United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Bene v. Jeantet, 129 U.S. 683 (1889)

Bene v. Jeantet

No. 167

Argued January 18, 1889

Decided March 5, 1889

129 U.S. 683

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED

STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Syllabus

The reissued letters patent No. 8,637, granted to John Bene March 25, 1879, for an improvement in the process of refining and bleaching hair, is limited to the second claim, and is to be construed as a patent for a process of refining hair by treating it in a bath composed of a solution of chlorine salt dissolved in an excess of muriatic acid, but within that limit, it is a pioneer invention, and is entitled to receive a liberal construction.

The testimony of two experts in a patent suit being conflicting, and the evidence of one being to facts within his knowledge which tended to show that there was no infringement, while that of the other, who was called to establish an infringement, was largely the assertion of a theory and the presentation of arguments to show that facts testified to by the other could not exist, held that no case of infringement was made out.