Massillon-Cleveland-Akron Sign Co., a Corporation v. Golden State Advertising Co., Inc., a Corporation

This is an interlocutory appeal, taken pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (b), from a district court order striking certain affirmative defenses and a counterclaim asserted by one of the defendants.

The plaintiff and appellee is Massil-lon-Cleveland-Akron Sign Co. (MCA), which is the owner of Letters Patent No. 2,764,830 for “Articulated Banner Unit Construction.” The defendants are Golden State Advertising Co., Inc. (Golden State), Albert A. Gold, sole stockholder and President of Golden State, William Monaghan, an employee of Golden State, and McCoy-Gold Merchandising, Inc. (McCoy-Gold), in which Gold owned a fifty percent interest. McCoy-Gold acts as a sales representative for Golden State.

MCA acquired its patent from the original patentee, Edward Frey. In 1962, MCA charged Golden State, Gold, and others not involved in this litigation, with infringement of the patent. MCA informed Golden State and Gold that legal action would be taken if they did not cease infringement activities and if they did not account for sales of the infringing items.

This threatened legal action was forestalled when the concerned parties, on July 23, 1962, entered into a written agreement settling the…