Multifastener Corp. v. MacLean-Fogg Co.

572 F. Supp. 418, 219 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 1074, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14048
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedSeptember 6, 1983
DocketCiv. A. 81-70456
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 572 F. Supp. 418 (Multifastener Corp. v. MacLean-Fogg Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Multifastener Corp. v. MacLean-Fogg Co., 572 F. Supp. 418, 219 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 1074, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14048 (E.D. Mich. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

GILMORE, District Judge.

Plaintiff Multifastener Corporation brings this action alleging that defendant MacLean-Fogg Company has infringed six patents owned by plaintiff and engaged in unfair competition by using a trademark that is confusingly similar to plaintiff’s trademark.

THE PATENT INFRINGEMENT CLAIM

The litigation involves a product known as a pierce nut, which is a metal fastener that is installed in a panel of sheet metal. It is used principally by the automotive industry. Once a pierce nut is affixed to a panel of metal, it actually becomes part of the panel. Manufacturers can then use automated assembly systems to bolt parts to the metal panels.

Pierce nuts are typically installed by a press. When a pierce nut is installed, a portion of the nut, known as the pilot, punches a hole through the metal panel. The nut is then affixed to the metal panel when a die button deforms the metal of the panel or the nut to create an interlock.

Plaintiff Multifastener, along with its licensees, and defendant MacLean-Fogg are competitors in the business of selling, designing, developing, and marketing pierce nuts and the tools for installing them. The patents involved in this suit concern various methods for attaching pierce nuts to a panel of metal and the tools (or die buttons) used to install the nuts. Both plaintiff and defendant offer fastener systems known as “flush mounted” or “direct clamp” pierce nut and panel assemblies. Both of these assemblies feature a nut with a rectangular pilot, a threaded aperture through the center of the nut, and flanges on two sides of the pilot. The flanges contain grooves. Portions of the panel metal are displaced into these grooves when the nut is attached to the panel.

Both plaintiff and defendant offer (or have offered) “severed” and “nonsevered” (or integral and continuous) versions of these nut and panel assemblies. (See discussion infra).

Plaintiff’s current nut and panel assembly is known as the “Hi-Stress” nut and panel assembly, and defendant’s product is called the “Hi-Clamp” assembly. Representations of defendant’s and plaintiff’s current nonsevered installations are set forth as Appendix A.

The Patents

There are six patents involved in this suit. All are owned by plaintiff. The patents can be conveniently divided into three groups according to their subject. The first group of patents cover methods of clinching *421 or staking the pilot portion of the nut in order to secure the nut on the panel. These patents include the following:

1. P.E. Double et al. Patent No. 3,091,-843 (hereinafter referred to as the ’843 patent). This patent claims a method of securing a nut to a panel which includes “radiusing” the corners of the pilot portion of the nut. 1 Although this patent does not specifically cover plaintiff’s current Hi-Stress nut, plaintiff claims that the patent is infringed by defendant’s method of clinching the corners of its Hi-Clamp nut.

2. P.E. Double Patent No. 3,299,500 (hereinafter referred to as the ’500 patent). This patent includes two claims directed to a method of assembling a nut on a panel by piercing the nut through the panel, displacing a portion of the panel into grooves on the nut, and, finally, deforming or staking the nut pilot to overlie the groove, forming a mechanical interlock.

3. P.E. Double Patent No. 3,314,138 (hereinafter referred to as the ’138 patent). This patent claims two methods of assembling a nut on a panel. The method requires piercing the pilot of the nut through the panel, deforming the panel on two sides into grooves in the nut, and clinching or deforming the pilot outwardly on the remaining two sides to overlie the panel.

The next group of patents cover a method of securing the nut on the panel by severing certain portions of the panel and then deforming this severed panel metal into grooves contained on the nut. The final product is called a “severed” nut and panel assembly.

4. P.E. Double et al. Patent No. 3,315,-345 (the ’345 patent). This patent contains six claims. Claims 1, 3, and 4 are directed to a method of securing a nut to a panel by severing portions of the panel overlying the grooves in the nut and displacing this severed panel metal into the grooves. Claims 2, 5, and 6 describe a die button used in securing a nut to a panel.

5. P.E. Double et al. Patent No. 3,439,-723 (the ’723 patent). This patent contains four claims describing nut and panel assemblies in which 1) the nut pilot extends through the panel metal, 2) the nut has flanges (shoulders) which support the panel, 3) the nut has grooves on opposed sides of the pilot which have restricted openings, and 4) portions of the panel are severed and are deformed into the groove openings.

The last patent in the suit describes a method of securing a nut to a panel by deforming panel metal into grooves on the nut without severing the panel metal. This is plaintiff’s current commercial nut and panel assembly, and it is referred to as the “integral and continuous, or nonsevered, nut and panel assembly.”

6. Steward Patent No. 3,648,747 (the ’747 patent). Claim 1 of this patent describes a method of securing a nut to a panel without severing portions of the panel metal. In this method, the nut has a rectangular pilot portion with flanges extending outward from opposing sides of the pilot. The flanges contain grooves which have restricted openings. These restricted openings are defined by the inner and outer sidewalls of the grooves. The nut pilot pierces the panel. The panel is attached to the nut in two stages: first, portions of the panel are deformed around the outer edges of the grooves, and second, portions of the panel are deformed to “engage substantially the entire bottom and inner sidewalls of said grooves.” Thus, the panel metal which is deformed into the nut grooves maintains a continuous connection with the rest of the panel metal.

Claim 2 of the ’747 patent is not at issue in this case.

In sum, the first three patents in suit describe a method of securing the nut to the panel of metal by deforming the metal of the nut in various ways. The next two patents, the “severing” patents, secure the nut to the panel by severing panel metal and deforming that metal into grooves on the nut. These grooves have a restricted opening — the mouth of the groove is narrower than the bottom. Grooves with this *422 configuration are known as reentrant grooves. When the severed panel metal is deformed into the grooves, its width becomes greater than the width of the groove opening. This creates an interlock between the nut and the panel. Finally, the integral and continuous patent defines a method of securing the nut to the panel by deforming panel metal against the walls and bottom of groove on the nut without severing the panel metal. Again, the grooves have restricted, or reentrant, openings. This method of securing the panel to the nut involves two stages. First, the panel metal is captured and deformed around the outer groove wall and onto the bottom of the groove. Next, the panel metal is deformed against the bottom groove wall and the inner groove wall.

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Bluebook (online)
572 F. Supp. 418, 219 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 1074, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14048, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/multifastener-corp-v-maclean-fogg-co-mied-1983.