United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Manufacturing Company v. Cowing, 105 U.S. 253 (1881)

Manufacturing Company v. Cowing

105 U.S. 253

Syllabus

The validity and the infringement of letters patent No. 117,92, granted Aug. 8, 1871, for an improvement in gas pumps for oil wells, having been established, held that the case being an exceptional one inasmuch as the market for such pumps was confined to a particular region and the demand for them was so limited that although no other species of pump could successfully compete with them, a single manufacturer could easily and with reasonable promptness fill all orders for them, the patentee is entitled to recover the difference between the cost of the material and labor used by the infringes in making the pumps which he sold and the price which he received for them.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.