Cinema Patents Co. v. Columbia Pictures Corp.

This is a suit charging defendants with. infringement of two patents- covering appa *311 ratus for processing picture film. The charge is particularly directed to the altering by defendants of a machine owned by the plaintiff. The machines were leased to and placed in operation in the Wm. Horsley Film Laboratories, Inc., in Hollywood, under a lease agreement, which subsequently plaintiff acquired ownership of and of the patents therein named. A suit is now pending in the. Superior Court of California for an accounting to plaintiff for all photographic film developed, processed, or treated by the machines and to declare the lease agreement terminated. The defendants urged two defenses : First, the lease and license agreement under which they seek to justify their acts complained of; and, second, the pendency of the suit in the state court is a bar to the present suit. An order of reference to a special master for trial was made, who concluded that the patents are valid in law and belong to the plaintiff, and were infringed by the defendants’ use of the altered developing machine. The lower court refused to sustain the recommendations of the master on the question of infringement,…