Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Autogiro Co. of America v. United States case brief

Autogiro Co. of America v. United States case brief summary
384 F.2d 391 (1967)


CASE SYNOPSIS
Defendant government excepted to the trial commissioner's findings, in a suit under 28 U.S.C.S. § 1498, which found unauthorized use of patented inventions by defendant, specifically, that 15 of plaintiff corporation's patents were valid and infringed by defendant's various agencies.

CASE FACTS
Plaintiff sued defendant under 28 U.S.C.S. § 1498, to recover the reasonable and entire compensation for defendant's unauthorized use of plaintiff's patented inventions. The trial commissioner found that 15 of the patents in the suit and 85 of plaintiff's claims in the suit were valid and infringed by various government structures. Defendant then excepted to the findings concerning the 15 patents.

DISCUSSION

  • Upon review, the court found claims of 11 patents valid and infringed. 
  • For eight of the patents and their claims, defendant excepted to the trial commissioner's findings, but submitted no briefs in support of those exceptions, which resulted in the court's adoption of the trial commissioner's findings of fact on those patents. 
  • All claims found infringed by the trial commissioner were also found valid. 
  • The court further concluded as a matter of law that plaintiff was the lawful owner of all claims found valid and infringed, and was entitled to recover reasonable and entire compensation for the unauthorized use of those claims. 
  • Judgment was entered to that effect, with the determination of the amount of recovery reserved for further proceedings before the trial commissioner.

CONCLUSION
Because defendant failed to submit briefs in support of its exceptions to the trial commissioner's findings that plaintiff's patents were valid and infringed, the court adopted the trial commissioner's findings of fact on those claims, and held that plaintiff was entitled to recover for their unauthorized use as their lawful owner.


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