Bliss

The appellee, who was complainant in the court below, made application May 5, 1910, to the Commissioner of Patents for patent on a clasp or buckle of which he claimed to be the original, sole, and first inventor, and was on October 18, 1910, awarded letters patent numbered 972,937. Claiming that defendants Fresno Monogram Adjustable Buckle Company, the Modern Sales Agency of America, Limited, and Walter B. Bliss were jointly infringing his letters patent, he instituted the present suit to enjoin such infringement. Decree pro confesso was entered against the defendant Modern Sales Agency, and the defendants Adjustable Buckle Company and Bliss answered separately. Bliss denies that the defendants have jointly, as partners, or separately manufactured, or participated in the manufacture, use, and sale of, complainant’s clasp or buckle, and denies infringement jointly or separately. The Buckle Company makes *395 the same answer, and sets up anticipation, and, in view of the prior state of the art, that what complainant claims to have discovered is not the result of patentable invention, but of ordinary mechanical skill. The trial court found against defendants, and decreed that they be…