Case Comment

Dunlop Pneumatic Tire Co. Ltd. v. David Moseley & Sons Limited

citation(s): ** add cite, per Stirling, L.J.

copyright 1997 Donald M. Cameron, Aird & Berlis

Contents

Summary

Facts

The Decision

At p. 278:

"In my judgment our conclusion ought to be the same in this case, whether or not Mr. Justice Swinfen Eady is right when he said that these covers, of which complaint is made, are adapted for use in the manner described in these Specifications, but not necessarily solely for use in that manner, and he repeated the same conclusion when he said, most of the "covers would probably "ultimately be used in one or other of those methods" that is to say the Welch or the Bartlett method - "I am of opinion that those are not exhaustive of the "purposes to which the covers may be put, and that they would be useful for "other purposes in connection with other tyres, as Mr. Beaumont points out."

At p.280:

"I have not to determine whether than observation is right or not. I only wish to say that, as far as I am concerned, I see no reason for saying that it is wrong, and there is nothing in my judgment today which is intended to be inconsistent with it. If you are in substance selling the whole of the patented machine, I do not think that you save yourself from infringement because you sell it in parts which are so manufactured as to be adapted to be put together. But that is not this case. Here, what is complained of is merely the sale of some one or other of the parts of one or other of the patented tyres."

At p. 281:

"Selling these covers to licensees of the plaintiffs is a lawful trade; selling them for export is a lawful trade, but the purchasers, nevertheless, might not export them; and to make the defendants, Messrs. Mosely, - those are the manufacturers - responsible for the ultimate use of the covers, so as to put upon them the burden of ascertaining whether the purchasers intended to use, and to use them lawfully, would be imposing upon them a burden, which, in my opinion, the law does not impose."

Endnotes

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