Court Opinion

ID: 9637703
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:16:21.516674+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:59.404110
License: Public Domain

HAMILTON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I am not in accord with so much of the majority opinion as decides that appellant failed to carry the burden of proving an implied license.
Patented appliances or machines or trademarked articles sold by manufacturers of such articles, to be used in the everyday pursuits of life, become the individual property of the purchasers and as to them and their vendees, such articles are freed from the monopolies of the patent and trademark laws. Unconditional sales of their articles made by patentees or owners of trademarks impliedly authorize the purchaser or his vendee to use, repair or improve such articles without restriction.
As I view the facts, appellant was doing no more than repairing the partial damage caused by accidents to, or from wear and tear of, the vacuum cleaners in question. The original purchasers and their vendees of the machines acquired the whole of them, and the appellant here was exercising that care which everyone may use to lengthen the life of that which he has purchased.
The court should not aid appellee to suppress the sale of its goods, placed upon the market by it, where any person had the right to purchase them, by permitting appellee under the guise of protecting its patents and trademarks, to examine the appellant or his witnesses to discover where he purchased the articles, because they were resold under conditions which did not meet *316appellee’s approval. Excluding the parts purchased by appellant, which appellee had discarded in the course of manufacture and appraising fairly the evidence in the record, I am of the opinion appellee has received its tribute for its trademark and patent monopolies and to reward, it further would result in its unjust enrichment at the expense of appellant.