Leishman

Appellant, LeRoy J. Leishman, brought an action against appellee, Associated Wholesale Electric Company, for infringement of claims 7-11 of reissue patent No. 20,827. 1 Defenses were that the claims *723 were invalid, and that, if valid, they were not infringed. The District Court held the claims invalid 2 and, on May 1, 1941, entered judgment dismissing the action. From that judgment an appeal was taken on September 4, 1941. We dismissed the appeal as not having been taken in time. 3 The Supreme Court reversed our judgment and remanded the case for decision on the merits.

The original patent (No. 2,108,538) was applied for by appellant on December 15, 1934, and was issued to him on Fel ruary 15, 1938. The reissue patent (No. 20,827) was applied for by appellant on May 23, 1938, and was issued to him on August 16, 1938. The original patent consisted of a specification, a drawing and six claims (claims 1-6). The specification, the drawing and the six claims of the original patent were incorporated, without change, in the reissue patent. The reissue patent included six additional claims (claims 7-12). Otherwise, the original and the reissue were identical.

This action was…