United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

General Talking Pictures Corp. v. Western Elec. Co., 305 U.S. 124 (1938)

General Talking Pictures Corporation v. Western Electric Co.

No. 1

Reargued October 19, 20, 1938

Decided November 21, 1938

305 U.S. 124

Syllabus

1. The owner of a patent may lawfully restrict his licensee to manufacture and sale of the patented invention for use in only one or some of several distinct fields in which it is useful, excluding him from the others. P. 305 U. S. 125.

2. Where a licensee, so restricted, makes and sells the patented article for a use outside the scope of his license, he is an infringer, and his vendee, buying with knowledge of the facts, is likewise an infringer. P. 305 U. S. 127.

3. In this case, the Court has no occasion to consider (a) what the rights of the parties would have been if the articles embodying the patented invention had been manufactured under the patent and had passed into the hands of a purchaser in the ordinary channels of trade; or (b) the effect of a notice attached to articles lawfully made and sold under license of the patent owner, and which purports to restrict their use. Id.

91 F.2d 922 affirmed.

In this case, there were several suits for infringements of patents relating to vacuum tube amplifiers. The court below was affirmed at the last term, but a rehearing was granted on some of the questions said to be involved. 304 U. S. 175, 546, 587.

Page 305 U. S. 125