Locklin v. Switzer Bros.

261 F. Supp. 582, 152 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 49, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10282
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedFebruary 17, 1966
DocketNo. 36995
StatusPublished

This text of 261 F. Supp. 582 (Locklin v. Switzer Bros.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Locklin v. Switzer Bros., 261 F. Supp. 582, 152 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 49, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10282 (N.D. Cal. 1966).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

SWEIGERT, District Judge.

This case is before the Court on a petition filed by defendant Switzer Brothers, Inc., (hereinafter referred to as Switzer) on May 8, 1963, for an order adjudicating plaintiffs, doing business [583]*583as Radiant Color Company (hereinafter referred to as Radiant), in civil contempt for violation of the judgment of this Court, entered on November 17, 1959.

That judgment held that claims 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9 of Switzer’s Kazenas patent were valid and were infringed by certain fluorescent pigments manufactured by Radiant. On appeal, the judgment was affirmed, Locklin v. Switzer Bros., Inc., 299 F.2d 160 (9th Cir. 1961).

On May 2, 1962, an injunction was entered permanently enjoining Radiant from making, using, selling or offering for sale, except under license from Swit-zer any fluorescent pigment embodying or manufactured by the use of the inventions disclosed in the above claims of the Kazensas patent.

On March 31, 1964, this Court found Radiant guilty of civil contempt for violation of the injunction. Upon appeal, the Court in Locklin v. Switzer Bros., Inc., 348 F.2d 244 (9th Cir. 1965) remanded the case for a determination of the specific question whether, in Radiant’s accused 4-C resin, the amount of melamine utilized is such as to bring the resin within the limits of the claims of Switzer’s Kazenas patent, No. 2,809,954, as those claims were delineated in the Court’s prior opinion in 1961.

Pursuant to the remand, this Court held an evidentiary hearing on the above question from October 11, 1965, to October 15, 1965.

Radiant contends that its accused formula 4-C resin does not fall within the following functional language of claim 2 of the Kazenas patent:

“[T]he amount of said melamine compound being an amount * * * sufficient to render said condensation product substantially insoluble in aromatic hydrocarbon solvents. * * * ”

Specifically, Radiant contends that, notwithstanding the fact that the amount of urea used by them in the 4-C resin is relatively small, the urea is used in place of melamine, and reduces the amount of melamine to a point where the melamine alone is not “sufficient to render said condensation product substantially insoluble in aromatic hydrocarbon solvents.”

The 1965 Court of Appeals decision held that, if Radiant’s contention is factually correct, there would be no infringement, stating with regard to the above language of claim 2 of the Kazenas patent:

“In our earlier opinion we ruled that the use of this functional language in specifying the amount of melamine required * * * did not invalidate the claims, but by the same token it served to fix precisely the limits of the claims.” Locklin v. Switzer Bros., Inc., supra at 246.

In its earlier opinion the Court had found that the language was not vague, stating:

“There is testimony to the effect that ‘sufficient melamine to render the resin substantially insoluble’ is a simple, clear test for an ordinary chemist to perform and one which does not require extensive experimentation in order that the precise critical limits be ascertained in a particular case. Under such circumstances, the fact that some preliminary testing is required does not render the claim invalid for vagueness.” Locklin v. Switzer Bros., Inc., supra at 166.

The Court had also pointed out the reason why the lower limit of the amount of melamine, which would render the resin substantially insoluble, could not be stated in precise quantitative terms, stating:

“Switzer points to the fact that of the considerable number of melamine compounds encompassed by the patent, each has a different critical limit. It asserts that this renders it wholly unreasonable to expect the claims to be specific in this respect or to expect any further specificity than that which appears in the examples given.” Locklin v. [584]*584Switzer Bros., Inc., supra at 165-166.

Defendant Switzer, therefore, has the burden of showing the following in order to establish that Radiant is in civil contempt of this Court’s injunction.

1. A simple clear, reliable test for an ordinary chemist to perform and one which does not require extensive experimentation to show whether the accused resin contains sufficient melamine to render it substantially insoluble in aromatic hydrocarbon solvents.

2. That in fact the accused resin contains sufficient melamine to render it substantially insoluble in aromatic hydrocarbon solvents.

In order to sustain this burden, Swit-zer relies on two different kinds of tests: (1) the quick qualitative test, which was the test used at the original infringement trial and (2) the quantitative test.

QUALITATIVE TESTS

In the qualitative tests, Switzer manufactured and used a resin consisting of a co-condensation reaction of melamine, sulfonamide and formaldehyde in the same mole proportions as in the accused 4-C resin (i. e., 7 moles of formaldehyde, 4 moles of sulfonamide and 1 mole of melamine). Switzer eliminated entirely the one-half mole of urea from the test resin in order to show that there was sufficient melamine, without the urea, to render the resin substantially insoluble in aromatic hydrocarbon solvents.

Switzer conducted two qualitative tests. The first test was conducted on September 25, 1965, at Cleveland, Ohio, in the presence of Radiant. On that date, Switzer placed a measured quantity of its test resin in separate containers each holding one of the three aromatic hydrocarbon solvents — benzene, toluene and xylene.

The second test was conducted at trial, at which time Switzer placed a roughly measured quantity of its test resin in containers holding each of the aforesaid hydrocarbon solvents.

Both parties are in agreement that, if a finely ground resin is placed in an aromatic hydrocarbon solvent and it stays suspended without coalescence or agglomeration, then this is an indication that the resin is insoluble, while if the resin becomes coalesced or agglomerated, then this is an indication that the resin is not insoluble. There is dispute, however, over how long the resin must remain suspended without coalescence or agglomeration to come within the defining words of the patent claim: “substantially insoluble in aromatic hydrocarbon solvents.”

At the original trial in 1959 before Judge Goodman, the Court considered only tests in pure toluene in determining whether the resin was substantially insoluble in an aromatic hydrocarbon solvent. Furthermore, at the original trial, the lapse of time between the date when the resin was placed in toluene and the date when the observations of the condition of the resin in the toluene were made, was less than one week.

Switzer demonstrated during this contempt hearing that its test resin remained free flowing and dispersed 24 hours after being placed in the pure solvents. Switzer also demonstrated at the trial that the resin placed in the solvents on September 25, 1965, which had stood unshaken for 17 days, was free-flowing upon being shaken at the trial.

Radiant also made a number of test resins and conducted tests thereon in the pure solvents.

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Related

Locklin v. Switzer Bros.
299 F.2d 160 (Ninth Circuit, 1961)
Locklin v. Switzer Bros.
348 F.2d 244 (Ninth Circuit, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
261 F. Supp. 582, 152 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 49, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/locklin-v-switzer-bros-cand-1966.