The Tesla Split-Phase Patents - Judge Colt's Decision

Judge Colt, of the United States Circuit, District of Massachusetts, on March 11th, handed down a decision covering the Tesla split-phase patents, the parties to the suit being the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company and the Stanley Instrument Company. The opinion, which is very brief, refers to the recent decision of Judge Townsend in a suit on appeal in which the same patents were involved.

The opinion states that upon careful consideration of the evidence, the court has reached the conclusion that the complainant has failed to establish, by sufficient proofs, the conception by Tesla of the inventions in suit prior to April 22, 1888, the date of the Ferraris publication. In a complainant's supplemental brief no reasons were found stated or authorities cited which should lead the court to any different conclusion. Since the hearing in case at bar, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a suit invoking the same patents brought by the complainant against the Catskill Illuminating and Power Company, upon the same evidence which was before the present court, has held that the proofs were insufficient to establish invention by Tesla prior to April 22, 1888. Judge Colt considers that this decision, which was passed down February 26, 1903, renders unnecessary an extended opinion by him, since it would be only repetition of the views so clearly expressed by Judge Townsend in the opinion of the court in the Catskill case. A decree is to be entered dismissing the bill, with costs.