Philadelphia Brief Case Co., a Partnership Comprising William Finkelstein, Joseph Finkelstein, Leonard Kolker (plaintiffs), Appellants,edward Rockman, Jerome W. Epton, Max E. Levin, Abe Romolt, and National Leather Handle Co., of Chicago, Illinois (unwilling Plaintiffs) v. Specialty Leather Products Co., Inc., (defendant), Appellee, 242 F.2d 511 (3d Cir. 1957)

Annotate this Case
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit - 242 F.2d 511 (3d Cir. 1957) Argued March 18, 1957
Decided March 27, 1957
Rehearing Denied April 22, 1957

Appeal from the United States District Court for District of New Jersey; Richard Hartshorne, Judge.

Harry Langsam, Philadelphia, Pa. (Stanley Bilker, Philadelphia, Pa., Harold Markowitz, Newark, N. J., on the brief), for appellants.

Norman N. Popper, Newark, N. J., for appellee.

Before MARIS, McLAUGHLIN and KALODNER, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.


This is an appeal by the plaintiffs in a patent infringement suit from a judgment entered by the District Court for the District of New Jersey in favor of the defendant. The plaintiffs were licensees of the patent and they had joined the owners of the patent as unwilling plaintiffs in the suit. Having found from the uncontradicted evidence that the plaintiffs' real purpose in bringing the suit was not to support and enforce the patent but rather to secure its being declared void, the district court at the instance of the defendant struck the unwilling plaintiffs as parties, held that the plaintiffs were without authority to sue, and entered the judgment appealed from. The judgment will be affirmed for the reasons stated in the opinion filed by Judge Hartshorne in the district court, 145 F. Supp. 425, with which we are in full accord and to which we need add nothing.

The judgment of the district court will be affirmed.

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.