i
48 FE1>¤R<’J·.,·¢RB?0BTER·
trade well understand. , ,We could stop him, of course, but he would open out
· the next day inanother. loftor basement, and under another name, and put
., us to the expense of another suit, and so on indefinitely. When we commence
Suit we wcqlntyto be sure of damages.·~'l.‘he language of the original patent
was somewhat ambiguous, and hence there was some excuse for those who
, sold it, believing that it was not an’ infringement. There can be no mistake
now. The language of the claims could not be made plainer. Any dealer
who now sells the Emack slate knows that he is selling an infringement of
our patent, and we shall protect ourselves and our friends by holding all who
are responsible for royalty and damages."
"T0 OUR. FRIENDS.: We will say that very few jobbers have handled the
Emack slate. Failing to sell to the jobbing trade, he went to the leading re-
tailersfand sold ythem all hecould. They,-ofcourse, had heard nothing of
our_ claimsas to infringement, aswe sell only to jobber. ·We new know
Bvery man in the country who handles these slates, and shall notify them all
promptly of the reissue of the patent. Then, if they continue to sell, we
shall be forced" to adopt legal measures." ·
. In another circular occursthe following language: _ A `
"SLAL¤:. PATENTS. V ,We advise any who are tempted to buy the Emack slate
to ‘ go·s1ow.’ Donjt accept the statement that, because he uses a · bar,’ and
We dolnot, that his slate is notan infringement. We have a straight, square,
_· nononsensei patent on a’cord‘9nu_p‘ler. He nsesa cord mujler, and hence
he infringes our patent. 'If you doubt it, ask any patent lawyer, and also
ask regarding the truthfulness of =his·statement, in a late circular, that, if he
is infringing, • the law compelsus to close his factory,} Better pay something
to keep out ofytrouble than, tolpay to get out, and fai1,_besides. Of course, we
know of every shipmentihe makes, and the quantity. Shipping to his own
address shows, ofcourse, that he and those who may buy them are afraid of
the consequences, but it will do no good;` we shallknow who sells them, and
royalty will be` demanded ingood time, by the proper parties, of the proper
parties, and in a legal way. "· . _
In a still later circular occurs the following paragraph: ’ ‘
“We have, jointly with the patentee, placed the matter in the hands of
attorneys bf thiscity and New York, who have for many years had an exten-
sive and very successful practice in law, and especially in prosecuting infringe·
mentcases. we instruct them to give the entire trade fair warning, and
make veryfavorable_terms with any who have been deceived, and propose to
stop- selling the so-called *   Slate;’ but parties who want a lawsuit can ·
have it. Andhere again we announce our purpose not to sue Emack, and
here again we state that every man tn the trade knows why. No one of you
woulddo it, and if in our place you would do just as we are doing; We ex-
pect to commence some suitsin August and September, selecting parties whose
sales we think have amounted to enough so that the royalty and damages wil.
pay at least a part of our expenses, If others want their suits laterthis year,
or next seas0¤.—2.ll.they haveto doiis to sell infringing slates until their sales.
aggregate azsuiiicient sum to justify us, and we will try to accommodate them. ?’
i And in aistill later circular, addressed to the jobbing trade, defend
ants wrote: · l- ‘ A “ A l
p "4nd’ new qneejmere we saywe shall not sue Emdck. If this be libel, we
take the consequence ; but we do eapebt and fully intend to bring suits
against those who sell infringing slates: *’ * * The longer we wait, the
more royaltyand damages we will collect 2mm those who continue to sell in-
fringing s1ates,”-_ , _ .v y _` ‘° y _