Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

Patents-Exclusive Licenses-Licensor And Licensee Relationship- Llicensee's Obligations, Gordon W. Hueschen S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Patent licensing is today, as always, a very significant part of patent law. Since royalty licenses allow a patentee to realize pecuniary benefits from his invention without yielding ownership, as he would by an assignment, they are especially attractive to an inventor who anticipates considerable commercial success for his contribution, and who does not desire to lose all control of the invention for a lump sum, the adequacy of which must be, at best, speculative. From the licensee's standpoint, it is usually advantageous to be free of competition from others also operating under the same patent monopoly, at least within …

The Compulsory Manufacturing Provision-An Anachronism In The Copyright Act, Clinton R. Ashford S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The protection afforded foreign authors under the United States Copyright Act at the present time is subject to stringent restrictions. Copyright will not be granted to a person who is neither a citizen nor a resident of the United States unless he complies with a great many formalities, and, in addition, conforms with the compulsory manufacturing requirement. It is the object of this comment to examine the manufacturing provision, section 16 of the Copyright Law, and to show why it should be deleted from the act.

Contributory Infringement And The Combination Patent, Samuel Ewer Eastman

Michigan Law Review

The right of action for contributory infringement of a patent was forged by judicial legislation, and, as limited and subjected to opposing rules of law, has been tempered by that same process. The history is exemplary of the control over society exercisable by the courts according to their own individual economic outlook.

In tracing this history, buying agreements, price-fixing, agreements not to deal in the goods of a competitor, conspiracies to restrain trade through licensing, and other business arrangements subject to scrutiny under the anti-trust laws will be dealt with only incidentally. It is not possible to deal only with …

Taxation-Federal Income Tax-Taxability To Nonresident Alien Of Lump Sum Payments For Copyright, Myron J. Nadler S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Taxpayer, a nonresident alien author not engaged in trade or business within the United States, delivered certain literary works to American publishers under agreement whereby the latter were to copyright and publish these stories and reassign to the taxpayer after publication all rights except the American serial rights. Lump sum payments for each story were received during the years 1938 and 1941. No tax was paid on these amounts and a deficiency was assessed on the ground that they constituted royalties received for the use of United States copyrights and were taxable as ordinary income. The circuit court of appeals …

Coming Into Equity With Clean Hands, Zechariah Chafee, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The preceding article proposed to examine eighteen differing groups of cases which are commonly supposed to present the clean hands doctrine as a maxim of equity, and then proceeded to consider eight such groups. Ten groups still require attention. The first five of those already considered fell within the exclusive jurisdiction of equity, and the next three within the concurrent jurisdiction, which is continued for a considerable part of the present article. After discussing suits for specific performance of unfair contracts and of illegal contracts, I dealt with miscellaneous tort suits by a person charged with crime. We now turn …

Compulsory Licensing By Judicial Action: A Remedy For Misuse Of Patents, Neal Seegert

Michigan Law Review

Having viewed the fundamental problems, it is pertinent to outline some of the alleged abuses of the American patent system as it operates in our modern business and industrial economy and to canvass some of the proposed remedies. First are abuses that might be termed attempts to extend the duration of the patent monopoly. These stem mainly from the procedural aspects of the patent laws. Foremost among them is the problem of long pendency of applications, particularly the dilatory tactics that are possible under the law, which postpone issuance of the patent, thus extending the time duration of the patent …

Patent Law-Patentability As Affected By The Law Of Nature Rules-The Kalo Doctrine, Howard W. Haftel S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Kalo Company sued Funk Brothers for equitable relief in a federal district court, alleging infringement of product claims to a bacteria inoculant. The district court found infringement of the claims, but held them invalid for want of invention. The circuit court of appeals reversed, holding that the product claims were valid and infringed. On certiorari, the Supreme Court reversed, stating that the newly discovered law of nature, that is, that certain strains of each species of bacteria are mutually compatible, was not patentable, although a practical application of this law might be. The majority opinion also stated that for purposes …

