Stanley Instruments Held not to Infringe Tesla Split-phase Patents

Judge Colt of the United States Circuit Court, District of Massachusetts, has handed down a decision in the suit brought by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company against the Stanley Instrument Company of Great Barrington, Mass., for alleged infringements of certain Tesla patents, holding that the complainant failed to establish the conception by Tesla of the inventions in suit prior to April 22, 1888, the date of the Ferraris publication. The patents in suit are what are commonly known as the Tesla split-phase patents, and they were held to be non-infringed by the Circuit Court of Appeals in a similar suit by the Westinghouse company against the Catskill Illuminating and Power Company, as stated in the Western Electrician of March 7th. The same evidence was produced by the complainant in both cases, so that Judge Colt considers an opinion unnecessary, as it would be only a repetition of the decision of the Appellate Court. The bill is accordingly dismissed with costs.