United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Ensten v. Simon, Ascher & Co., Inc., 282 U.S. 445 (1931)

Ensten v. Simon, Ascher & Company, Incorporated

No. 46

Argued December 12, 1930

Decided February 2, 1931

282 U.S. 445

Syllabus

1. To protect the valid part of a patent containing an invalid claim, the patentee must disclaim the invalid part without unreasonable neglect or delay. R.S., §§ 4917, 4922; U.S.C., Title 35, §§ 65, 71. P. 282 U. S. 449.

2. By interlocutory decree in a suit for infringement, the district court upheld some of the patent claims and adjudged another invalid. The infringer took an interlocutory appeal, unsuccessfully, to the circuit court of appeals; but the patentee took none, and thereafter, when the case, upon remand from that court, was again before the district court for an accounting, he disclaimed the invalid part in the Patent Office. This was almost two years after the invalidity of the claim had been adjudged by the district court. Subsequently he brought this suit in another circuit, on the remainder of the patent. Held, that the bill for an injunction was properly dismissed upon the ground that the patentee had unreasonably neglected and delayed making the disclaimer and therefore was not entitled to the benefits of the disclaimer statute. P. 455.

38 F.2d 71 affirmed.

Certiorari, 281 U.S. 708, to review a decree upholding the dismissal of the bill in a patent infringement suit.

Page 282 U. S. 447