Definiteness And Particularity In Patent Claims, William Redin Woodward

Michigan Law Review

To the uninitiated the professional jargon of patents, and particularly of patent claims, is somewhat mystifying even in the most ordinary cases. The profession likes to define the elements of apparatus as "means" for this, "means" for that and "means" for the other. Words like "plurality," "predetermined" and "comminuted" find remarkably frequent use by patent attorneys. And the habit of using out-of-the-way verbiage may lead the practitioner by force of habit to pass over a simple term like "sleeping car" in favor of a more elaborate phrase like "a communal vehicle for the dormitory accommodation of nocturnal viators." But it …

Trade Restraints--Anti-Trust Laws-Tying Contracts--Right Of Selection Of Customers, John F. Buchman, Iii

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, one of the country's largest producers of salt for industrial uses, held patents on two machines for utilization of salt products. It leased these machines on condition that the lessee purchase from defendant all the salt (an unpatented product) to be used with the machines unless salt should become available elsewhere at a lower price. The federal government brought suit under the Sherman and Clayton Acts to enjoin the continued observance of these provisions of the lessee. The district court granted the injunction and ordered that defendant, if offering any machines at all for lease, offer the same to …

A Review Of The New Trade-Mark Manual, Lenore B. Stoughton

Michigan Law Review

The United States Trade-Mark Act of July 5, 1946, is a statute designed to be of far-reaching effect. The appraisal of the statute must be made in the light of that fact rather than in the light of the confusion and disputation which have arisen as to the proper interpretation of many of its provisions.

One might have supposed that an act which had been subjected to intensive study and extensive revision over so many years before its final enactment would emerge in complete clarity. Such has not proved to be the case; and it should not have been expected. …

Trade Marks--Assignability In Gross, Joseph N. Morency, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

After using the name "Mother Parker" in connection with a biscuit mix manufactured in Brooklyn, plaintiff, Heloise Parker Broeg, in 1934 opened a bakery in Boston under the name "Mother Parker's Cupboard." She operated this store and another in the same area until 1939, selling a line of bakery goods including bread, doughnuts, cakes, and cookies. In 1936 the trade mark "Mother Parker's" was registered in the United States Patent Office. Plaintiff and her husband opened an experimental laboratory and retail bakery in Peterboro, New Hampshire, in 1940 under the name "Mother Parker's Cupboard" in which they manufactured a complete …

Implied Warranties Of Non-Infringement, Louis Robertson

Michigan Law Review

When a manufacturer or dealer sells a product, is there an implied warranty that the product does not infringe adversely-owned patents? In other words, does the purchaser who is successfully sued for infringement have the right, without an indemnity clause, to be indemnified by the seller?

Many lawyers, especially patent lawyers, who are accustomed to advising the insertion of express patent warranties in sales contracts to take care of the matter, have answered this question instantly and positively in the negative, and it is quite possible that according to fundamental principles of implied warranties they are right, and yet all …

Recent Developments In Patent Law, Arthur M. Smith

Michigan Law Review

The framers of the Federal Constitution shared with Thomas Jefferson his "wish to see new inventions encouraged, and old ones brought again info useful notice." Their concern for the public welfare caused many, including Jefferson, to question the wisdom of using a limited monopoly to encourage such inventions.

Trade-Marks: Monopoly Or Competition?, Leslie Davidson Taggart

Michigan Law Review

Three articles have appeared in the Georgetown Law Journal in which the thesis is asserted that trade-marks are monopolies in restraint of trade under the Anti-Trust Acts. Their publication seems to have been caused in part by the proposed revision of the United States Trade-Mark Statutes, which was started by a bill originally introduced into the House on January 19, 1938. The thesis of this present article is that a trade-mark in fact distinguishes one man's product from the products of his competitors, with the result that the consumer can make a choice among them.

