Constant v. United States

16 Cl. Ct. 629, 12 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1727, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 59, 1989 WL 32686
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedApril 10, 1989
DocketNo. 147-88C
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 16 Cl. Ct. 629 (Constant v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Constant v. United States, 16 Cl. Ct. 629, 12 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1727, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 59, 1989 WL 32686 (cc 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

LYDON, Senior Judge:

The complaint in this case was filed on March 9, 1988. An answer has not been filed and the court’s unpublished orders of May 5, 1988 and June 9, 1988 explain some of the problems relative thereto. These problems have persisted since the date of those orders.

There is now before the court two motions. Plaintiff has filed a motion for summary judgment and defendant has filed a motion to dismiss. In ruling on these motions, the court will discuss the continuing problems clouding this litigation.

I

On February 11, 1985, plaintiff filed an application for a patent with the Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce (PTO). Plaintiff’s patent application involved an invention called a Gravitational Mass Detector. On March 12, 1986, a secrecy order relative to this patent application was issued pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 181 (1982) (secrecy statute). Section 183 of the secrecy statute provides that a patent applicant can apply to the head of any department or agency who caused the secrecy order to be issued for compensation for any damage caused by the order of secrecy and/or for the use of the invention by the Government. If full settlement of the claim could not be reached, the claimant could bring suit in this court. Section 183, in substance, provides plaintiff herein with an available administrative remedy.

Plaintiff submitted to the Navy, on January 8, 1988, a naked request for a settlement agreement. In response, on March 3, 1988, the Navy advised it needed additional information from plaintiff in order to properly docket his claim. Plaintiff, it would appear, refused to engage the administrative process in good faith. Plaintiff insists he has asked for a settlement agreement and, under the circumstances, he believes no further action is necessary.' It is the Navy’s obligation, plaintiff brazenly asserts, to give him a settlement agreement without any input from him.

In the, court’s May 5,1988 order, plaintiff was directed to exhaust his available administrative remedies. Plaintiff, it would appear, has failed to do so in a good faith, meaningful, and cooperative manner. Plaintiff wrote two letters to the Navy dated July 14, 1988, and October 20, 1988, relative to his settlement request. On November 29, 1988, the Navy- wrote plaintiff as follows:

This office has twice, in letters dated 3 March 1988 and 3 October 1988, requested information to establish a claim under 35 U.S.C. § 183.
You refused in your 20 October 1988 letter to petition the Commissioner of' Patents and Trademarks for modification of the secrecy order in accordance with 37 C.F.R. § 5.5, claiming that such a condition is not required under 35 U.S.C. § 183. Section 183 provides “the right to compensation for ... use of the invention by the Government.” Use of the invention can only be determined by the scope of the allowed claims. Therefore, access to the entire patent application is necessary for the Navy to determine whether it has made any use of the invention considered allowable by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).
While the Navy has a copy of the application as originally filed, the Navy has no knowledge of the application as amended or modified by prosecution before the PTO. The Navy has no way , of knowing what the PTO has determined to be your invention on which your claim under 35 U.S.C. § 183 can be based. As mentioned in this office’s letter of 3 October 1988, the Navy is unable to obtain access to the PTO application file unless you petition the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks for a modification of the se[631]*631crecy order. The Office of Solicitor in the PTO has informed the Navy that your letter providing permission to permit the Navy to obtain access to the application would not be acceptable to the PTO to permit the Navy to have access to and copy the entire file wrapper of your application. Access to the PTO application file is not provided by 35 U.S.C. § 188, as you claim. As noted in the court’s order filed on 5 May 1988, the procedure to permit access to a patent under secrecy order is set forth in 37 C.F.R. § 5.5. In that same order the court specifically instructed that steps be taken to modify the secrecy order to permit inspection and copying of the entire file of the patent application. Yet you again refused to do so.
In the letters of 3 March and 3 October you were requested to provide sufficient designation to permit identification of the alleged infringing items or processes, giving the military or commercial designation, if known to you.
In your 20 October letter you stated that your claim under 35 U.S.C. § 183, is “for use of the invention by the Government resulting from his invention.” Use can only be determined when an item or process is identified or sufficient information is made available to identify an item or process. Since you have refused to permit access to the entire patent application and have failed to identify an item or process, there is no basis to establish a claim for the use of the invention by the Government, resulting from your disclosure as provided in 35 U.S.C. § 183. You have failed to designate at least one claim of Application Serial No. 700,871 alleged to be infringed and thereby you have failed to establish a claim “for use of the invention by the Government resulting from his invention.”
In this office’s letter of 3 October 1988, it was requested that you respond to Defendant’s Interrogatories to the Plaintiff, Set No. 1, previously served on 21 April 1988 by the Department of Justice. In the court’s order of 5 May 1988, it encouraged voluntary and cooperative discovery between the parties. You have ignored this guidance from the court and failed to respond to this office’s request. In summary, based on the correspondence available to date there are insufficient grounds to establish a claim for compensation under 35 U.S.C. § 183. Based on the evidence available to the Navy, including the correspondence between this office and you, no use of the invention by the Government resulting from your disclosure can be established. Therefore this matter is considered closed.

In its order of May 5, 1988, as reemphasized in its order of June 9, 1988, the court directed plaintiff (1) to exhaust his available administrative remedies, and (2) to take steps to modify the secrecy order so as to enable defendant to obtain information necessary to file a response to plaintiff’s complaint.

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16 Cl. Ct. 629, 12 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1727, 1989 U.S. Claims LEXIS 59, 1989 WL 32686, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/constant-v-united-states-cc-1989.