Hughes Tool Co. v. Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co.

90 F. Supp. 845, 85 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 455, 1950 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3885
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedMay 18, 1950
DocketCiv. A. No. 3685
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 90 F. Supp. 845 (Hughes Tool Co. v. Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hughes Tool Co. v. Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., 90 F. Supp. 845, 85 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 455, 1950 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3885 (W.D. Okla. 1950).

Opinion

VAUGHT, Chief Judge.

The plaintiff filed its complaint alleging that it is the owner of four patents and that the defendant is infringing them, and seeks to enjoin further infringement of them and to recover damages sustained, together with its costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees, and for such other relief as to the court may appear proper.

Specifically it alleges that it is the owner of :(1) United States Letters Patent No. 1,856,627 issued on May 3, 1932, for an. in- • vention on drill cutters; (2) • United States Letters Patent No. 1,983,316 issued on December 4, 1934, for an invention on a three cone bit; (3) United States Letters Patent No. 2,011,084 issued on August 13, 1935, for an invention in mounting for drill cutters; and (4) United States Letters Patent No. 2,030,442 issued on February 11, 1936, for an invention in a roller bearing bit. It contends that the defendant is infringing each of said letters patent by selling, in this district and elsewhere, rotary drill bits embodying and containing each of the inventions patented in said letters patent, and will continue to do so unless enjoined and restrained by the court, more particularly the rotary drill bits being sold by the defendant embodying and containing Claims 1, 2 and 3 of Patent No. 1,856,627; Claims 1, 2 and 3 of Patent No. 1,983,316; Claims 1, 2 and 3 of Patent No. 2,011,084; and Claims 4, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14 and 15 of Patent No. 2,030,442.

The defendant filed its answer and -counterclaim denying the alleged infringement and that the court has jurisdiction of the person of the defendant or the subject matter. It admits the issuance of the letters patent enumerated in the complaint but denies that the plaintiff owns the same. It alleges that the claims are invalid, that the plaintiff has misused the patents, and that the plaintiff- is estopped from asserting its claims, setting forth in detail the reasons therefor. It further alleges estoppel by laches.

In its counterclaim and amendment thereto, the defendant alleges that it is the owner of (1) United States Letters Patent No. 1,997,345 issued on April 9, 1935, for an invention in a roller cutter assembly for earth boring drills; (2) United States Letters Patent No. 1,835,523 issued on December 8, 1931, for an invention by Clarence E. Reed in an earth boring drill; (3) United States Letters Patent No. 1,865,706 issued on July 5, 1932, for an invention by Clarence E. Reed in an earth boring drill; (4) United States Letters Patent No. 2,047,110 issued on July 7, 1936, for an invention by Clarence E. Reed in an earth boring apparatus; (5) United States Letters Patent No. 2,058,624 issued on October 27, 1936, for an invention by Clarence E. Reed in a roller cutter drill; and (6) United States [847]*847Letters Patent No. 2,065,742 issued on December 29, 1936, for an invention by Clarence E. Reed in a roller cutter spindle and bearing assembly for earth boring drills. It contends that the plaintiff is infringing the letters patent by selling or leasing, in this district and elsewhere, rotary drill bits embodying and containing each of the inventions covered by said six letters patent, more particularly Claims 1, 3 and 6 of Patent No. 1,835,523; Claims 2, 13, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of Patent No. 1,865,706; Claims 35, 36, 37 and 42 of Patent No. 2,017,110; Claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of Patent No. 2,058,624; and Claims 5 and 7 of Patent No. 2,065,742. It prays for injunctive relief, damages, an accounting of profits, together with costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees, and such other relief as to the court may seem just.

The plaintiff filed its reply to defendant’s counterclaim denying the infringement alleged therein. It admits the issuance of the six letters patent but denies that defendant owns all of said patents set forth in its counterclaim. It alleges that the claims said to be infringed are invalid, setting forth the reasons therefor.

The record is voluminous. Most of the witnesses were experts in mechanical engineering and the exhibits are plans and drawings, of a technical nature, of devices upon which United States Letters Patent have been issued. It is a difficult task for the lay mind to attempt to comprehend the full import of the testimony of experts in such situations, and particularly, when the experts themselves do not agree. Thus we resort to the common rules for weighing evidence. Consideration must be given the demeanor of the witness on the stand, his manner of testifying, his interest or lack of interest in the outcome of the case, his' candor or lack of candor, and if he is an expert, his education and background, his experience or lack of experience in the particular field about which he testifies, and from all the facts and circumstances, reach a proper conclusion.

The devices under consideration and upon which letters patent have been issued have to do with hard substance drilling bits used in rotary rigs in drilling oil wells.

The plaintiff claims the defendant is infringing four patents: Claims 1, 2 and 3 of No. 1,856,627, the “Fletcher Patent” Claims 1, 2 and 3 of No. 1,983,316, the “Scott-Garfield Patent”; Claims 1, 2 and 3 of No. 2,011,084, the “Scott Patent”; and Claims 4, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14 and 15 of No. 2,-030.442, the “Garfield and Scott Patent.” All of these patents have been the subject of litigation in one phase or another, and in some court each patent and the claims involved here have been found to be valid. In Hughes Tool Company v. United Machine Company et al.,_ D.C.Tex.1939, 35 F. Supp. 879, Claims 1, 2 and 3 of No. 1,856,-627 and Claims 7 to 15, inclusive, of No. 2.030.442, were held valid; in Williams Iron Works Company v. Hughes Tool Company, 10 Cir., 1940, 109 F.2d 500, Claims 1/ 2, and 3 of No. 1,856,627 and Claims 1 to 15, inclusive, of No. 2,030,442, were held valid; in Robertson Rock Bit Company, Inc., et al., v. Hughes Tool Company, 5 Cir., 1949, 176 F.2d 783, Claims 1, 2 and 3 of No. 1,983,316, Claims 1, 2 and 3 of Patent No. 2,011,084, and Claims 4, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14 and 15 of No. 2,030,442, were held to be valid; and in Hughes Tool Company v. Williams, D.C.Okl.1949, 82 F.Supp. 408, Patents No. 1,856,627 and No. 1,983,316 were under attack and were held valid.

The opinions in the cases above cited support the conclusion of this court that all the questions of any importance that are raised by the defendant here as to the validity of these patents have been judicially determined. And while this court is not foreclosed by these decisions, they are at least very persuasive, and we are constrained to hold that the patents and the claims involved are each and all valid, and that the titles to said patents are vested in the plaintiff.

The defendant contends that the plaintiff is estopped to assert infringement of the patents set up in the complaint, and in its brief and argument of counsel devotes considerable time to that phase of the defense. The court has given careful and lengthy consideration to the argument of defendant’s counsel, together with the portions of the record and the authorities cited, which they contend uphold their [848]*848theory of this defense. Without going into tedious detail, the court is of the opinion that the defense is wholly without merit. We find, nothing misleading or deceptive, upon which the defense of estoppel could be reasonably based.

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Bluebook (online)
90 F. Supp. 845, 85 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 455, 1950 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3885, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hughes-tool-co-v-chicago-pneumatic-tool-co-okwd-1950.