Formulabs, Inc. v. Hartley Pen Co.

The matters before us in the above causes have their genesis in an action instituted by Hartley Pen Company, an appellee in No. 17741 and the petitioner in No. 17799, against E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, etc., an appellee in No. 17741 and a respondent in No. 17799, for damages for breach of warranty. Formulabs, Incorporated, Clarence Schreur and Gordon S. Lacy, etc. are appellants in No. 17741 and respondents (sometimes referred to as inter-venors) in No. 17799. The Honorable William G. Mathes, Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, Central Division, is a respondent in No. 17799.

For convenience the parties will be referred to respectively as “Hartley,” “du Pont,” “Formulabs,” and “District Court.”

In order to place the parties in proper posture and to consider the questions presented by these two causes, it is necessary to review prior proceedings in the Court below and in this Court.

Hartley manufactures ball point pens containing cartridges filled with ink made under a secret formula comprising a trade secret belonging to Formulabs. The use of the secret formula by Hartley was under the terms of a written license agreement…