Corporations-Where Name Of New Corporation Is The Existing Trade Name Of Another, Robert M. Barton S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In 1928 plaintiff changed its official corporate name from the "City Fuel Company" to the "Staples Coal Company," but continued to utilize the old corporate name as a trade name in advertising and the retail sale of fuel oil. It made little, if any, use of the new title, since the general public was accustomed to dealing with it under the name it had used for seventeen years. Defendant was incorporated in 1943 as the "City Fuel Company" and began to engage in a similar business in the same general trade area of greater Boston. Plaintiff, fearing deception of the …

Equity - Clean Hands Doctrine - Tradename Infringement - Relief Awarded On Condition That Complainant Cleanse His Hands, Craig E. Davids

Michigan Law Review

For twenty-six years complainant conducted a tailor shop under the name, "Dundee Woolen Mills, Custom Tailors." On the front of the store was the slogan "No Middle Man's Profit," though the shop was neither owned by a woolen mill nor conducted in any manner that eliminated the usual middle man's profit. Defendant for many years operated a nation-wide chain of ready-to-wear stores under the name "Dundee Clothes" and eventually opened an establishment in complainant's locality. Suit was filed in equity to enjoin the defendant from using "Dundee" in his business. The lower court decided that though complainant had come into …

Judicial Legislation-Patent Law-Has The Doctrine Of Contributory Infringement Been Repudiated?, John B. Waite

Michigan Law Review

When leaders quarrel the rank and file may flounder; and, in their recent decision of Mercoid Corp. v. Mid-Continent Investment Co., the justices of the Supreme Court have created confusion for lawyers. Four of the seven opinions clearly express intent to promulgate a new rule of law; two deny that intent; one is indefinite; and the purpose of the Court as a whole is left in doubt. Though the decision affects only the patent law, the process of decision concerns every lawyer.

Abstracts, Katherine Kempfer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.

Patents - Estoppel Of Licensee To Deny Validity - Restrictions On Licensee's Sale Prices

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued to recover royalties alleged to be due under a contract licensing defendant to manufacture articles covered by a patent owned by the plaintiff. The agreement provided that defendant licensee should not sell embodiments of the invention manufactured under the license at prices or under conditions more favorable to its customers than those prescribed by the licensor for its own customers. The defendant set up the defense that plaintiff "by reason of the price control provisions of the licensing contract and the invalidity of [the patent]" was not entitled to recover the royalties. The district court and the circuit …

Trade Restraints - Resale Price Maintenance - Use Of Competitors As Agents, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Masonite Corporation, the principal defendant, manufactured and sold for construction purposes a patented wood product known as "hardboard." The other defendants sold, and many of them manufactured, building materials, several having patents that competed with Masonite. After a short period of patent litigation between Masonite and one of its chief competitors, a plan was devised and gradually extended to the other defendants, by which the latter were constituted the del credere agents of Masonite to sell its product at prices and according to terms which it should establish. The agents were not to use the trademarks of Masonite; and the …

The Validity Of Conditions In Patent Licenses, John Barker Waite

Michigan Law Review

In discussing this subject one can still begin with the premise that in this country a patentee possesses the absolute right to preclude anyone, except the United States government, from making use of his invention.

Patents - Validity Of Contracts To Assign Employee's Future Inventions To Employer, Lloyd M. Forster

Michigan Law Review

The relative rights of employer and employee to the fruits of the employee's inventive genius have become increasingly important. In deciding these rights the courts have shown a marked tendency to favor the employee, possibly to compensate for the superior bargaining power of the employer. They have been anxious to limit the rights in the employer implied by the relationship of the parties. Contractual ambiguities have been construed in favor of the employee to a far greater extent than is called for by the rule of construction against the party drawing the contract. Unusual rights in the employer must be …

Copyrights - Laches As A Defense To Suit For Copyright And Patent Infringement, David Davidoff

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff manufacturer sued, inter alia, for copyright infringement in the appropriation of the content of his catalogues by defendant, a former employee. It appeared that plaintiff had known of the infringement for over three years before filing suit, during which time he had made no protest or complaint, but had stood by while defendant incurred large expense in printing and distributing the catalogues. Held, plaintiff's laches barred relief for the infringement. Wiegand Co. v. Trent Co., (C. C. A. 3d, 1941) 122 F. (2d) 920.

