American Well Works Co. v. Layne & Bowler Co.
United States Supreme Court
241 U.S. 257 (1916)
- Written by Robert Schefter, JD
Facts
American Well Works Company (American) (plaintiff) had a patent for a specific pump that it owned, manufactured and sold, which was known as the best in the market. American sued its competitor, Layne & Bowler Company (Layne) (defendant), in Arkansas state court, alleging Layne falsely and maliciously slandered American’s patent rights to the pump and falsely claimed the pump and its parts were infringements of Layne’s patented pumps. American further alleged that Layne filed frivolous lawsuits against some of American’s customers who were using the pump and threatened lawsuits against others. Layne removed the case to federal district court on the grounds that it was based in federal patent law. The district court held that the cause of action arose under federal patent law, and dismissed it because the state court where the case originated lacked jurisdiction, and, accordingly, so did the federal court to which the case was removed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari on the question of federal jurisdiction.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Holmes, J.)
Dissent (McKenna, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 791,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
