Beauchamp

This is a suit in equity for infringement of patent No. 1,808,756, granted July 9, 1931, to George D. Beauchamp, for improvement in stringed musical instruments.

The defenses urged at the hearing and in the briefs are substantially: (1) Invalidity of the patent; (2) lack of invention and novelty; and (3) no infringement by defendants. There are other defenses pleaded, but they have been either abandoned or no substantial evidence has been produced in support of them.

The patent contains thirteen claims, but only claims 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 12 are in issue in this suit.

At the outset it is conceded that the grant is not that of a pioneer patent creating a new art, but complainants contend that the invention disclosed and claimed in the patent is a substantial and useful advance in the art of amplifying stringed musical instruments, and that under the rule stated in Eibel Process Company v. Minnesota & Ontario Paper Co., 261 U.S. 45 , 43 S.Ct. 322, 328 , 67 L.Ed. 523 , the patent should be broadly and liberally interpreted. The rule adverted to is expressed by the Supreme Court as follows: “In administering the patent law, the court first looks into the art, to find what…