Protection, James E. Fahey

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Patents - Patentability Of The Product Of A Process, Julian Caplan

Michigan Law Review

The problem to be discussed in this comment can best be illustrated by setting forth a hypothetical fact situation. It will be assumed that an inventor, A has invented a new and useful process for refining oil, which process is denoted process X. Heretofore all oil has been refined by process Y. The oil produced by process X does not differ sufficiently in its chemical and physical properties from that produced by process Y so that the inventor can get a patent on the oil as such. Assuming that, upon proper application, A may receive a patent for …

Patents - Equity Pleading - Sufficiency Of "Short Form" Of Bill Of Complaint - Burden Of Proof Of Validity Of Patent Infringement Suit, Julian Caplan

Michigan Law Review

Complainant brought suit for infringement of letters patent and used the so-called "short form" of bill of complaint. Defendant moved to dismiss the bill for insufficient facts to constitute a cause of action, since there were no allegations of compliance with the statutory provisions for issuance of a patent. The District Court and the Circuit Court of Appeals for, the Eighth Circuit sustained the demurrer, but the Supreme Court held that under Equity Rule 25 the short form of bill of complaint contained all the ultimate facts necessary for complainant to state a cause of action. Mumm v. Jacob E. …

Trade Marks - Registration - Color As A Common-Law Or Technical Trade Mark, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff had applied for registration of a trade mark for a cleaning powder consisting of a rectangular yellow panel, bounded by a contrasting blue border, affixed to the container of the goods. The mark was accompanied by two other trade marks and by certain descriptive material impressed on the body of the mark within the blue border, for which trade marks and descriptive matter registration was not sought. The Commissioner refused to register the mark on the ground that it would not indicate the origin or ownership of the goods, and on the further ground that it would be regarded …

Trade Marks And Trade Names - Mark Used On Patented Article - Effect Of Expiration Of Patent, William J. Isaacson

Michigan Law Review

P company had distributed patented razor-blades marked Enders, and, upon the expiration of its patent, registered the word as a trade mark. It also used the term Keen-Kutter, as part of its mark, but the use of this term on other goods antedated the patent by several years. P now seeks to enjoin the D company from using either term as part of its trademark. Held, (1) the word Enders having become descriptively designative of this type of razor and blade, D was entitled to use it upon expiration of P's patent; (2) as to Keen-Kutter …

Constitutional Law-Resale Price Maintenance -Fair Trade Acts, Joseph H. Mueller

Michigan Law Review

Four cases upholding the validity of the California and Illinois Fair Trade Acts were recently sustained by the United States Supreme Court. All four cases involved a similar set of facts. Plaintiffs, the owners or authorized distributors of certain well known trade-marked articles, entered into a series of contracts with wholesalers and retailers fixing the resale prices of their branded products. When defendants, certain retailers who had refused to enter into such agreements, persisted in reselling the articles below the prices stipulated in the contracts with other retailers, plaintiffs sued to enjoin them under the provisions of the state Fair …

Equity-Patent Infringement-Advantages Of Declaratory Judgment Over Injuction Relief

Michigan Law Review

Defendant had patented a certain seam used in garment-making and also the means for manufacturing it. Plaintiff claimed that this patent was void because anticipated by his own practice. Under this claim plaintiff continued to manufacture the type of seam in question and to sell garments in which it was used. Defendant thereupon sent notices both to plaintiff and to his customers threatening suit for infringement. Plaintiff sought a decree under the Declaratory Judgment Act to determine whether the patent was valid. Defendant moved to dismiss the action. Held, motion denied; a declaratory judgment is an appropriate proceeding for …

Patents - Infringement - Estoppel Based On Prior Interference Proceedings

Michigan Law Review

The defendant was sued for infringement of certain basic process patents held by plaintiff corporation covering the recording of sound upon motion picture film. The defendant had applied for a patent for substantially this invention, but had lost in interference proceedings declared between him and the plaintiff here, who had also applied at about the same time. Because of these acts of applying and contesting interference proceedings, plaintiff here claimed that defendant was now estopped to set up in defense to this suit the non-patentable nature of the invention. Held, that the patent was invalid for anticipation and that …

Unfair Competition-Misrepresentations By A Competitor Of The Quality Or Character Of His Own Product

