David A. Brown, national chairman of the United Jewish Campaign, was the recipient of congratulations from his friends following announcement of his victory as president of the Absopure Refrigeration Corporation of Detroit in a protracted legal battle with the Frigidaire Corporation, a division of the General Motors Corporation. The suit, which had been initiated by the Frigidaire Corporation against the General Necessities Corporation, involved patent rights in the manufacture of electric refrigerators and was considered as important as the famous Selden suit on the original patent on the automobile which Henry Ford successfully contested several years ago.
When the Frigidaire Corporation initiated its suit three years ago against the General Necessities Corporation, to restrain it from manufacturing Absopure refrigerators, Mr. Brown was in the midst of the United Jewish Campaign. Having pledged himself to conduct the campaign to its close, yet faced by the suit which threatened to annihilate his business, Mr. Brown decided to fight the suit, dividing his time between New York and Detroit. Although the outcome of the Frigidaire suit concerned all other manufacturers of electric refrigerators, Mr. Brown undertook the battle single-handed.
The suit originally begun by General Motors Corporation involved seven of the patents used in the manufacture of electric refrigerators. When the case came to trial before Federal Judge Arthur J. Tuttle, at Bay City, Michigan, all but one of the infringement claims had been voided. In handing down his decision, Judge Tuttle declared the patent void, and dismissed the suit.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
