Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-04
ORANGE INDUSTRY
Wins PATENT SUIT
Supreme Court Decision to
Save Millions for Growers
of United States.
BY DEAN DINWOODEY.

The danger of a monopoly in the use
Of a method of preparing fresh fruit
for market, commonly applied to
oranges, which growers and packers
had feared would constitute serious
burden on the citrus fruit industry, has
been removed by the Supreme Court Of
the United States.
citrus fruit industry by declaring void
the Brogden and Trowbridge patent
covering the simple process OF dipping
fruit in q solution containing a sub
stantial amount Of borax and permit
ting the solution to dry upon the fruit
its marketable quality not being
affected thereby.
Method Reduces Decay.
Decay, particularly blue mold decay,
is greatly reduced by the use of this
method of preparing oranges for ship
ment, 1t is acknowledged. Less refrige-
ration is needed better regulation OF
shipments is possible, and larger per-
centage of the growers product can be
shipped.
The Supreme Court ruling now per-
mits, without the exaction of any
royalty, the use Of this method by
growers, packers or shippers of citrus
fruits. The American Fruit Growers,
Inc, the organization which was sued
for infringement of the patent, adj
mitted that it, as well as others, had
used the borax solution process for
several years.
Two lower Federal courts had en-
joined the association from using the
process, and had decreed that it should
not manufacture, sell or use fruit which
had been treated By dipping CT wash
ing in borax solution. Had the Su-
preme Court not reversed the rulings,
other infringement suits would have
been prosecuted With like result, so
that only those licensed could have
used the process and sold fruit thus
treated.
The vital interest of the growers and
packers of citrus S:uit in removing the
threat of this patent monopoly was
evidenced by the Intervention in the
case, as friends of the court" of the
attorney general of Alabama, Arizona,
California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana
and Texas. They argued that to validate
the patent would be to place in the hands
of the patenteeS "the power t. exact
tribute from an important and basic in
dustry of this country; tribute that
would be onerous alike to the extensive
citrus fruit industry and to the Ameri-
can public which consumes the products
of that industry il ever increasing
amounts"
The Department of Agriculture also
declared its particular interest In brief
filed on its behalf by the Department
of Justice. 1t was asserted that the
patent involved would have Imposed
upon dealers in and consumers of
food product of general consumption
throughout the Nation the duty of in
quiry whether the product has been
dipped in solution of borax, the effect
OF which is perceptible only by chemical
analysis or microscopic examination"
The effectiveness OF the borax solu-
ton in preventing blue mold decay on
citrus fruits, which caused losses of
more than 100000 annually, was
claimed to have been determined by the
Agriculture Department as early as
1905. The Supreme Court has now
found that Simon Bishop discovered
the process and patented it in 1901.
That patent has long since expired.
Copyright. 1917