Western Well Works, Inc. v. Layne & Bowler Corp.
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the Southern Division of the Northern District of California, Second Division; Frank S. Dietrich, Judge. Suit in equity by the Layne & Bowler Corporation against the Western Well Works, Inc., and others. Decree for complainant, and defendants appeal.
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Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the Southern Division of the Northern District of California, Second Division; Frank S. Dietrich, Judge. Suit in equity by the Layne & Bowler Corporation against the Western Well Works, Inc., and others. Decree for complainant, and defendants appeal. This suit was brought for infringement of claims 9, 13, and 20 of letters patent No. 821,653, issued May 29, 1906, on an application filed April 28, 1903, to Mahlon E. Layne for “well mechanism”; ,the plaintiff and appellee being the assignee of said Layne.
1DissentGilbert, Circuit Judge
I submit that the question of infringement in this case is not determinable upon the mechanism described in the Halstead patent. It is determinable upon the mechanism which was actually used by the appellants at the time of the institution of the suit. The court below found, and it is so shown by the evidence, that while a.t the outset the appellants may have undertaken to follow the Halstead patent, they had abandoned it at the time when the suit was commenced, and were using great care so to construct their mechanism as to make a perfect union between casing and coupling with the complete…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Getty v. LayneCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 1920