“ Petitioners contend that if any claim of a patent is adjudged invalid no further suit can be maintained upon it, or upon other claims of the patent without disclaimer of the claims previously held invalid. This contention is predicated upon the rule that, save for the disclaimer statute, adjudication of invalidity of any claim of a patent renders the entire patent void, and upon the assumption that by force of the statute, if not without it, an adverse decision on any claim is final and conclusive as to its invalidity, in any court, except as modified upon an appellate review. ”

“ We conclude that neither the rules of the common law applicable to successive litigations concerning the same subject-matter, nor the disclaimer statute, precludes relitigation of the validity of a patent claim previously held invalid in a suit against a different defendant. ”

“ Neither reason nor authority supports the contention that an adjudication adverse to any or all the claims of a patent precludes another suit upon the same claims against a different defendant. While the earlier decision may by comity be given great weight in a later litigation and thus persuade the court to render a like decree, it is not res adjudicate and may not be pleaded as a defense. ”