Westinghouse v. Boyden Power Brake Co.
United States Supreme Court
170 U.S. 537 (1898)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
In 1869, George Westinghouse (plaintiff) patented the first railcar air brake, which used compressed air from an auxiliary reservoir found in each train. In subsequent years, Westinghouse secured several additional patents on improvements to the technology. One of these improvement patents (the ‘070 patent) claimed an automatic air brake that used compressed air from both the auxiliary reservoir and the train pipe, which ran the length of the train. The Boyden Power Brake Company (Boyden) (defendant) obtained two patents on air brakes that were structurally similar to those of Westinghouse, though Boyden’s invention used a different type of valve in place of what Westinghouse called the auxiliary valve. The Boyden air brakes were successfully put into practice, but the Westinghouse air brakes covered by the ‘070 patent proved to require further refinement. Westinghouse brought suit against Boyden for infringement of the ‘070 patent. The trial court found that Boyden had infringed one claim of the patent. The court of appeals reversed. Westinghouse appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Brown, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 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.