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff, an exclusive licensee under certain patents, manufactures the "Purolator" oil filter. The A. C. Filter produced by the defendant was adjudged to be an infringement of plaintiff's patent rights and a permanent injunction was granted. Defendant then changed the internal construction of its oil filter without changing the shape, color, marking or appearance and thereafter sold the changed device representing that it was the same as the earlier infringing one. From a decree of the lower court dismissing plaintiff's bill alleging unfair competition, plaintiff appealed. Held, injunction granted restraining defendant from falsely representing the filter it is …

Trade-Marks And Trade-Names--Jurisdiction--Goods Of Different Classes, Houston A. Smith

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Federal Practice -Jurisdiction Over Non-Federal Questions - Meaning Of Cause Of Action

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners brought suit in a federal court to enjoin the respondents from publicly producing a play, alleging that it infringed a copyrighted play of the petitioners and that it would also constitute unfair competition. The parties were citizens of the same State. After considering the claim of infringement on its merits, the court held that, although there was no infringement threatened, the jurisdiction acquired by reason of that federal question might be retained to consider the issue of unfair competition. Hurn v. Oursler, 289 U.S. 238, 53 Sup. Ct. 586 (1933).

Torts - Negligence -The Duty Element

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff was the driver of a large motor coach which had skidded on an icy road and knocked down a telephone post, causing a wire, strung thereon, to sag across the road. Perceiving that defendant's approaching truck would run into the wire, plaintiff signalled defendant to stop, but defendant did not stop until his truck had struck the wire, pulling the pole over so that it hit the plaintiff. Held, one judge dissenting, that the question of defendant's negligence was for the jury. Kennedy v. Scott Transportation Co., (C. C. A. 2d, 1932) 60 F. (2d) 717.

Taxation-Federal Instrumentalities-Exemption From State Tax

Michigan Law Review

Appellant, a New York corporation which is engaged in Georgia in licensing copyrighted motion pictures, brought suit to restrain a Georgia tax upon the gross receipts of royalties. Appellant urged the invalidity of the tax upon the ground that copyrights are instrumentalities of the United States. The supreme court of Georgia ruled that the suit should be dismissed. On appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States it was held, in Fox Film Corporation v. Doyal, that a state tax on royalties derived from copyrights is valid.

Patent Rights For Scientific Discoveries, Karl Fenning

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

A German Work On Trade Marks And Unfair Competition In The United States, Hanna Katz

Michigan Law Review

The acquaintance of German lawyers with American trade-mark law and protection against unfair trading was based until now on the individual studies of persons especially interested in this subject. German textbooks and commentaries on industrial property rights treat international and foreign rules too, but they scarcely give a sufficient notion of how to create a valid trade-mark and protect the trader in his full enjoyment thereof in the U. S. A. Yet the necessity of having such knowledge is a rather broad one in Germany as in all other European countries selling trade-marked articles to their customers on the other …

Copyrights-Radio Reception As Performance Witein Copyright Act

Michigan Law Review

By means of a master receiving set under its operation, and loudspeakers controlled by the guests, installed in its rooms, defendant hotel company made available the hearing of a copyrighted musical composition which had been broadcast. Neither the radio station nor the hotel was authorized to perform it. In a suit against the hotel company for alleged infringement of the copyright, relief was denied on the ground that reception did not constitute a performance within the meaning of the Copyright Act. The case was appealed and that question was certified to the Supreme Court. Held, that reception was essentially …

Newspaper Copyright, Joseph M. Cormack

Faculty Publications

This is a report upon the state of the American law prepared for submission to the International Congress of Comparative Law to be held at The Hague, August 2nd to 6th., 1932. The report was prepared at the request of the American committee of the Interiationad Academy of Comparative Law, and is published with the approval of the Academy. The national reports are to form the basis of a general report, not exceeding xo,ooo words in length, covering the general state of the law in regard to the particular topic. Because of the limitations thus involved, it has been necessary …

International Standing In Court Of Foreign Corporations, Elvin R. Latty

Michigan Law Review

The Supreme Court of Mexico has recently pronounced a decision of more than passing interest to the American Bar, not only because of the legal basis upon which the decision was rendered, but also because of its probable far-reaching consequences. The plaintiff corporation, organized under the laws of Delaware, brought suit for infringement of its trade mark which had been duly registered in Mexico. The Supreme Court held that inasmuch as the plaintiff was not registered in Mexico it had no existence there for the purposes of bring suit. It does not appear that the plaintiff was engaged in business …

Fraudulent Intent In Trade Mark Cases, Grover C. Grismore

Michigan Law Review

One of the troublesome questions which confront the trade mark lawyer is that as to the extent to which a fraudulent intention is an essential element in trade mark litigation. Must a plaintiff who is seeking injunctive relief, or damages, or an accounting against a defendant who", it is alleged, has simulated his trade mark, trade name or other identifying device, show that the latter has consciously sought to mislead the purchasing public? Judges and legal writers leave the matter in doubt. It is the purpose of this paper to discover, if possible, how this doubt has arisen and to …

Protection Of Industrial Property, Edward S. Rogers

Michigan Law Review

It is perhaps too much to attempt a discussion of the origin and history of the common law in an introductory note like this. Suffice it to say that the common law is unwritten and is an inheritance from the English colonists who brought it to North America from England. The common law is the law of the several states. In the United States there is no national common law.

