Beatty Safway Scaffold Co. v. Up-Right, Inc., a Corporation

This is a patent infringement ease in which a jury returned a verdict in favor of the appellee and against appellant, respectively plaintiff and defendant in the Trial Court, for infringement of appel-lee’s patented device by appellant’s accused device, and for damages incident to the infringement. Appellant timely moved for a directed verdict and for judgment n. o. v. or for a new trial and to alter or amend the judgment entered on the verdict, which motions were denied, and this appeal followed. The Trial Court had and this Court has jurisdiction. 28 U.S. C. §§ 1338 and 1291.

Appellee’s device in question is a portable and collapsible scaffold patented under letters patent 2,438,173 on March 23, 1948. Appellee’s basic structure under the patent is a stand made of an aluminum alloy. It is supported on either end by two sets of poles upon which a platform rests. A ladder which is also a support runs diagonally from a position on the bottom frame bar between the bottom ends of one set of poles to the top of the other set. Due to permanent and detachable hinges, the ladder and two sets of poles may be rotated in such a way as to collapse or erect the scaffold with relative ease,…