Infringement

! Breaking, infraction, violation; a trespass, transgression, invasion.

Infringer.

One who invades or violates another's right. Infringement, with its inflections is used of a violation of a law, regulation, contract, or common right; more often of the usurpation of an exclusive right. Thus ic has acquired a use almost technical in reference to the law of copyrights, patents, and trademarks; an infringement of any one of which consisting in violating the exclusive right another person has secured to make, sell, or use the thing in question. In determining the question of the infringement of a patent right, the court or jury, as the case maybe, are not to judge about similarities or differences by the names of things, but are to look at the machines or their several devices or elements in the light of v> hat they do, or what office or function they perform, and how they perform it, and to find that one thing is substantially the same as another, /if it performs substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain the same result, always bearing in mind that devices in a patented machine are different in the sense of the patent law when they perform different functions or in a different way, or produce a substantially different result.* Where a defendant, who had been enjoined from using an invention, asked that he might give bond so that he could continue to use the invention and fill contracts therefor, it was held that a bond would not be adequate protection to the complainant's rights. The defendant also asked that the life of the injunction be limited to a day when,' it was alleged, the patent would expire; but the court held that the time being in litigation the question could be disposed of on a motion to dissolve when that time arrived. It was further decided that the court had no authority to restrain the complainant from publishing the fact that the Injunction had been issued.^ A right of action for the infringement of a patent survives to the personal representative of the patentee, and he may transfer the right to another person. There is no Federal statute of limitations in force respecting infringements committed since June 22, 1874. State statutes of limitations have no application.* See Copyright; Design, S; Patent, S; Propit, 2; Trade-mare. Compare Interference.