PATENTS - EQUITY PLEADING - SUFFICIENCY OF "SHORT FORM" OF BILL OF COMPLAINT - BURDEN OF PROOF OF VALIDITY OF PATENT INFRINGEMENT SUIT

Complainant brought suit for infringement of letters patent and used the so-called "short form" of bill of complaint. Defendant moved to dismiss the bill for insufficient facts to constitute a cause of action, since there were no allegations of compliance with the statutory provisions for issuance of a patent. The District Court and the Circuit Court of Appeals for, the Eighth Circuit sustained the demurrer, but the Supreme Court held that under Equity Rule 25 the short form of bill of complaint contained all the ultimate facts necessary for complainant to state a cause of action. Mumm v. Jacob E. Decker & Sons, 301 U.S. 168, 57 S. Ct.

675 (1937).