Ry-Lock Company, Ltd., a Corporation v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., a Corporation

The appellant, here called Ry-Loek, as assignee of the inventor and patentee, brought this suit for infringement of letters patent No. 2,380,794, which was issued for a “tensioning and locking device for frameless window screens.” The defendant, Sears, Roebuck & Co., here called Sears, was charged with selling tensioning and locking devices for frame-less window screens which infringed Ry-Lock’s patent. The sales occurred at Sear’s store at Sacramento, California.

Upon the trial below the court found that Ry-Lock’s patent was void for want of the required novelty, utility and advance in the art; that the patented device was anticipated by earlier patents, and entered judgment for the defendant Sears.

The subject matter of the patent concerns a combination made up of a “sill-bracket” and a “tension arm”. The drawings and specifications show that the sill bracket is a metal part which is secured by screws to the sill of the window upon which a frameless window screen is to be installed. It is so designed as to provide an opening for the insertion of a bolt with wing-nut extending upward from the sill 'bracket. A special feature of the sill bracket is that at the end, toward the…