Hans Oetiker v. Jurid Werke, G. M. B. H

556 F.2d 1, 181 U.S. App. D.C. 124, 193 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 321, 1977 U.S. App. LEXIS 14457
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedMarch 4, 1977
Docket75-1897
StatusPublished
Cited by83 cases

This text of 556 F.2d 1 (Hans Oetiker v. Jurid Werke, G. M. B. H) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hans Oetiker v. Jurid Werke, G. M. B. H, 556 F.2d 1, 181 U.S. App. D.C. 124, 193 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 321, 1977 U.S. App. LEXIS 14457 (D.C. Cir. 1977).

Opinion

LEVENTHAL, Circuit Judge:

This case involves a patentee’s potential liability for fraudulent procurement and enforcement of a patent. A Swiss inventor claims that a German manufacturing com *2 pany sought a United States patent on certain secrets in violation of an agreement between them, obtained the patent by fraud on the Patent Office, and used it to exclude the inventor from selling a similar good in certain markets. After the complaint was filed, the company disclaimed the patent, and the district court dismissed the action on the grounds that the disclaimer had mooted all federal claims. We reverse on the ground that plaintiff also presented an antitrust claim, which remains for analysis.

I. FACTS

We take plaintiff’s allegations as true. See Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957).

Plaintiff Hans Oetiker is a resident and citizen of Switzerland. He manufactures various clamps and couplings at facilities located in Switzerland and other countries, including the United States.

Defendant Jurid Werke, G. m. b. H. (“Jurid”) is a West German manufacturing company. Plaintiff does not allege that Jurid does business in the United States.

In 1957, Oetiker entered into an agreement with Jurid, pursuant to which he granted Jurid an exclusive license to manufacture and sell certain types of clamps and couplings in West Germany. Oetiker also obligated himself to provide Jurid with technical information, including drawings, concerning his inventions. In return, Jurid promised that improvements made by Jurid on Oetiker’s inventions could be patented by Oetiker. If Oetiker did not seek a patent within eight weeks of notification by Jurid, then Jurid was entitled to apply for patent protection. Finally, if the agreement was terminated, and the termination was not solely the fault of Oetiker, Oetiker would become the owner of all patent rights acquired by Jurid on any “improvement” on Oetiker’s earlier inventions.

In succeeding years, Oetiker alleges he supplied Jurid with the relevant technical information, gave Jurid’s officers and employees free access to Oetiker’s facilities in Switzerland, and provided prototypes of new inventions. Although additional agreements were signed in 1962 and 1968, the basic nature of the improvements provision in the 1957 agreement was not altered.

Notwithstanding the agreement, Jurid secretly filed for a German patent on February 1, 1965, 1 and for a United States patent on March 31,1965, 2 with respect to a clamp falling within the terms of the agreement. The German Patent Office refused to grant the patent on the grounds of lack of invention over certain prior art and this refusal was affirmed by the appropriate German Appellate Tribunal. Oetiker asserts that despite this course of events, Jurid failed to inform the U. S. Patent Office of the prior art on which the German Office relied. The U. S. application matured into the U. S Patent in suit, No. 3,321,811 (“ ’811 patent”), on May 30, 1967.

In 1969, the exclusive licensing agreement between the parties was terminated. 3 Oetiker built a facility in West Germany which manufactured and sold certain axle sleeve clamps for use in automobiles. Oetiker asserts that in 1974, after his German facility had begun selling these clamps to the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen Werken A. G., Jurid charged Volkswagen with infringing Jurid’s ’811 patent by purchasing the clamps from Oetiker. Oetiker further alleges that although this charge was without merit, it caused great concern among Volkswagen officials, who could not be sure which of their cars would be exported to the United States. Oetiker claims that because of these fears, he was ultimately forced to give to Volkswagen certain assurances which were against his interest. 4

*3 On November 15, 1974, Oetiker filed the complaint which initiated this lawsuit. The complaint alleged personal jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 293 (1970), 5 and set forth three counts. Under the first, entitled “Declaratory Judgment,” Oetiker asked that the court declare the ’811 patent invalid and noninfringed, that he be declared its legal or equitable owner, and that Jurid’s employees be enjoined from claiming infringement. Under Count II, entitled “Fraud,” Oetiker charged that the patent had been procured by fraud and asked for damages as well as injunctive relief. Under Count III, labelled “Misuse,” Oetiker charged that Jurid was making its claims of infringement in order to deprive Oetiker of certain markets, including the U. S. market, for axle sleeve clamps. This, Oetiker asserted, constituted patent misuse “under U. S. laws and practices” and unfair competition. Oetiker requested as relief treble damages. The whole of this critical count is set forth in the footnote below. 6

On February 6, 1975, Jurid filed a disclaimer of the ’811 patent in the U. S. Patent Office, thereby forever dedicating it to the public. Several weeks later, Jurid filed a motion to dismiss or for summary *4 judgment. Jurid asked that Counts I and II be dismissed as moot, and that Count III be dismissed on the ground that “the Court as a matter of judicial discretion should abstain from exercising jurisdiction over this Count in view of the absence of any federal question jurisdiction on which to predicate pendent jurisdiction.” Jurid also asserted that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over it.

In response to Jurid’s disclaimer and motion, Oetiker amended his complaint to add a fourth count entitled “Conversion,” in which Oetiker argued that Jurid’s attempt to disclaim the patent was invalid because Oetiker was the lawful owner.

The district court granted Jurid’s motion to dismiss. 7 It held that Jurid’s disclaimer had mooted all federal claims, 8 and exercised its discretion so as to decline jurisdiction with respect to the remaining claims in Oetiker’s complaint. Its memorandum opinion explained:

In the case at bar, plaintiff’s misuse and conversion claims depend in large part on the licensing agreements between the parties. The agreements are governed by European law and key witnesses and tangible evidence are located in Europe. Further, the instant case has not yet progressed to trial. When all federal counts are dismissed before trial begins, pendent claims should almost certainly be dismissed as well, [citing United Mine Workers v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 725-26, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966).]

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556 F.2d 1, 181 U.S. App. D.C. 124, 193 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 321, 1977 U.S. App. LEXIS 14457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hans-oetiker-v-jurid-werke-g-m-b-h-cadc-1977.