Treaties-Scope Of Treaty--Making Power--When Treaties Are Self-Executing

Michigan Law Review

The scope of the treaty-making power, and the considerations that govern in determining when a treaty is self-executing and when it requires subsequent legislation to make its terms effective, received an interesting discussion in a recent case decided in the United States District Court of the District of Maryland.

Legal Protection Of Ideas

Michigan Law Review

In the recent Pennsylvania case of Mackay v. Benjamin Franklin Realty & Holding Company, an architect was employed to draw plans for the erection of the Benjamin Franklin Hotel at Philadelphia. For some reason the construction of the hotel was abandoned before the plans were accepted. Later it was again decided to build the hotel, but in the interval the architect had died, and a second architect was employed to draw plans. He, without the consent of the personal representative of the first architect, copied his plans, which were accepted and used in the construction of the building. The …

International Unions For The Protection Of Industrial, Literary And Artistic Property, M. Ostertag

Michigan Law Review

The League of Nations, whose guests we presently are in this handsome city of Geneva, is certainly the most· important of the associations of states because its purpose, the peace of the world, is the most noble. It is also one of the youngest of such associations. You do me a great honor, Ladies and Gentlemen, in asking me to introduce to you today two much older sisters of the League of Nations, sisters whose reputation is indeed less brilliant and universal, but of whom people may perhaps say what they say of married ladies: "The best are always those …

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.

Book Reviews, Edward S. Rogers, John Barker Waite

Michigan Law Review

Patent Law. by John Barker Waite, Professor of Law in the University of Michigan Law School. Princeton University Press, x92o.

Patent Law, John Barker Waite

Books

The comparatively small size of the book is not due to any conscious superficiality of treatment nor omission of pertinent subject matter. It purports to cover only the substantive law of patents, their nature, validity, effect, and their characteristics as property. Matters of procedure in securing patents or suing on them, and the difficult subject of the amount of compensation recoverable by suit, would require a volume for themselves and are not included here. But of the matter which is included, it has been my desire to present every issue which has come before the courts....

This book is intended …

Copyright And Morals, Edward S. Rogers

Michigan Law Review

The basis for national copyright legislation in this country is Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution: "The Congress shall have power * * * to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

The Patentability Of A Mental Process, John B. Waite

Articles

The fact of possession has been so correlated with the theory of property that it is difficult to dissociate ownership from the possibility of physical possession. One finds that the average lawyer, even though he may defind a right in rem as a right enforcible against any person, is extremely apt, unless after especial thought, to explain that it is enforcible against anyone because it pertains to a thing capable of physical possession and control, a thing that could be actually sequestered, from all other persons. Not at all infrequently the term property has been judicially stripped even of its …

Limitations Upon The Use, After Sale, Of Patented Articles, John B. Waite

Articles

In the case of Motion Picture Patents Co. v. Universal Film Co., 37 Sup. Ct. 416, the Supreme Court has just rendered a decision which reverses the much discussed case of Henry v. Dick Co., 224 U. S. 1. The opinion was by a divided court, however, as three of the justices dissented, and Justice McREYNOLDS "concurred in the result" only. It can, therefore, hardly be said to settle the ultimate rule as in contradiction to that followed in Henry v. Dick Co., and discussion of the case is of something more than mere academic value. The facts were that …

The Patentability Of A Principle Of Nature, John B. Waite

Articles

The extent to which courts will go in conceding patentability to a natural law, or principle of nature, is evidenced in the case of Minerals Separation Co. v. Hyde, 37 Sup. Ct. -, decided by the Supreme Court, December 11, 1916. It has always been more or less an axiom of patent law that the discovery of a principle of nature does not entitle the discoverer to a patent for it. The case usually thought of first as authority therefor, is that of Morton v. New York Eye Infirmary, 5 Blatch. 116, 2 Fisher 320. The patentees in that case …