Allen v. Ideal Products, Inc.

300 F. Supp. 349, 163 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 176, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13200
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 11, 1969
DocketCiv. A. No. 68-332
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 300 F. Supp. 349 (Allen v. Ideal Products, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allen v. Ideal Products, Inc., 300 F. Supp. 349, 163 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 176, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13200 (W.D. Pa. 1969).

Opinion

OPINION

DUMBAULD, District Judge.

Before us for disposition is a motion by defendants for summary judgment attacking plaintiff’s claim for infringement of a patent relating to a device on a hunting jacket for absorbing the recoil of the gun; together with a motion by plaintiff to dismiss defendants’ counterclaim charging plaintiff with an antitrust violation by virtue of attempted misuse of a patent beyond the scope of its monopoly.

In limine at the request of the Court the parties briefed the question whether in view of Fashion Originators’ Guild of America v. F.T.C., 312 U.S. 457, 61 S.Ct. 703, 85 L.Ed. 949 (1940), there could exist such a thing as a patent ■ protecting the design of a garment. Both parties agree that the Court's scruples on this point are unfounded; at least many patents have been granted in that field. In that case, it will be remembered, the Supreme Court condemned as “private government” a combination in the garment industry which sought to combat design piracy (312 U.S. at 465, 61 S.Ct. 703). There would apparently have been no occasion for such self-help if legal protection had been available by means of the patent or copyright laws for the “original and distinctive designs” created by members of the association and pirated by the copyists at whom the combination was directed.

Perhaps one sufficient distinction is that in the Fashion Originators case the designs involved were merely decorative or ornamental, created to establish a mode or fashion; whereas in the case at bar we are dealing with a functional or utilitarian type of design, intended to protect the sportsman’s body against the recoil of his weapon.

Turning then to the issues that are controlling, we consider the application of the patent laws. In this connection, it must never be forgotten that the primary policy of the patent laws is to promote invention for the benefit of the public. Private gain is secondary. Pennock v. Dialogue, 2 Pet. 1, 7 L.Ed. 327 (1829); Motion Picture Patents Co. v. Universal Film Mfg. Co., 243 U.S. 502, 510-511, 37 S.Ct. 416, 61 L.Ed. 871 (1917); Mercoid Corp. v. Mid-Continent Inv. Co., 320 U.S. 661, 665, 64 S.Ct. 268, 88 L.Ed. 376 (1944); Mazer v. Stein, 347 U.S. 201, 219, 74 S.Ct. 460, 98 L.Ed. [351]*351630 (1954); Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp., 325 U.S. 327, 330-331, 65 S.Ct. 1143, 89 L.Ed. 1644 (1945); Dumbauld, The Constitution of the United States (1964) 153-154. A valid patent must add to, not detract from, the state of the prior art. As stated in Great A. & P. Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp., 340 U.S. 147, 152, 71 S.Ct. 127, 130, 95 L.Ed. 162 (1950): “The function of a patent is to add to the sum of useful knowledge. Patents cannot be sustained when, on the contrary, their effect is to subtract from former resources freely available to skilled artisans.” Hence it is a public service to strike down an invalid patent, which is in truth a trespass upon the public domain, as Justice Douglas observed in Automatic Radio Mfg. Co. v. Hazeltine Research, 339 U.S. 827, 840, 70 S.Ct. 894, 94 L.Ed. 1312 (1950). The very power of Congress to grant a patent is limited and delineated by the purpose proclaimed in the constitutional grant itself. The power is one “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts”; the “exclusive Right” conferred by the patent is merely the means of accomplishing the intended result. Ibid., 836-837, 70 S.Ct. 899; Great A. & P. Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp., 340 U.S. 147, 154-156, 71 S.Ct. 127, 95 L.Ed. 162 (1950); U.S.Const. Art. I, sec. 8, cl. 8.

“It follows, from the language used in the Constitution, limiting patentability to inventions which in fact contribute to the ‘progress’ of science that every case involving the validity of a patent presents a constitutional question. Hence the Supreme Court of the United States is often required to devote its time and effort to determinations involving minute questions of fact with respect to the patentability of trivial gadgets.”1

It follows also, from these basic policies, that commercial success alone, without the requisite invention and novelty, will not establish patentability. Great A. & P. Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp., 340 U.S. 147, 153, 71 S.Ct. 127, 95 L.Ed. 162 (1950). It further follows that the mere discovery of a phenomenon or law of nature is not patentable. Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co., 333 U.S. 127, 130, 68 S.Ct. 440, 92 L.Ed. 588 (1948).

It must also be borne in mind that under the 1952 amendment the requirement of novelty is no longer to be interpreted, as in the days of Thurman Arnold, as requiring a “flash of genius”.2 35 U.S.C. § 103 now states “Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.” A computerized search, or mere methodical exhaustion of alternatives, might now suffice. Cf. Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp., 325 U.S. 327, 335, 65 S.Ct. 1143, 89 L.Ed. 1644 (1945). An accidental discovery is now patentable. Gagnier Fibre Products Co. v. Fourslides, Inc., 112 F.Supp. 926, 929 (E.D. Mich.S.D., 1953). At the same time, 35 U.S.C. 103, as interpreted in the leading case of Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 16-17, 86 S.Ct. 684, 15 L.Ed.2d 545 (1966), added a new requirement of “non-obviousness”. This requirement, it seems clear, did not lower the level of inventiveness required. If anything, it increased it by making a statutory requisite of criteria theretofore embodied only in judicial decisions.

In the light of these doctrines we examine the facts shown in the case at bar. The Allen patent, No. 2,948,899, issued August 16, 1960, upon which plaintiff relied, has two claims. The second is merely for the garment described in Claim 1, which describes a “wrinkle free gun butt pad for shooting garment”. [352]*352The claimant concedes that previous efforts to prevent wrinkling had been made by stitching or quilting the pad to the garment. Allen’s claim is to the use of a resilient pad which is supposed to exert an anti-wrinkle force on the gun butt bearing element and the pocket in which the pad is inserted.3

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300 F. Supp. 349, 163 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 176, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13200, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allen-v-ideal-products-inc-pawd-1969.