In re Kaase

140 F.2d 1016, 31 C.C.P.A. 932, 60 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 565, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 36
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedFebruary 7, 1944
DocketNo. 4860
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 140 F.2d 1016 (In re Kaase) 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 Kaase, 140 F.2d 1016, 31 C.C.P.A. 932, 60 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 565, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 36 (ccpa 1944).

Opinion

Lenroot, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a decision of the Board of Appeals of the United States Patent Office affirming a decision of the Primary Examiner rejecting claims 22, 23, and 33 of appellants’ application for a patent filed on July 29, 1938. The claims read as follows:

22. A process for treating textile material which comprises impregnating the material • with a compound having the formula R.N=C=Y where B. is an aliphatic radical containing at least ten carbon atoms and Y stands for a member of a group consisting of O and S, and heating the impregnated material to ‘render the same water-repellent.
23. A textile material heated with a compound having the formula B,.N=C=Y where It is an aliphatic radical containing at least ten carbon atoms and Y stands for a member of a group consisting of O and S, said material being water-repellent.
33. A process which comprises impregnating a textile material with a substance selected from the group consisting of: — an isocyanate and a isothio-cyanate, each containing an aliphatic radical of at least ten carbon atoms, and heating the impregnated material until the material becomes water-repellent.

Each of the process claims above quoted embraces the treatment •of textile material rendering it water-repellent by impregnating it with a material selected from a group consisting of isocyanates and isothiocyanates having an aliphatic radical containing at least 10 carbon atoms.

[934]*934In the claims the letter O signifies isocyanates and the letter S signifies isothiocyanates.

Several claims were allowed relating to the use of isocyanates. As will be observed, the claims are of the Markush type. They were rejected upon two grounds :

1. That they are unpatentable over the British patent 461,179, issued February 8,1937.

2. That they are unpatentable over the issue of an interference, No. 76,387, in which appellants were the losing party.

It is conceded that the British patent discloses the subject matter of the claims, but appellants contend that the record shows that they had completed the invention prior to the date of the British patent and that therefore it is not a proper reference.

Appellants’ application states that it is a continuation, in part, of their then copending applications, serial No'. 76,738, filed April 28, 1936, and serial No. 196,622, filed March 18, 1938. This last-named application does not appear in the record, but it does appear that on December 1, 1942, a patent was issued on their application filed on April 28, 1936. ' This patent relates to the use of isocyanates in the involved process.

It is appellants’ contention that they are entitled to the date of their application of April 28, 1936, upon which patent was issued, for constructive reduction to practice of the invention, and that date being earlier than the date of the British patent, said British patent is not a valid reference.

With respect to the rejection upon the issue of the interference, No. 76,387, it is appellants’ contention that such rejection was improper for the reasons hereinafter stated.

Appellants’ instant application discloses the use of both isocyanates and isothiocyanates in carrying out their process. As héreinbefore indicated, appellants’ application of April 28, 1936, discloses the use of isocyanates, but no mention is made therein of the use of isothiocy-anates.

It appears from the record that appellants’ instant application had been involved in two interferences, Nos. 76,387 and 78,586.

The parties to interference No. 76,387 were appellants, William E. TIanford and Donald F. Holmes, their application being filed on October 8,1937, and a third part}?, Alfred Eckelmann.

Two counts were involved in this interference. Count 1 reads as follows :

Oonnl 1. — A process which comprises impregnating a cellulose textile material with an isothiocyanate of the formula RNCS in which R is an aliphatic hydrocarbon radical containing more than ten carbon atoms, and heating the impregnated material until the material becomes water-repellent.

[935]*935It appears tliat the party Eckelmann abandoned the contest. Appellants, being the junior party, were placed under an order to show cause why judgment should not be rendered against them, the earliest date of invention alleged by them in their preliminary statement being subsequent to the filing date of the party Hanford and Holmes.

On December 31, 1940, the Examiner of Interferences rendered a decision adverse to appellants which reads as follows:

Whereas Kaase and Waltmann, a junior party, have failed to make aAy showing why judgment on the record should not be entered against them, in view of the fact that the only date alleged in their preliminary statement which might be availed of by them is subsequent to the filing dates of Hanford and Holmes, a junior party, and Eckelmann, the senior party, and whereas the time allowed for such showing has expired, pursuant to the order of February 3, 1939, it is hereby adjudged that Walther Kaase and Ernst Waltmann are not the first inventor of the subject matter in issue.

As there is no question of priority on which appeal could be taken, no limit of appeal is set.

It thus appears that appellants were the losing party in this interference.

Interference No. 78,586 was between appellants’ instant application and the application of Hanford and Holmes involved in interference No. 76,387.

The sole count corresponded to claim 33 of the application before us.

It appears from the record that Hanford and Holmes filed an abandonment of the contest and the interference was dissolved.

Appellants’ application, filed April 28, 1936, was involved in two interferences, Nos. 78,386 and 78,587, with the same application of the party Hanford and Holmes that was involved in interferences Nos. 76,387 and 78,586.

In these interferences the use of isothiocyanates was not involved and the issue was as to which of the parties was the prior inventor of the use isocyanates. It appears that in both interferences, the party Hanford and Holmes conceded to appellants’ priority of invention in the use of isocyanates, and decisions were rendered in each case awarding priority of invention to appellants.

Pursuant to the foregoing proceedings on December 1, 1942, a patent was issued to appellants, as hereinbefore stated, for a process involving the use of isocyanates only. On June 2, 1942, a patent was issued to the intérference party, Hanford and Holmes, for a process of impregnating cellulose fabrics with an alkyl isothiocyanate. The patent discloses the use of both isothiocyanates and isocyanates, but the claims are limited to the use of isothiocyanates.

[936]*936It thus appears that as a result of said interferences appellants have a patent for the use of isocyanates in impregnating textile material, and Hanford and Holmes have a patent for the use of isothiocyanates in impregnating cellulose materials.

We will first consider the rejection of the claims on the British patent.

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140 F.2d 1016, 31 C.C.P.A. 932, 60 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 565, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 36, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-kaase-ccpa-1944.