IN THE MATTER OF LETTERS PATENT NO 12590/33 GRANTED TO CHARLES AUGUST KAUFMAN

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

IN THE MATTER OF LETTERS PATENT NO--.2590/33-GRANEED--20- CHARLES-—— AUGUS? KAUFMAN.

ORIGINAL

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

SYDNEY.

BB Dom Gays ER» 1949

oazea/45

In the matter of:

THE PATENTS ACT 1903 - 1946. And in the matter of:

In the matter of:

P. TS ACT 1 - 1946. And in the matter of: LL PA! 2

TO CHARLES AUGUST KAUFMAN. JUDGMENT . WEBB_J.

This is an application by way of originating summons under Section 84(6) of the Patents Act that the term of the patent be extended on the ground of war loss. In my judgment to-day on a similar application in respect of

Letters Patent 17139/34 granted to Electric and Musical Industries Limited the law is stated so far as applicable.

This is a convention patent granted on the 20th May 1932 and which therefore expired on the 20th May 1948. Originally the patent was granted in the United States. It relates to an improved method of knitting silk hosiery. It was devised to obviate the streaks, rings or banks in hosiery caused by the silk yarn being unavoidably subject to variations in the average thickness of the yarn. The essence of the invention is that instead of using one cone or bobbin of silk a plurality is provided, preferably an uneven number, with the result that all the yarns fed into the knitting machine do not run thick or thin in succeeding courses, and the inequalities are so dis- tributed among the more perfect yarns that the variations are made less apparent. There is a number of related foreign patents. In the United States the court held that the patent was invalid and revoked it; the Canadian court did likewise. This was a result of a conflict declared under the American legislation following . two applications dealing substantially with the same subject matter. Further the idea of a plurality of bobbins or cones had been put into practice in knitting mills in America, and it was successfully argued that no invention was involved in apply- ing it to silk. There is no opposition to this extension in Australia although the licensees appear to be substantial / people.