Opinion ID: 1475251
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Excessive Award.

Text: The District Court, acting upon the recommendation of the master, awarded damages based upon a royalty of 10 cents a square foot for all laminated glass manufactured by Duplate. The defendants contend that the royalty is unreasonable and the award excessive. They reason that the rate paid by Ford Motor Company, the only licensee of any importance, should be the maximum measure of the general damages to be imposed upon the defendants. It is our view that no general conclusions may be drawn from the royalty rate paid by Ford Motor Company, since that company undertook an advertising program for Triplex which would have been beyond the financial ability of either Triplex or the average licensee. The defendants also assign error to the master's ruling that Pittsburgh could charge only the manufacturing cost of one-eighth inch glass and not the market price. We agree with the master, for the reasons well stated by him, that the applicable authority is not Barber Asphalt Paving Co. v. Standard Asphalt & Rubber Co. (C.C.A.) 30 F. (2d) 281, cited by the defendants. We are inclined to give great weight to the master's fact findings. Armstrong v. Belding Bros. & Co. (C.C.A.) 297 F. 728, certiorari denied 265 U.S. 585, 44 S.Ct. 459, 68 L.Ed. 1192. As was said by judge Stone in Levin Bros. v. Davis Mfg. Co. (C.C.A.) 72 F.(2d) 163, 165: Determinations of fact matters by a master which are confirmed by the trial court should not be overthrown on appeal except on the clearest showing of mistake. The defendants' contention of error on this issue is not sustained.