Felix Frankfurter

“ If in a rare instance a district judge abuses the discretionary authority the want of which precludes an effective, independent judiciary, there is always the opportunity for corrective review by a Court of Appeals and ultimately by this Court. ”

“ The manufacturer who is charged with infringing a patent cannot stretch the Federal Declaratory Judgments Act to give him a paramount right to choose the forum for trying out questions of infringement and validity. He is given an equal start in the race to the courthouse, not a headstart. If he is forehanded, subsequent suits against him by the patentee can within the trial court's discretion be enjoined pending determination of the declaratory judgment suit, [4] and a judgment in his favor bars suits against his customers. ”

“ The District Court, a different judge sitting, enjoined C-O-Two from proceeding in the Illinois suit against Kerotest, and denied the stay of the Delaware action, largely acting on the assumption that rulings by its own and other Courts of Appeals required such a result except in 'exceptional cases,' since the Delaware action between C-O-Two and Kerotest was commenced before Kerotest was made a defendant in the Illinois suit. ”