Civil Case # 1211 Levi Strauss et al vs A.B. Elfelt
1/31/1874
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Jacob W. Davis was the original and first inventor of a certain new and useful invention in the art of making pantaloons to wit of an improvement in fastening pocket openings which consisted of the employment of metal rivets at each edge of the pocket opening to prevent the ripping of the seams at those points. Jacob W. Davis was a business partner of Levi Strauss. This metal rivets became part of the trademark for Levi Jeans.
Transcript
127No 1211
IN THE U. S. Circuit Court
CALIFORNIA DISTRICT.
Levi Strauss et al
Plaintiffs
vs.
A.B. Elfelt et al
Defendants
SUIT AT LAW
For
INFRINGEMENT OF PATENT.
Filed January 31
1874 L.D.B. Sawyer [illegible]
[w/?] J.F. O’[Beirne]
[Dep Clk]
M.A. Wheaton &
G.F. & W.H. Sharp
Plaintiff’s Attorneys
Spaulding & Sarto, Printers, 414 Clay St., S F
[page 2]
In the Circuit Court of the United States,
IN AND FOR THE DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
NINTH CIRCUIT.
Levi Strauss, Louis Strauss
Jonas Strauss, William Sahlein
and Jacob W. Davis
Plaintiffs.
vs.
A.B. Elfelt, A.P. Elfelt
L. Goldsmith and
Albert A. Levi
Defendants.
The above named Levi Strauss, Louis Strauss, Jonas Strauss, William Sahlein and Jacob W.
Davis.
as plaintiffs complains of the above named A.B. Elfelt, A.P. Elfelt, L. Goldsmith and Albert A.
Levi all of whom the plaintiffs alleges are copartners in trade doing business under the firm name
of A.B Elfelt & Co in this, the City and County of San Francisco, State of California as
defendants and for cause of action alleges:
That all the plaintiffs are now a citizens and residents of the State of California and for
more than four years last past have been citizens of the United States of America, and that the
defendants are all citizens and residents of the said State of California.
That Jacob W. Davis of Reno, Nevada State was
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the original and first inventor of a certain new and useful invention on machines, to wit : in the
art of making pantaloons, to wit: of an improvement in fastening pocket openings.
That the same was a new and useful invention, and consisted of the employment of a metal rivet
or eyelet at each edge of the pocket opening to prevent the ripping of the seams at those points,
the said rivets or eyelets being so fastened in the seams as to bind the two parts of cloth which
each seam united, so as to prevent the strain or pressure from coming upon the thread with which
the seam was sewed. That after making said invention and before obtaining the Letters Patent
hereinafter mentioned the said Jacob W. Davis duly assigned the said invention and his right to
Letters Patent therefor to himself and Levi Strauss & Co. that the said Levi Strauss & Co. was a
copartnership composed of Levi Strauss, Louis Strauss, Jonas Strauss and William Sahlein
plaintiffs herein as the members thereof.
That the same was not known or used before Davis’ said invention, and was not, at the time of
his application for a patent, in public use or on sale with his consent or allowance; that the said
plaintiffs being the grantees of said Jacob W. Davis being so as aforesaid the inventor thereof, on
the twentieth day of May A.D. 1873, upon due application thereof, did obtain letters patent for
the said invention, which said letters patent were issued in due form of law under the seal of the
Patent Office of the United States, and were signed by the Secretary of the Interior and
countersigned by the Commissioner of Patents of the United States and bore date the day and
year last aforesaid, a description whereof more fully appears in said _______________ Letters
Patent which said Letters Patent are in due form of law, and are ready in court to be produced by
the plaintiffs or a certified copy thereof.
And Plaintiffs says that they are still owners and holders of said ____________ letters patent and
of the rights, privileges and liberties by them granted.
That prior to the issuing of said letters patent, all proceedings were had and taken which
were required by law to be had or taken previous to the issuance ______________of letters
patent, granting special rights and liberties for new and useful inventions.
That from the time of the granting to them ____ of said Letters Patent hitherto, the said Levi
Strauss, Louis Strauss, Jonas Strauss
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William Sahlein and Jacob W. Davis have been constantly manufacturing and using, and selling
to others to be used, the said improvement upon in fastening pocket openings to their great
advantage and profit; yet the said defendants well knowing the premises, but contriving to injure
the plaintiffs did, on the first day of September 1873 unlawfully and wrongfully, and without the
consent or allowance and against the will of the plaintiffs manufacture and use and sell to others
to use the said invention and improvement in fastening pocket openings, and did manufacture
and use and sell to others to use as a new article of manufacture, pantaloons having the pocket
openings secured at each edge by means of rivets or eyelets as described in and protected by said
Letters Patent.
And from thence hitherto hath continued to manufacture and use and sell to others to use the said
improvement and invention within the State of California and within the jurisdiction of this Hon.
Court, in violation and infringement of the exclusive privilege, right, and liberty secured to the
plaintiffs as aforesaid, and contrary to law and the form of the statutes of the United States in
such cases made and provided.
And plaintiffs says that on account of the said acts ___________of the defendants they
the plaintiffs have been greatly injured and damaged, and deprived of great profits which they
might and otherwise would derive from the said invention and letters patent and have sustained
actual damage to the amount of twenty thousand dollars; and by force of the statues aforesaid an
action has accrued to them to recover the said actual
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damages and such additional amount not exceeding in the whole three times amount of such
actual damages as the Court may see fit to order and adjudge.
Wherefore the plaintiffs prays judgment against said defendants for the sum of twenty
thousand ____dollars, actual damages, together with such further sum not exceeding in the
aggregate three times the amount of said actual damages, and for such other and further relief as
they may be entitled to have.
M.A. Wheaton &
G.F & W.H.Sharp
Plaintiff’s Attorneys
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
being duly sworn, on his oath says: That he is the plaintiff in the
foregoing entitled case, that he has heard the foregoing complaint read, and knows the contents
thereof, and that the same is true of his own knowledge, except as to the matters therein stated on
information or belief, and as to these matters he believes it to be true.
Subscribed and sworn to before me this day of A.D. 18
This primary source comes from the Records of District Courts of the United States.
National Archives Identifier: 295937
Full Citation: Civil Case # 1211 Levi Strauss et al vs A.B. Elfelt; 1/31/1874; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/civil-case-1211-levi-strauss-et-al-vs-ab-elfelt, March 29, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.