Bankers' Utilities Co. v. National Bank Supply Co.

This is an appeal from an order of the District Court denying a temporary injunction to restrain the making of what are called book form savings banks, which the appellants claim are an infringement of letters patent No. 1,460,716, claim 6. This patent was first construed by this court in Bankers’ Utilities Co. v. Pacific National Bank, 18 F.(2d) 16 . It was there held that all of the claims of the patent, except claim 6, were invalid, as showing no invention over the prior art. The court, by the late Judge Dietrich, declared that all of the elements involved were old, and that the patentee could lay no claim to basic or primary rights. It was held, however, that the combination composing the deviee, as described in claim 6 of the patent, was an improvement over the prior art. The ease was returned to the District Court after that decision, and accounting proceedings were had.

While those proceedings were pending, the defendants changed the form of construction of their device. The plaintiffs then insisted that the new form did not avoid infringement, and applied to the court for an order to construe the injunction to include the new form of device. The trial court then held that…