Penn Electric Switch Co. v. United States Gauge Co.

EVANS, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff brought this suit for a declaratory decree. It sought a judicial declaration on the disputed validity and infringement of patent No. 1,972,815. The patent is owned by defendant, who, it is asserted, was threatening plaintiff’s customers with infringement suits because of alleged infringement by plaintiff’s product of claim 5 of said patent. Plaintiff prayed a decree which would hold said claim 5 invalid and also non-infringed by its product, which was an “automatic control device.”

Defendant objected to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for…