Pointer v. Six Wheel Corporation

177 F.2d 153, 83 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 43, 1949 U.S. App. LEXIS 4590
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 27, 1949
Docket12146
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 177 F.2d 153 (Pointer v. Six Wheel Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pointer v. Six Wheel Corporation, 177 F.2d 153, 83 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 43, 1949 U.S. App. LEXIS 4590 (9th Cir. 1949).

Opinion

YANKWICH, District Judge.

In January, 1925, H. Y. Stebbins requested Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company, the present sole owner of the appellee, Six Wheel Corporation, to manufacture for him a form of six-wheel attachment on a time and material basis. One specimen was built and tried out. It proved rather rigid if one wheel of the dual axle assembly was raised. Garner L. Knox, patentee of the patent in suit, No. 1926727 and president of the appellee, suggested, at the time, to Stebbins that a universal joint be put where the rocker arm attached to the axle bracket. Stebbins, however, was of the opinion that there was sufficient flexibility for the unit as he had designed it and rejected the suggestion. Indeed, after difficulties developed, he “was opposed to complicating it; thought it was not necessary; he was afraid the wheels would *155 not track,” if additional pivotal connections were included. Van Leuven, who was working with Stebbins, was of the same view.

The attachments contracted for with Utility were 'built and turned over to Stebbins for the purpose of filling his orders. They did not prove satisfactory, and Knox began working in May, 1925, on a design for a universal connection. The design was limited to one which could be used for replacement on the trucks in operation, and which were showing excessive wear at points where Knox had planned to put the universal. Replacements were made and negotiations were begun with Stebbins to take over the manufacture and sale entirely.

Knox, who is a trained mechanical engineer, continued to develop the idea which finally culminated in Letters Patent No. 1,926,727, issued September 12, 1933. As described in the patent in suit, the invention relates to six-wheel attachments for motor vehicles, and, more particularly, to a six-wheel attachment for trucks, busses, and the like,—the object of which is to distribute the load carried by the motor vehicle to the added wheels, to remove from the rear wheels of the motor vehicle a portion of the load customarily carried by them. The Knox application was filed January 3, 1927. It was involved in Interference No. 55,383, declared June 3, 1927, between it and Letters Patent No. 1,620,809, granted March 15, 1927, which resulted in granting of priority of invention to Knox.

It was stipulated at the trial that the Knox invention was conceived March 1, 1925, and was reduced to practice during the early part of June, 1925. The patent is now owned by appellee, the same corporation which also owns the patent of Stebbins and Van Leuven, No. 1,562,265, and the patent of Van Leuven, No. 1,655,481.

On August 23, 1926, the appellee, as plaintiff, instituted in the District of Oregon, its action for infringement against R. W. Pointer, doing business under the fictitious name and style of Pointer-Willamette Company, the appellant here, as defendant, for infringement of Letters Patent No. 1,926,727.

The claims alleged to have been infringed are Claims 1, 2, 11, 15 and 17, which are printed in the margin. 1

The appellant challenged the validity of the patent, pleaded an extensive prior art as anticipatory, denied the right of Knox *156 as the sole patentee, and denied infringement.

On June 14, 1948, after a lengthy trial, the trial court sustained the validity of the patent, held the structure manufactured by the appellant and named “Feather Rider” to infringe the patent in suit and particularly the designated claims. Judgment was entered finding the patent valid and infringed, with appropriate injunction and accounting to ascertain the damages.

This is an appeal from the Judgment. .

I

Some Preliminary Considerations

A. Findings in Patent' Cases.

The Findings of the trial court, based upon conflicting testimony, lay or expert, must be sustained unless clearly erroneous. Rule 52(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. And see, Grace Bros. v. Commissioner, 9 Cir., 1949, 173 F.2d 170. Courts of appeal, including this one, have applied this principle to patent cases. See, Adamson v. Gilliland, 1917, 242 U.S. 350, 37 S.Ct. 169, 61 L.Ed. 356; Williams Mfg. Co. v. United Shoe Machinery Corp., 1942, 316 U.S. 364, 367, 62 S.Ct. 1179, 86 L.Ed. 1537; Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Ray-O-Vac Co., 1944, 321 U.S. 275, 64 S.Ct. 593, 88 L.Ed. 721; Research Products Co. v. Tretolite Co., 9 Cir., 1939, 106 F.2d 530, 533; Hazeltine Corp. v. Crosley Corp., 6 Cir., 1944, 130 F.2d 344; Ralph N. Brodie Co. v. Hydraulic Press Mfg. Co., 9 Cir., 1945, 151 F.2d 91, 94; General Metals Powder Co. v. S. K. Wellman Co., 6 Cir., 1946, 157 F.2d 505, 508; Maulsby v. Conzevoy, 9 Cir., 1947, 161 F.2d 165, 176; Refrigeration Engineering v. York Corp., 9 Cir., 1948, 168 F.2d 896.

However, this court has not hesitated, when convinced that a device showed neither novelty nor invention, to so hold notwithstanding findings to the contrary by the trial court. See, Motoshaver, Inc., v. Schick Dry Shaver, 9 Cir., 1940, 112 F.2d 701; Madsen Iron Works v. Wood, 9 Cir., 1943, 133 F.2d 416; Wilson v. Byron Jackson Co., 9 Cir., 1943, 133 F.2d 644; Schhitzer v. California Corrugated Culvert Co., 9 Cir., 1944, 140 F.2d 275. And see, Altoona Publix Theaters v. American Tri-Ergon Corp., 1935, 294 U.S. 477, 55 S.Ct. 455, 79 L.Ed. 1005; Paramount Publix Corp. v. American Tri-Ergon Corp., 1935, 294 U.S. 464, 55 S.Ct. 449, 79 L.Ed. 997; Universal Oil Products Co. v. Glove Oil and Refining Co., 1944, 322 U.S. 471, 473, 64 S.Ct. 1110, 88 L.Ed. 1399; Stuart Oxygen Co. v. Josephian, 9 Cir., 1947, 162 F.2d 857.

Commercial success may be taken into consideration in determining validity. The trend, at the present time, is to use it as a makeweight only “where the patent-ability question is close.” Jungersen v. Ostby & Barton Co., 1949, 335 U.S. 560, 567, 69 S.Ct. 269, 272; Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. v. Ray-O-Vac Co., 1944, 321 U.S. 275, 279, 64 S.Ct. 593, 88 L.Ed. 721; Dow Chemical Co. v. Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Co., 1945, 324 U.S. 320, 330, 65 S.Ct. 647, 89 L.Ed. 973.

Ordinarily, in itself, it is not a criterion either in determining whether there was invention, or in arriving at its scope. Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America v. United States, 1943, 320 U.S. 1, 20, 63 S.Ct. 1393, 87 L.Ed. 1731; Klein v. City of Seattle, 9 Cir., 1896, 77 F.2d 200, 240; Grayson Heat Control v. Los Angeles, etc., Co., 9 Cir., 1943, 134 F.2d 478, 481.

It is the contention of the appellant that, notwithstanding the great commercial success of the invention in suit, it exhibits no patentable novelty over the prior art and that the conclusion of the trial court to the contrary is so clearly erroneous as to call for rejection by this court.

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Bluebook (online)
177 F.2d 153, 83 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 43, 1949 U.S. App. LEXIS 4590, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pointer-v-six-wheel-corporation-ca9-1949.