IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION BY RECESS SCREWS LD. (BOULT'S PATENT, NO. 9980 OF 1908)

419 ~.ol. XLI.] REPORTS 'OF PATENT, DESIGN, A~D TRADE MARK CASES. [No ..,ll In the Matter of an AppUca,tion by WzllioJm Bamber and CT'Oppe1~ & 00. Ld. for a Patent. I have come to the conclusion therefore that the Opponent/shave. made out their oasevand that I should not, grant leave to amend the Applioantst Bpecification the manner sought. I accordingly uphold the decision of the Comptroller in refusing the grant of a, Patent and also lea,ve to amend the Specificatdon. I award the- Opponents the sum of ten guineas (£10 lOs.) in respect, of their costs of the Appeal in addition to the costs already a/warded to them by the Oomptroller-General. in ~ IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUST'lCE.-CHANCERY DIVISION. Before MR. JUSTICE ASTBURY. 10 March 25t,h, 1924. IN THE MATTER OF AN ApPLICATION BY R,ECESS S'CREWS LID. (BOULT'S PAT'ENT, No. 9980 OF 1908). Patent.r-Application by Originating Summons for an extension of the term. of the Pa.tent.-Loss of opportunity of deueiopiru; the invention.-Oriterion of 15 loss.-Patents and Desiqne Acts, 1907 and 1919, Section 18, Sub-eectum. (6). Letters Patent (No. 9980 of 1908), dated the 7th of May , 1908, were granted to Alfred Julius Boult upon a communication from Peter Lqrmburner Boberieon, of Ontario, Canada, in respect of an, invention of " Improvements in. or relating " to screws.' On the 24th of October, 19-23, Recess Screws Ld. applied by 20 Originating Summons for an extension of the term of the Patent. Affidavits in support, of the Application were, made by Robert Smart (Secretary of the Applicant Company) who deposed (inter a,lia) that in January" 1914, the Patent, had been assigned to the Applicant Company ; thab the patented invention consisted of a screw in which, instead of the usual cross slot for 25 driving purposes, a recess of square pyramidal cross-section sharply converging ab its inner end to a. point, was provided; that, in February, 1914, the Applicant Company had purchased certain works, and that, the remainder of that year had been spent in dismantling the existing machinery, in installing new machinery (most, of which had had to be obtained from the U.S.A.), and in 30 experiments in the production of the patented article; that the outbreak of 2 L 2 420 No. 11] .REPORTS OF PATENT, DESIGN, AND TRADE MARK CASES. [VoL XLI. In- the' MaltteT of Boult's Patent. war had delayed the delivery of machinery from America, but, that by November, 1915~ a substantial beginninghad been made in the accumulation of a, stock of the patented article'; that in November, 1915, the Applicant Company had commenced to manufacture munitions, and that, owing to war conditions it had been impossible to do business in the ordinary wood screw trade which at !). that time had constituted the market, for the patented invention; that. in February, 1917, the Applicant, Company had become controlled, and that from that date it had been wholly engaged in the manufacture of munitions and of. the patented screws for munition purposes; that owing to the time occupied in reconverting machinery and in accumulating the requisit-e stocks of patented 10screws, of which approximately 1,200 kinds and. sizes were required, the Applicant. Company had not been in a. position to re-enter the market, with an adequate stock until the beginning of 1921; .thaf the patented invention was also applicable to screws for screwing into metal, and thaf it had be-en the Applicant Company's intention to develop this application of the invention 15after they had established themselves in the wood screw market; that" as the result of war conditions, the years 1917, 1918 and 1919 had been almost completely lost" so far as exploiting the patented invention was concerned, and that those years had practically destroyed the preparatory work done ,prior to 1917 in educating the wood screw trade to the use of the patented invention. 20· Courineu Terrell. (instructed by Bird & Bird) appeared for the Applieants ; Dighton Pollock (instructed by the Solicitor to the Board of Trade) appeared for the Com.pirolier-General, Ten;eLl, for the Applicants, having stated the facts, -.olSTBURY J.-What do you say in this case, Mr. Pollock? Have you examined 25this affidavit? Pollock.-Yes, my Lord, and there a.re one or bwo points on it which have to be considered, I think. From paragraph 12 of the. affidavit it, appears th at the Company has paid dividends on its issued capital of 6 per cent. in 1916, which is a fair dividend, and 10 per cent. in 1918 and 1919. 30. Terrell.-They were .under control then. Pollock.-But, they paid a, dividend. Te1"1"el,l.-Tha.t. was made on munitions, not on the; Patent, This point, has been dealt, with by Mr. J'ustioe Sarqani, and the profit that a compa.ny has made out, of its manufacture of the patented article has been knocked off, but 35, if it has made at profit. out of the manufacture of munitions that, is not, material. ASTBURY J.---Mr. Dighton Pollock, I do not think that necessarily matters, Pollock.-Then take paragraph 11: in 1914 the screws were. all purchased from Canada, Apparently in 1914 the Applicants purchased .1,306 gross and sold apparently 1,296 gross. 40' Te1i"ell.-That was during the experimental period, when none of the screws WEre manufaoburod in this country, and they all had to he brought over from Canada. Pollock.-Then again in 1915, 134,000 gross were purchased and 62,000 sold; value £2,000 odd; then in 1916 166,000 gross purchased, quantity sold, 183,000 45gross, valued a,t £6,955; in 1917 it was not so much, and in 1918 it was not so much. It does not look like a great, loss or any loss" 421 Vol. XLI.] REPORTS OF PATENT, DESIGN, AND TRADEMARK CASES. [No. 11 In the Ma,tter of Boult's Patent: ASTBURY J.-The Applicants got up to 166,000 manufactured in 1916, and then it fell to 56,000 in 1917, 61,000 in 1918, and then in 1919 they got back to 183,000. . Te1ieU.-Wha,t should be looked at is the sales, because for a very long time .5 t,hb Applicants had to manufacture for stock. To carry on a trade like this one must be in a, position to supply a large quantity from stock. That is set out in the affidavit, and that the sales declined from 183,000 gross in 1916 to 40,000 and 35,000 and 58,000 gross, and they did not: reach anything like a normal level again till 192~. So that really the period of those five years is reduced 10 enormously below anything like normal figures. That is why I am asking lor a four years' extension. I am not asking that, the whole of that period should be considered as a loss, but I think the results. are best, shown by the graphic representations of both articles sold and the sale values; there are two graphs put, in, and they both show the same, point. 15 ASTBURY J.~It, looks to me as. if in 1917 and 1918 the Applicants were prevented from manufacturing and consequently from selling, and then in 19'19 and 1920 they got, back to normal manufacturing or more. Why they were not yet able to sell, I d (...truncated)