Patent Law - Conditions In Leases Made By Patentee To His Licensees - Suits For Direct Infringement, Brooks F. Crabtree

Michigan Law Review

Respondent manufactured and leased patented devices used in the canning industry for depositing salt tablets. One condition in the leases for these machines required licensees to use with the patented machines only tablets sold by respondent's subsidiary. Respondent sued in the district court for an injunction and an accounting for infringement of its patent by petitioner, who manufactured and leased infringing salt-depositing machines. Upon petitioner's motion to dismiss on the ground that respondent was making use of its patent to restrain the sale of salt tablets in competition with its own sale of unpatented tablets, the trial court granted a …

Judgments - Propriety Of Finding That A Nonparty Conducted The Defense, David N. Mills

Michigan Law Review

A patent infringement suit against a distributor was dismissed on the ground that plaintiff's patents were invalid. A finding was incorporated in the judgment that the defense had been "openly and avowedly conducted" by the manufacturer of the article distributed by defendant. Plaintiff objected that the finding "on its face would be a valid estoppel" in case plaintiff later wished to sue the manufacturer in a separate suit. Held, that plaintiff was entitled to have the finding deleted from the judgment since the finding was not necessary to a disposition of the issues between plaintiff and defendant. Minneapolis- Honeywell …

Trade Marks And Trade Names - Unauthorized Use Of Registered Vessels - Search Warrant, Reed T. Phalan

Michigan Law Review

A number of milk bottles bearing registered marks of various dairies were seized from the possession of plaintiff dairyman by defendant deputy sheriff, under a search warrant issued by defendant district judge, upon affidavit and showing by defendant deputy commissioner of agriculture that the bottles were being unlawfully used. Notice was given of a hearing to be held before the judge to determine the persons entitled to possession of the seized property. Plaintiff brought this action for an original writ of prohibition to restrain further proceedings, charging that the search warrant section of the statute under which the proceedings were …

Judgments - Declaratory Judgments - Availability To Alleged Infringers In Patent Cases, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In addition to an injunction and an accounting, the prayer of the plaintiff requested a declaratory judgment to determine the plaintiff's rights in relation to a patent of the defendant. The petition alleged the plaintiff was importing and offering for sale a chemical called "Estradoil," and that the defendant had notified the plaintiff's customers that the chemical infringed the defendant's patent. A year prior to the action, the defendant had published a notice in a trade journal stating that a certain patent had been issued to it which covered the chemical known as "Estradoil," and that any use of the …

Trade Restraints - Associations Of Manufacturers To Combat Style Piracy - Illegal Restraints Of Trade, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In order to combat the practice of "style piracy" among competitors, a large number of producers of women's coats and dresses formed an association, whose membership was composed of designers, manufacturers, and distributors. Producers adjudged copyists by the association were not permitted membership. The clear purpose of the association was primarily to boycott retailers who refused to deal solely with members of the association, and secondarily to boycott, and eliminate competition from, the copyists. In addition there was provided a system of registration for designs made by members, and a judicial type of machinery for protecting the designers' interest therein. …

Trade Marks And Trade Names - Unfair Competition - Restrictions On Use Of Personal Name, Reed T. Phalan

Michigan Law Review

For many years plaintiff and its predecessors used the name "Dougherty's" in marketing straight whiskey throughout the United States. In 1939 defendant, Edwin L. Dougherty, began selling blended whiskey in Pennsylvania, likewise using the name "Dougherty's," to dominate his labels, and in 1940, pursuant to a previously formed intention, plaintiff began selling blended whiskey under the same name. Plaintiff brought an action to enjoin defendant's use of the name "Dougherty's." Held, through plaintiff's prior use, the name "Dougherty's" had come to be associated by the purchasing public with plaintiff's whiskey; therefore defendant's use of the same name to dominate …

The Present Status Of The Sherman Act, Robert W. Harbeson

Michigan Law Review

Two circumstances may be advanced by way of justification for the present addition to the voluminous literature dealing with the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. First, the Supreme Court has in recent months handed down two decisions involving the application of the Sherman Act to the oil industry, which are of great importance both because of their sweeping application to marketing practices in that industry and because of the directness with which they raise certain issues of economic theory and policy. Second, the fiftieth anniversary of the Sherman Act on July 2, 1940 provides an appropriate occasion for a review of the …