Micro-Magnetic Industries, Inc. v. Advance Automatic Sales Co.

372 F. Supp. 477, 175 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 331, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12721
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJuly 17, 1972
DocketNo. C-48708
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 372 F. Supp. 477 (Micro-Magnetic Industries, Inc. v. Advance Automatic Sales Co.) 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
Micro-Magnetic Industries, Inc. v. Advance Automatic Sales Co., 372 F. Supp. 477, 175 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 331, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12721 (N.D. Cal. 1972).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW; JUDGMENT

WEIGEL, District Judge.

Findings of Fact

I. GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Plaintiff, Micro-Magnetic Industries, Inc., is a California corporation with its principal place of business in Palo Alto, California.

2. Plaintiff is the assignee of United States Patent No. 2,964,641, referred to hereafter as Selgin II to distinguish it from an earlier United States Patent, No. 2,646,717, referred to hereafter as Selgin I.

3. Plaintiff’s machines are properly marked with the number of Selgin II.

4. Defendant ARDAC, sometimes referred to hereafter as defendant, is an Ohio corporation having its principal place of business in Chesterland, Ohio.

5. Defendant Advance Automatic Sales Co., Inc., is a California corpora[478]*478tion having its principal place of business at San Francisco, California.

6. Defendant Pacific Nik-O-Lok Co., Inc., is a California corporation having a regular place of business in San Francisco, California.

7. Defendant Standard Change Makers, Inc., is an Indiana corporation having a regular place of business in San Francisco, California.

8. Defendant ARDAC has made and sold dollar bill validators known as Mark 2, Mark 4, Mark 5, and Mark 7 machines. All of these machines are equivalent to each other for the purposes of this case. A typical machine of the type manufactured by ARDAC will be referred to hereafter as defendant’s machine.

9. Defendant Pacific Nik-O-Lok, Inc., has sold at least one of defendant’s machines in this district.

10. Defendant Advance Automatic Sales Co., Inc., has sold at least one of defendant’s, machines in this district.

11. Defendant Standard Change Makers, Inc., has sold 6,631 of defendant’s machines for a total selling price of $2,107,782. At least one of such machines was sold by Standard Change Makers, Inc., within this district.

12. Defendant ARDAC intervened in this action as a party defendant and waived any defense based on venue.

13. Defendant ARDAC has sold 26,297 of defendant’s machines for a total selling price of $3,756,361. The above figure includes the sale of 6,631 of defendant’s machines to Standard Change Makers, Inc. Based on the average selling price of $142.83, ARDAC received $2,808,895 for the 19,666 machines which it sold to persons other than Standard Change Makers, Inc.

II. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

14. Oh December 13, 1960, United States Patent No. 2,964,641, referred to hereafter as Selgin II, was issued to Mr. Paul Selgin. The patent was for a device which could determine the authenticity of certain documents, including dollar bills.

15. At the time when the application which matured into Selgin II was filed, the prior art contained, among others, the following United States Patents: (a) No. 2,646,717, issued on July '28, 1953, to Mr. Paul Selgin and referred to hereafter as Selgin I; (b) No. 2,731,621, issued on January 17, 1956, to Mr. C. G. Sontheimer and referred to hereafter as Sontheimer; (c) No. 2,827,822, issued' on March 25, 1958, to Mr. R. L. Timms, and referred to hereafter as Timms.

16. In the fall of 1962, Mr. Riddle, president of plaintiff and Mr. McLaughlin, one of plaintiff’s engineers, conceived of the invention, previously patented as Selgin II. At that time, they were unaware of Selgin II and considered their invention to be a major breakthrough in the art.

17. Mr. Riddle consulted patent counsel for the purpose of obtaining a patent on the invention. Patent counsel called Selgin II to Mr. Riddle’s attention and advised him to attempt to acquire rights under the patent.

18. Subsequently, Messrs. Riddle and McLaughlin filed a patent application relating to improvements which they had made on Selgin II. This patent application matured into United States Patent No. 3,256,968. This Court has previously ruled on motion for summary judgment that all of the claims of that patent which plaintiff asserts against defendant are invalid.

19. Pursuant to attorney’s advice, Mr. Riddle acquired all rights under Selgin II.

20. Starting in 1962, plaintiff made and marketed dollar bill validators which incorporated the Selgin II invention. Plaintiff’s sales rose from 15 machines in 1962 to 4500 machines in 1968.

21. Prior to 1967, defendant was a competitor of the plaintiff and produced a dollar bill validator which did not incorporate the Selgin II invention.

[479]*47922. In the summer of 1967, the President of defendant attended a meeting in California concerning the fare collection equipment which would be used on the Bay Area Rapid Transit System. Upon returning to his company, defendant’s president informed defendant’s chief engineer, Jack Bayah, that a new design for defendant’s machine was needed. The new design had to be capable of rejecting Xerox or photostatic copies of dollar bills, some of which would not be rejected by the machines which defendant had previously produced.

23. About two months prior to the meeting described above, Jack Bayah had analyzed plaintiff’s machine, incorporating the Selgin II invention. Within two months after the meeting, Mr. Bayah designed a new bill validator for defendant which, plaintiff claims, incorporates Selgin II.

24. Defendant’s machine is substantially cheaper than the plaintiff’s. Shortly after defendant’s machine was introduced, the rate of increase of plaintiff’s sales began to decline. Thereafter, plaintiff’s sales began to decline.

III. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

25. The Selgin II invention combines seven elements, which interact together to produce the results claimed in the patent.

26. The seven elements are: (1) the bill or document; (2) a light; (3) a mask or reticle; (4) an optical system for superimposing the image of the bill on the mask; (5) a shifter which moves the image of the bill relative to the mask; (6) an electric eye which converts light into electronic impulses; (7) a circuit means, responsive to certain predetermined electronic signals.

27. The bill to be examined must have on it a series of parallel or approximately parallel lines which are of different reflectance from the background on which they are printed. The parallel lines may be crossed by other lines so as to produce cross-hatching (see area to the right of George Washington’s head on a $1 bill). Such cross-hatching will not interfere with the operation of the machine.

28. The light illuminates the portion of the bill to be examined.

29. The mask or reticle must contain a series of parallel lines which correspond to the spaces between the parallel lines on the bill. The lines on the mask may be, but do not have to be, wider than the spaces between the lines on the bill. The pattern on the mask is not affected by cross-hatching, and need not be a photo-negative of the area of the bill to be examined. The mask may be produced by many means of which photography and engraving are two.

30. The shifter moves the image of the bill in two directions, one parallel to the lines on the mask, (e. g., right-left) and one perpendicular to the lines on the mask (e. g., up-down).

31.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Medtronic, Inc. v. Catalyst Research Corp.
547 F. Supp. 401 (D. Minnesota, 1982)
Micro-Magnetic Industries, Inc. v. Ardac, Inc.
488 F.2d 770 (Ninth Circuit, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
372 F. Supp. 477, 175 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 331, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12721, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/micro-magnetic-industries-inc-v-advance-automatic-sales-co-cand-1972.