Yale Lock Manufacturing Company v. Greenleaf

This was a bill in equity brought by the appellee, Halbert S. Greenleaf, to restrain the infringement by the appellant, the Yale Lock Manufacturing Company, of the first and fourth claims of the reissued letters-patent granted to George Rosner, July 25, 1871, for an 'improvement in permutation locks.' The original patent bore date September 18, 1860. The defense was that the alleged invention, and substantial and material parts thereof, claimed as new, were, prior to any invention thereof by said George Rosner, known and publicly used by divers persons in this country, and that among such persons were D. H. Rickards, of Boston, and the firm of Evans & Watson, of Philadelphia. The circuit court decided that the patent was valid, and that the defendant had infringed, and, upon the report of a master of the damages sustained by the plaintiff, rendered a decree in his favor for $2,968.50. The present appeal brings that decree under review.

Frederic H. Betts, for appellant.

''Geo. T. Curtis and Edmund Wetmore'', for appellee.

WOODS, J.