In Re Christmann

128 F.2d 596, 29 C.C.P.A. 1037, 53 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 634, 1942 CCPA LEXIS 61
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMay 4, 1942
DocketPatent Appeal 4604
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 128 F.2d 596 (In Re Christmann) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Christmann, 128 F.2d 596, 29 C.C.P.A. 1037, 53 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 634, 1942 CCPA LEXIS 61 (ccpa 1942).

Opinion

BLAND, Judge.

This appeal presents but one question for decision, and that one relates to double patenting. The Primary Examiner of the United States Patent Office rejected all appellants’ claims in their application filed April 18, 1940, chiefly on the ground of double patenting. The claims in said application define a reaction product.

The eight claims on appeal differ in scope only. The Board of Appeals of the United States Patent Office was of the opinion that claims 1, 2, 3, and 6 were illustrative, and we also think they correctly illustrate the subject matter of all the claims. They read:

“1. A reaction product of hydrofluosil-icic acid and a guanidine.
“2. A reaction product of hydrofluosil-icic acid and a substituted guanidine.
“3. A reaction product of hydrofluosil-icic acid and an alkyl guanidine.
“6. A reaction product -of hydrofluosil-acic acid and a diphenyl guanidine.”

The examiner rejected the claims as un-patentable over the claims of the applicants’ patent 2,205,789, which issued June 25, 1940. Upon appeal to the board, the examiner’s decision was affirmed, and appellants have here appealed from the decision of the board.

The examiner rejected claim 2 upon the ground that it is indefinite. This ground was reversed by the board and needs no consideration here.

The application which resulted in appellants’ patent 2,205,789, originally contained the claims which are here involved (they were claims 9 to 16 in that application). The application also contained eight other claims (the claims allowed in the resultant patent), of which claims, No. 1 is regarded as illustrative and reads as follows:

“1. An insecticidal composition including a reaction product of hydrofluosilicic acid and a guanidine.”

The claims of appellants’ application (which application grew into a patent) were denied by the examiner in view of the prior art, the board affirmed the examiner’s decision, and when appeal was taken to this court, we reversed the decision of the board, holding that appellants *598 had developed a new product which was shown to have utility. The only utility shown in the record was as an insecticide. This decision was handed down on December 4, 1939. In re Christmann et al., 107 F.2d 607, 27 C.C.P.A., Patents, 708. Before the issuance of the patent, appellants filed the instant application and let the other application go to issue.

As before stated, the first application contained the claims here involved, and they were cancelled. According to the-statement of the examiner in the- instant case, as no requirement for division had been made, they were rejected upon the ground that they were not “patentably different from claims 1 to 8, respectively” (claims 1 to 8 being the claims before this court in Re Christmann et al., supra).

The instant application calls merely for broad claims to the reaction product as such. The application makes no mention that it is useful for any purpose other than as an insecticide. Appellants here contend that they are entitled to a broad patent on the product as such since they have shown utility, and particularly since they submitted affidavits to the board upon petition for reconsideration, which, they claim, show that the material has, in addition to its use as an insecticide, utility as a rodenticide and as a rubber accelerator.

The board, under Patent Office Rule No. 138, 35 U.S.C.A. Appendix, could not properly admit the affidavits without remanding the case to the examiner; yet it could, within its discretion, refuse to remand the case. In effect, it seems that is what the board did. Instead of remanding the case it stated that:

“The situation has been considered in light of the additional argument and accompanying affidavits without finding any reason for changing our conclusions or necessitating further discussion.”

We think that the board was correct in its action on this question and that the affidavits, therefore, are not properly before us.

On the ground of double patenting, the examiner had the following to say:

“The herein presented claims 1 to 8 were originally presented in the file of patent 2,205,789 as claims 9 to 16, respectively, and were cancelled without argument upon being rejected as not being ‘patentably different from claims 1 to 8, respectively.’
“No requirement for division was ever made. Applicants, after winning their appeal in the U. S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals upon the composition claims, attempted to reinsert claims identical with the cancelled claims 9 to 16, but were not allowed to do so for the reasons given in paper No. 18 of the patent file. If applicants desire to contest the question of double patenting of the compound claims over the composition claims, they could have continued to prosecute these claims after rejection instead of cancelling them. After the refusal to reinsert the there-before cancelled product claims, applicants could have petitioned the Commissioner or they could have filed a continuation case incorporating both composition and product claims to contest the question. It is submitted that the prior case, U. S. patent 2,205,789, was the proper case in which to decide this question.”

' On the same subject the Board of Appeals said:

“It appears that claims like or equivalent to the present claims were presented in the record of patent 2,205,789 but that all the claims of the patent were limited in the preamble to ‘An insecticidal composition including.’ The body of the claims of the patent is apparently similar to the body of the claims presented here. It is stated in the brief that applicants voluntarily cancelled claims of the present type. It is stated in the examiner’s answer that applicants’ brief on appeal in the patent record indicated that counsel did not believe that there was any difference in scope between the cancelled claims like those here presented and the claims left in the patent limited to the insecticidal.
“After giving careful consideration to the record, it is our opinion that broader claims may not now be properly allowed even conceding that claims of the present type were presented in this' application before date of issue of the said patent. In view of the record it is our conclusion that it would constitute an extension of the monopoly to now grant claims that are broader than those standing in the patent, and which would constitute the vital part or substance of 'the patented claims in addition to being broader in mere form.. This appears prohibited by Palmer Pneumatic Tire Co. v. Lozier [6 Cir.], 90 F.. *599 732 and Miller v. Eagle Mfg. Co., 151 U.S. 186 [14 S.Ct. 310, 38 L.Ed. 121] as well as by analogy to Underwood et al. v. Gerber et al., 1889 C.D. 519 [C.C., 37 F. 682, affirmed 149 U.S. 224, 13 S.Ct. 854, 37 L.Ed. 710].”

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128 F.2d 596, 29 C.C.P.A. 1037, 53 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 634, 1942 CCPA LEXIS 61, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-christmann-ccpa-1942.