Citations
- 15 F.2d 393
Full opinion text
CAMPBELL, District Judge.
This is a motion for a preliminary injunction in an action in equity in which plaintiffs seek damages, and injunctive relief, for an alleged infringement by the defendant of patent No. 1,198,246, for buffer for motor vehicles, issued by the United .States Patent Office to George Albert Lyon, dated September 12, 1916. The claims involved in the instant suit are 9,14, and 18. The defense is principally that of noninfringement. Several actions have been brought on the patent in suit.
In the latter part of 1916 an aetion was brought in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by Lyon Non-Skid Company and Metal Stamping Company against Edward V. Hartford, Inc., and after trial before Judge Mantón a decree was entered, adjudging the patent valid and infringed; his opinion being reported in 247 F. 524. From that decree an appeal was taken, and the decree of the District Court was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, without opinion, a memorandum decision being reported in 250 F. 1021, 162 C. C. A. 664. The claims involved in that suit were claims 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 15, and 18; the infringing structure being known as the “Hartford bumper.”
In June, 1921, another suit was commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by George Albert Lyon, Alexander Wilson, Jr., and Metal Stamping Company, Inc., against John F. Boh and Eva F. Boh, copartners doing business as New York & Brooklyn Automobile Supply Company, and Biflex Products Company. On appeal, the Circuit Court of Appeals rendered a decision holding the claims valid and infringed; the opinion being written by Judge Hough, and reported in 10 F.(2d) 30. The claims involved in that suit were 9,14, and 18, and the infringing bumper was known as the “Biflex bumper.”
On July 1, 1926, a* suit was commenced in this court by the plaintiffs against American Bumper Corporation, and a motion for a preliminary injunction, after argument before me, was granted. The claims involved in 'that action were 9,14, and 18.
In another action commenced in this court in August, 1926, by plaintiffs against the Eaton Bumper & Spring Service Company of New York, Inc., a motion for a preliminary injunction came on for hearing before Judge Moscowitz, and, the defendant not appearing in opposition thereto, the motion was granted. The claims involved in that suit being 9, 14, and 18.
Circuit Judge Hough, in Lyon et al. v. Boh et al., supra, in speaking of Lyon’s invention in the patent in suit, at page 34 said:
“We think that the great merit of his invention is that he first thought out what may be called an all-spring buffer, something that would resiliently resist severe strains, and on release regain approximately its original form, although the strain were applied in center, or either end, or anywhere between. The means for utilizing this metal conception is essentially the open-ended loops extending over and in front of the wheels. By this means the buffer is all spring, and is exactly what Hoover, with his carriage spring ends collapsible by hand pressure, is not.”
Again at page 34 he says:
“thus we feel sure, as we did when hearing the Hartford Case, that what gives merit to, and forms the central idea of, Lyon’s buffer, is not continuity or solution thereof in the form of the metal whereof it is formed, but the arrangement of one, two, or (as in Hartford or Biflex) three pieces of metal to form & defense against collision, which shall be both strong and resilient wherever the contact shock occurs, by means of open-ended loops.” . Claim 18 of the patent in suit reads as follows :
“The automobile buffer comprising open-ended loops extending outwardly at the transverse ends of the buffer and an impact-receiving portion forming a continuation of said loops and spacing them apart, said loops and impact-receiving portion being vertically rigid, but horizontally yieldable, and rearwardly extending attaching means to mount said buffer on the vehicle frame and relatively adjustable to fit the supporting members of the vehicle, which are at different distances apart.”
The bumpers of the defendant involved in the instant suit aré known as the “Bil-Cox bumpers.” The open-ended loops, projecting out in front of the car wheels, are found in both the front and rear Bil-Cox bumpers. The impact-receiving portion of the Bil-Cox bumper is of multiple form, but that was also the case with the Biflex, American, and Ea