Tom C. Clark

“ There is no claim by the Government that it is illegal for one merely to acquire a patent in order to exclude his competitors; or that the owner of a lawfully acquired patent cannot use the patent laws to exclude all infringers of the patent; or that a licensee cannot lawfully acquire the covering patent in order better to enforce it on his own acccount, even when the patent dominates an industry in which the licensee is the dominant firm. ”

“ In January 1956 Singer found that Gegauf had pending an application in the United States Patent Office and assumed that it was based on the same priority date, i.e., May 31, 1952. If this was true Singer could use its Harris reissue patent only to oppose through interference the allowance of broad claims to Gegauf. It therefore made preparation to negotiate with Gegauf, first approaching Vigorelli in order to ascertain how the latter had induced Gegauf to grant him a royalty-free license and drop any claim of infringement. ”

“ The trial court held that the fact that Singer had a purpose, which 'Gegauf well knew,' of enforcing the patent upon its acquisition, that the enforcement 'would most certainly include Japanese manufacturers who were the principal infringers,' and 'that Gegauf shared with Singer a common concern over Japanese competition' did not establish a conspiracy. ”

“ These manufacturers are bringing out a large variety of ornamental stitch machines which would appear to come within the terms of claims which may be awarded in the United States with respect of the aforementioned Singer and Gegauf patents. A proper enforcement of these patents may make it necessary to instigate patent suits against each of the importers in the United States, of whom there will perhaps be many. ”

“ What is claimed here is that Singer engaged in a series of transactions with Gegauf and Vigorelli for an illegal purpose, i.e., to rid itself and Gegauf, together, perhaps, with Vigorelli, of infringements by their common competitors, the Japanese manufacturers. The Government claims that in this respect there were an identity of purpose among the parties and actions pursuant thereto that in law amount to a combination or conspiracy violative of the Sherman Act. It claims that this can be established under the findings of the District Court. ”

“ While the tariff application was leveled against nine European as well as the Japanese competitors, the allegations were clearly beamed at the infringing Japanese machines to which Singer attributed the destruction of all American domestic household sewing machine companies save itself. As the parties to the agreements and assignment well knew, and as the trial court itself stated, ' (b) y far the largest number of infringers of the Gegauf patent and invention were the Japanese.' 205 F.Supp., at 418. ”

“ I think you will agree with me that neither one of us alone can protect himself most effectively.' [6] This letter brought on a meeting of the parties in Zurich on October 16, 1957. Gegauf's position was that, as the trial court found, 'while it had no objection 'to making an agreement with Singer, in order to stop as far as possible Japanese competitors in the United States market,' it was willing to do so only under certain conditions.' 205 F.Supp., at 416. ”

“ The rule was there stated that ' (a) finding is 'clearly erroneous' when although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.' Id., at 395, 68 S.Ct. ”

“ Stanford, Singer's patent attorney, varies somewhat from this memorandum of Mr. Waterman, it is substantially the same. [5] That the approach to Gegauf was not casually laid is shown by a May 7, 1956, letter from Mr. Stanford to Patent Department employees of Singer in which he said, 'When in Italy we laid careful plans for Gegauf to be advised by a third party that Singer could best handle the patent situation if we owned the Gegauf U.S. Patent. Think it will bear fruit. This suggestion, with the U.S. attorney situation is pressure in the right direction.'
Mr. ”