Reverse Stitch Mfg. Co. v. California Reverse Stitch Co.

81 F. Supp. 976, 80 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 125, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1775
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJanuary 17, 1949
DocketCiv. No. 7398
StatusPublished

This text of 81 F. Supp. 976 (Reverse Stitch Mfg. Co. v. California Reverse Stitch Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reverse Stitch Mfg. Co. v. California Reverse Stitch Co., 81 F. Supp. 976, 80 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 125, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1775 (S.D. Cal. 1949).

Opinion

J. F. T. O’CONNOR, District Judge.

This is an action for infringement of Letters Patent #2235552, issued March 18, 1941 to Grant G. Gilbertson. The complaint originally also alleged a cause of action for unfair competition. This claim has been dropped and the parties have made it clear that such facts as show unfair competition will be considered only as an aggravation of damages, if any. The parties have also agreed to await the de[978]*978termination of the question of liability before considering assessing damages.

The parties plaintiff in the action are: Reverse Stitch Manufacturing Co., a limited partnership composed of Robert B. Myers, Laurence M. Stanfield, and Armand J. Roux as exclusive licensee of the patent in suit, and Grant G. Gilbertson, the inventor of the patented device.

The parties defendant are: California Reverse Stitch Co., which is simply the name under which the defendant, Louis Seaman, is doing business, and Western Sewing Machine Co., a limited partnership composed of Robert H. Mejia and Eugene S. Kleeman. The partners are being sued in their individual and representative capacities. California Reverse Stitch Co. 'is the manufacturer of the alleged infringing device and Western Sewing Machine Co. is the distributor.

The jurisdiction of this court is conferred by the Patent Laws of the United States.

To the charges of the plaintiff, the defendants have raised the following defenses: (1) That the said patent is invalid because it is anticipated by prior art, and because it lacks invention, (2) that the patent as granted does not claim that which makes it new and novel, (3) that defendant’s device does not -infringe.

By further agreement between the parties, only c.laim (1) of the patent is alleged to have been infringed, and only defendant’s device exemplified by exhibit 6 is alleged to be an infringement.

Before discussing the questions of law and fact which will b^ resolved by the court, it would be helpful to discuss the background and the situation under which the patented device was invented.

The device described in the patent in suit is a simple reversing attachment that has been made so that it will fit onto most conventional family type sewing machines. Its primary function is twofold: it regulates the length of the stitch, and it reverses the direction of the stitch, without the necessity of turning the goods. Both these functions can be accomplished quite easily at the desire of the operator or seamstress. Its most valuable features are that it is simple, cheap, easy to install, and may be installed without mutilating or defacing the machine in which it is to go. From the standpoint of the housewife, it is an easy and inexpensive method of converting an old fashioned sewing machine that will not reverse, into one that will, saving a cost of well over a hundred dollars by eliminating the necessity of purchasing a brand new sewing machine.

It is important to note that for many years prior to issuance of the patent in suit, sewing machines with built-in mechanisms which supplied the valuable reversing feature, had been manufactured. However, these mechanisms were not adaptable to other machines without considerable drilling, cutting and alteration of the machine into which they were to go.

The court observed a demonstration at the trial of this cause where a sewing machine was made to reverse by inserting a pair of pliers in the opening of a machine and actuating the necessary parts therewith. The invention then, is new and novel because it is a clever attachment that can be installed in practically all family sewing machines quickly, inexpensively and without cutting or mutilation. It has enjoyed considerable commercial success.

Claim 1 of the patent in suit claims,— “In a sewing machine including a hollow column, a driven shaft journalled in said column, and an oscillating and reciprocative arm operatively connected with said shaft for actuating a feed mechanism; a stitch regulating and reversing mechanism mount,ed in said column and comprising, a guide block pivotally mounted in the column for effecting longitudinal reciprocative movement of said arm during oscillation imparted thereto by said driven shaft, a sleeve threaded in said column, an adjustable shank slidably mounted in said sleeve, an arm connecting said block and shank, and resilient means for releasably holding said block in adjusted position.”

The validity of the patent in suit.

There is no doubt but that the issuance of letters patent carries with it a presumption that said patent is valid. The rule, long familiar in patent cases, has been recently reiterated by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in

[979]*979Bianchi v. Barili 168 F.2d 793. That opinion collects the important cases on the point and phrases the rule, 168 F.2d at page 795, thus:

“At the outset, it should be observed, that ‘the grant of letters patent is prima facie evidence that the patentee is the first inventor of the device described in the letters patent, and of its novelty.’ Cantrell v. Wallick, 117 U.S. 689, 695, 6 S.Ct. 970, 974, 29 L.Ed. 1017; 3 Walker on Patents, Dellers Edition, § 701, page 2009.

“Before a patent can be declared invalid because of anticipation, its lack of novelty must be established beyond a reasonable doubt. Cantrell v. Wallick, supra, 117 U.S. at pages 695, 696, 6 S.Ct. 970; 1 Walker § 63, pages 300-303; American Bell Telephone Co. v. People’s Telephone Co., C.C. N.Y., 22 F. 309, 313, affirmed 126 U.S. 1572, 8 S.Ct. 778, 31 L.Ed. 863; Searchlight Horn Co. v. Victor Talking Machine Co., D.C.N.J., 261 F. 395, 401.”

Bolstering and supporting the prima facie case of the plaintiff is the testimony of all parties that there was a great need in the field for a device or attachment such as this. That this need was satisfied by the plaintiffs’ article is further evidenced by the outstanding reception given it by the public. Approximately 14,000 of these attachments have been sold within approximately a one-year period. Commercial success is strong evidence of an invention, and the Supreme Court of the United States has so declared in Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Ray-O-Vac Co., 321.U.S. 275, at page 279, 64 S.Ct. 593, 594, 88 L.Ed. 721:

“Viewed after the event, the means Anthony adopted seem simple and such as should have been obvious to those who worked in the field, but this is not enough to negative invention. During a period of half a century, in which the use of flashlight batteries increased enormously, and the manufacturers of flashlight cells were conscious of the defects in them, no one devised a method of curing such defects. Once the method was discovered it commended itself to the public as evidenced by marked commercial success. These factors were entitled to weight in determining whether the improvement amounted to invention and should, in a close case, tip the scales in favor of patentability.”

See also the case of Diamond Rubber Co. v. Consolidated Rubber Tire Co., 220 U.S. 428, 434, 31 S.Ct. 444, 447, 55 L.Ed. 527:

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Bluebook (online)
81 F. Supp. 976, 80 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 125, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1775, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reverse-stitch-mfg-co-v-california-reverse-stitch-co-casd-1949.