Bergman

A suit for infringement was brought below by the appellee as the assignee of Korter patent No. 2,631,552, for “Aluminum Shingle”, issued March 17, 1953. The complaint also charged unfair competition and prayed for a permanent injunction against manufacture, sale, use and infringement by the appellants, and a decree enjoining them from competing unfairly with the' appellee, for recovery of general and special damages, etc.

The appellants denied the charges, contending that the patent is not valid and is not infringed, and they also counterclaimed for unfair competition.

*387 By a pre-trial order, the District Judge directed that “the issues of validity of [appellee’s patent and infringement thereof by [appellants], be segregated and tried first; that all proceedings pertaining to all of the other issues be deferred until the trial and determination of said segregated issues, and by reason thereof, this pre-trial order is limited to the issues so segregated to be first tried and determined.”

The Court below found in favor of the appellee both as to validity and infringement, granting a permanent injunction and ordering an accounting by the appellants, individually and…