Radio Steel & Mfg. Co. v. MTD Products Inc.

566 F. Supp. 609, 220 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 35, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16234
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedJune 15, 1983
DocketC81-1506
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 566 F. Supp. 609 (Radio Steel & Mfg. Co. v. MTD Products Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Radio Steel & Mfg. Co. v. MTD Products Inc., 566 F. Supp. 609, 220 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 35, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16234 (N.D. Ohio 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DOWD, District Judge.

The above captioned cause of action came on for trial before this Court on December 6 and 7,1982. The following shall constitute this Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

THE PARTIES

The plaintiff Radio Steel and Manufacturing Company (Radio) brings this action asserting infringement of its United States Letters Patent Number 3,282,600 (’600) against defendant MTD Products Inc. (MTD). The defendant has answered Radio’s complaint, alleging invalidity and non-infringement, and has counterclaimed for declaratory judgment on these same grounds. Jurisdiction is founded under 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a) and venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b).

The plaintiff is an Illinois corporation having its principal place of business in Chicago, Illinois. Roger Tonelli filed the application for the ’600 patent on April 29, 1964, and assigned his rights to Radio on September 28,1965. The patent was issued to Radio on November 1, 1966, and is still owned by the plaintiff.

The defendant is an Ohio corporation having its principal place of business in Cleveland, Ohio.

THE ’600 PATENT

The ’600 patent is for a wheelbarrow (see diagrams containing figures 1-5, attached as Appendix A). The patent contains ten claims, claims 1 and 2 being independent, and claims 3-10 being dependent upon claim 2.

The claims at issue as to validity and infringement are 1-4, 6-8 and 10, but for purposes of simplifying the issues the parties have agreed and stipulated that the decision of the Court regarding claims 1-3 and 10 will be controlling as to each of the asserted claims.

The plaintiff asserts, as was asserted in the ’600 patent, that the structure disclosed in the patent provides the advantages of improved appearance, greater strength and ruggedness, and savings in the production, packaging, shipment, storage and display of such wheelbarrows.

The specific claims at issue read as follows:

1. A wheelbarrow formed of separable parts including:
(1) a bowl;
(2) a pair of elongate handles each having a length greater than the bowl and in which each of the handles is separable into parts of substantially equal length;
(3) a bumper plate and means for mounting the bumper plate onto the ends of the assembled handles when in position of use;
(4) a cross brace member having channel shaped sections on the opposite ends spaced one from the other by an amount corresponding to the spaced relationship between the handles in their assembled relationship and having a width corresponding to the width of the handles in an intermediate portion thereof to receive the handle portions in fitting relationship within the channel sections and having a length dimensioned to extend beyond the ends of the handle pieces when aligned in abutting relationship one with the other to form the handle and means for securing the handle pieces in the channel sections of the cross brace member;
*612 (5) a pair of leg members comprising elongate strips of a structurally strong material bent to V-shape with the apex of the V lowermost in the assembled relationship to provide a foot rest for the wheelbarrow and with the legs of the V-shaped members extending angularly upwardly and outwardly to engage portions of the handle pieces spaced longitudinally from the abutting edges and means for connecting the ends of the legs to the longitudinally spaced apart portions of the handle pieces and with the leg members spaced laterally one from the other by an amount corresponding to the spaced relationship between the assembled handles;
(6) means for connecting the handles in their laterally spaced apart relationship to the underside of the bowl;
(7) said cross brace member having a portion extending downwardly and outwardly from an intermediate portion thereof to the apex portions of each of the leg members and means for interconnecting said downwardly extending portions with the apex portions of the leg members-to prevent spread of the legs and to provide vertical bracing; and
(8) a wheel, and means rotatably mounting the wheel onto the leg members between the forward end portions thereof.
2. A wheelbarrow comprising a bowl, a pair of elongated handles secured to the underside of the bowl in laterally spaced apart relation with each handle being formed of two pieces including a front piece and a rear piece with said pieces being aligned one with the other in end to end abutting relationship to form the handle, a bumper plate and means mounting the bumper plate on the forward ends of the front pieces to interconnect the front pieces in their assembled relation, a cross brace member extending crosswise between the handles and beneath the bowl with channel sections on the outer end portions of the cross brace member spaced one from the other by an amount corresponding to the spaced relationship between the handles and having a width dimensioned to correspond to the width of the handle portions to receive the handle portions therein in fitting relationship and means for securing the handle portions in the channel sections with the two pieces aligned in end to end relation and with the abutting ends in an intermediate portion of the channel section, said cross brace member also including members extending downwardly and outwardly laterally from the central portion thereof for a distance to space the ends by an amount corresponding to the spaced relationship between the. handle portions, a pair of leg members formed to V-shape with the upper ends of the V-shaped members being connected to longitudinally spaced apart portions of the handle pieces and means connecting the downwardly extending portion of the cross brace member with the apex portions of the leg members, a wheel and means rotatably mounting the wheel between the front pieces of the handle members.
3. A wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 2 in which the handles are wooden handles.
4. A wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 2 in which the bumper plate comprises a channel shaped member bent to U-shape with the central bail portion dimensioned to have a length corresponding to the spaced relationship between the ends of the handles.
6. A wheelbarrow as claimed in claim 2 in which the cross brace member comprises an intermediate portion of channel shape with the channel sections outwardly thereof.
7.

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Bluebook (online)
566 F. Supp. 609, 220 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 35, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/radio-steel-mfg-co-v-mtd-products-inc-ohnd-1983.