Howell Co. v. Royal Metal Mfg. Co.

LINDLEY, District Judge.

Plaintiff brought suit in the District Court to restrain infringement of design patent No. D-96183 of July 9, 1935, to Hoffman for a chair. The master to whom the cause was referred held the patent invalid, and the District Court approved the report and dismissed the bill for want of equity.

The patent includes prospective views from the top, side, and front of a chair, said to be modernistic in design; the claim being for “the ornamental design of a chair as shown.” The drawings show a chair with four legs, those in front being straight and those in the rear curving…