Everyone
Is the following for real or is it just a wind-up?
(It comes from the WW2 British list.)
========
The Court of First Instance of the Court of Justice of the European
Community sitting in Luxemburg today ruled in favor of a German
engineering company in a multi million dollar case against the
British
Government for illegal patent breaches dating back to 1942.
At that time the British 8th Army was engaged in hostilities with
German forces in North Africa and copied the standard issue fuel
can
which the German military forces were using because the German
design
was much superior to their own. It included a built in carrying
handle, a built in sprout, and a clip locked cap. Because the
British
soldiers called their German opponents "Jerries", the can they
copied
became known in the English speaking world as the 'Jerry Can'.
Muller Maschinen GmbH of Waschenbeuren-am-der-Ruhr produced patent
documents to the European Court proving beyond doubt that the
Jerry
can's design was conceived and internationally patented by the
firm's
founder, Han-Jurgen Muller, in 1939. The Court of First Instance
thereby supports a claim of royalties owed by the British
government,
as the offender of the first part, for failing to pay royalties
for
all Jerry cans produced when they had an opportunity to do so as
soon
as the war was over.
Herr Isaac Isaacs, the German lawyer representing Muller Maschinen
GmbH, declared that the Court's decision was a well deserved
victory,
and he hoped that the British would now take heed of their failure
to
understand the moral standards of the European community. He also
said
that the way was now clear to energetically pursue all other
manufacturers of Jerry cans who had not yet paid royalties to
Muller
Maschinen GmbH.
Regards
Doug
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 23:18:34 PDT