PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS AND TRADE SECRETS - DESTRUCTION OF INFRINGING INSTRUMENTS OWNED BY INFRINGER

Authors

Michigan Law Review, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

Where a patent is infringed, it is safe to assume that the patenter can collect damages from the infringer as well as secure an accounting for profits and an injunction against further infringement. Any one of these forms of relief or of various combinations is usually granted as a matter of course. Such relief is also granted for infringement of trade secrets, copyrights and literary property. Many courts believe that the problem is solved at this point. But two questions still remain: Does this relief give sufficient practical protection to the plaintiff? And, if not, can destruction of the tangible articles, which were produced in violation of the plaintiff's patent or other right, be decreed as further relief? It is the purpose of this article to indicate that the usual forms of relief named above sometimes fail to give adequate protection; that destruction of articles owned or controlled by the defendant is necessary; and that reason and authority show that such destruction can be compelled, by way of supplemental relief. Damages and an accounting for profits are designed to compensate the plaintiff for past infringements only. The injunction against further use is supposed to protect him from future infringement; but, where the defendant retains possession of infringing instruments, a mere order to refrain from using them is likely to be ineffective.

Recommended Citation

Michigan Law Review, PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS AND TRADE SECRETS - DESTRUCTION OF INFRINGING INSTRUMENTS OWNED BY INFRINGER, 35 Mich. L. Rev. 1350 (1937).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol35/iss8/9