combination
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 340 U.S. 147 - Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp. · 1950Most cited · 2,618 citing opinions
patent
The conjunction or concert of known elements must contribute something; only when the whole in some way exceeds the sum of its parts is the accumulation of old devices patentable.
How the Supreme Court has restated “combination”
Each Supreme Court definition of “combination,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “combination”
Court decisions citing the 14 opinions that defined “combination” — 9,845 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 14 definitions, chronological · 1857–1969
- ORIGINAL
as a claim for a combination of mechanical devices or parts, it is not infringed by one who uses a part of the combination. Nor can it challenge other improvements of the same machine, different in form or combination, as infringements, because they perform the same functions as well or better by calling them equivalents.
patent
The combination is an entirety; if one of the elements is given up, the thing claimed disappears.
patent claim
there is no infringement of a patent which claims mechanical powers in combination unless all the parts have been substantially used. The use of a part less than the whole is no infringement.
patent
Patentable inventions may consist entirely in a new combination of old ingredients whereby a new and useful result is obtained, and in such cases the description of the invention is sufficient if the ingredients are named, the mode of operation given, and the new and useful result is pointed out, so that those skilled in the art, and the public may know the nature and extent of the claim and what the parts are which co-operate to produce the described new and useful result.
patent
The act made no distinction between classes. It provided that 'every' contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade was illegal. ... the source of the evil was not regarded as material, and the evil in its entirety is dealt with. They made the interdiction include combinations of labor as well as of capital.
labor combinations, under the Sherman Act · construing 15 U.S.C. § 1 · Sherman Antitrust Act
A combination is a composition of elements, some of which may be old and others new, or all old or all new. It is, however, the combination that is the invention, and is as much a unit in contemplation of law as a single or noncomposite instrument. Whoever uses it without permission is an infringer of it.
patent
A combination is a union of elements, which may be partly old and partly new, or wholly old or wholly new. But, whether new or old, the combination is a means—an invention—distinct from them.
patent
A combination is always an entirety. In such cases, the patentee cannot abandon a part and claim the rest, nor can he be permitted to prove that a part is useless, and, therefore, immaterial. He must stand by his claim as he has made it.
patent
The patent is for a combination only. Since none of the separate elements of the combination is claimed as the invention, none of them when dealt with separately is protected by the patent monopoly. Whether the parts are new or old, the combination is the invention and it is distinct from any of them.
patent
a patent on a combination is a patent on the assembled or functioning whole, not on the separate parts
patent
an unlawful combination is not just such as arises from a price maintenance agreement, express or implied; such a combination is also organized if the producer secures adherence to his suggested prices by means which go beyond his mere declination to sell to a customer who will not observe his announced policy
in violation of the Sherman Act · construing 15 U.S.C. § 1 · Sherman Antitrust Act
An illegal combination to fix prices results if a seller suggests resale prices and secures compliance by means in addition to the 'mere announcement of this policy and the simple refusal to deal.
Sherman Act · construing 15 U.S.C. § 1 · Sherman Antitrust Act
a combination of prior-art elements that, to be valid, must produce a 'new or different function'; combining old elements for convenience, without adding to the nature and quality of the constituent elements or producing a synergistic result, does not meet this standard
patent