Circuit Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit

“ It would be extraordinary if a court of equity could not stay the hands of the defendants, if what they are about to do will be in violation of the plaintiff’s rights as secured by the laws of the United States, and has no other sanction than a legislative enactment which must yield to the legislation of congress enacted under the authority of the constitution of the United States. It cannot be admitted that the law is otherwise in this country, however it may be in countries whose governments are not based upon a written constitution, and whose legislative power is paramount. ”

“ It is true that even in such a case the citizen may, if he choose, rely upon the good faith of the state in the matter of compensation. But he is not compelled to part with his property for public use, except upon the terms prescribed by the supreme law of the land, namely, upon just compensation made or secured. * * * We are of opinion that this suit is not one against the state within the meaning of the eleventh amendment, and as the record before us shows that the plaintiff owns the premises, and is entitled to possession as against the defendants, the judgment must be affirmed. ”

“ The circumstances under which the new compilation was prepared for publication and distribution are these: The constitution of Michigan of 1850 forbade any general revision of the laws to be thereafter made, and provided that, when a reprint thereof became necessary, the legislature in joint convention should appoint “a suitable person to collect together such acts or parts of acts as are in force, and without alteration arrange them under appropriate heads and titles” ”

“ That the defendants be restrained perpetually from distributing or causing to be distributed, and from selling or offering for sale, either the whole or any part of the above compilation of the statutes of Michigan prepared by Miller, and printed by the Robert Smith Printing Company, and from delivering or causing to be delivered to any person, firm, or corporation the manuscript or any printed matter, or any part of the same, forming or intended to form the whole or any part of such compilation as prepared and compiled by Miller ”

“ Speaking generally, this would include marginal references, notes, memoranda, table of contents, indexes, and digests of judicial decisions prepared by him from original sources of information; also such head-notes as are clearly the result of his labors. ”

“ It then proceeded to show that the circuit court erred in awarding an injunction against the use by the defendants of the caisson gate in question. Reaffirming the principle announced in a former case (Patterson v. Kentucky, 97 U. S. 501, 506) , that the right of property in the physical substance which is the fruit of discovery is altogether distinct from the right in the discovery itself, the court said:
“Title in the thing manufactured does not give the right to use the patented invention ”