San Francisco Cornice Co. v. Beyrle

195 F. 516, 115 C.C.A. 426, 1912 U.S. App. LEXIS 1413
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 5, 1912
DocketNo. 1,921
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 195 F. 516 (San Francisco Cornice Co. v. Beyrle) 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
San Francisco Cornice Co. v. Beyrle, 195 F. 516, 115 C.C.A. 426, 1912 U.S. App. LEXIS 1413 (9th Cir. 1912).

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). The defense to the action rests upon two grounds: First, that the patent is void for the want of invention or discovery; and, second, that the defendant has not infringed.

[1] With respect to the first defense, the rule is that the burden of proof is upon the defendant to establish this defense, for the grant of letters patent is prima facie evidence that the patentee is the first inventor of the device, or the discoverer of the art or process, described in the letters patent and of its novelty. Smith v. Goodyear Dental Vulcanite Co., 93 U. S. 486, 489, 23 L. Ed. 952; Lehnbeuter v. Holthaus, 105 U. S. 94, 96, 26 L. Ed. 939. Not only is the burden of proof to make this defense upon the party setting it up, but it has been held that every reasonable doubt should be resolved against him. Cantrell v. Wallick, 117 U. S. 689, 695, 6 Sup. Ct. 970, 29 L. Ed. 1017.

[2] The patent in this case is for an art or process, and the means or method for carrying it into effect and making it useful. In the Telephone Cases, 126 U. S. 1, 533, 8 Sup. Ct. 778, 781 (31 L. Ed. 863), the art consisted in controlling a force so as to° make it accomplish a useful purpose. The court, speaking of the art and the means whereby it was made usefiil, said:

“Both discovery and invention in the popular sense of these terms were involved; discovery in finding the art, and invention in devising the means of making it useful. For such discoveries and such inventions the.law has given the discoverer and inventor the right to a patent, as discoverer for the useful art, process, method of doing a thing he lias found; and as inventor for the means he has devised to make his discovery one of actual value.”

The court cites as authorities in support of this interpretation of the patent law Corning v. Burden, 15 How. 252, 267, 14 L. Ed. 683; Cochrane v. Deener, 94 U. S. 780, 787, 788, 24 L. Ed. 139; Tilghman v. Proctor, 102 U. S. 707, 722, 724, 725, 26 L. Ed. 279; Fermentation Co. v. Maus, 122 U. S. 413, 427, 428, 7 Sup. Ct. 1304, 30 L. Ed. 1193. In Cochrane v. Deener the court explained what was meant in the patent law by art and process:

“A process is a mode of treatment of certain materials to produce a given result. It is an act, or a series of acts, performed upon the subject-matter to be transformed and reduced to a different state or thing. If new and useful, it is just as patentable as a piece of machinery. In the language of the patent law, it is an art. The machinery pointed out as suitable to perform the process may or may not be new or x>atentable; whilst the iirocess itself may be altogether new and produce an entirely new result. The process requires that certain things should be done with certain substances, and in a certain order; but the tools to be used in doing this may be of secondary consequence.”

In Reeds & Catlin v. Victor Talking Machine Co., 213 U. S. 301, 318, 29 Sup. Ct. 495, 500 (53 L. Ed. 805), the court said:

[519]*519“A process and an apparatus by which it is performed are distinct things. They may be found in one patent. They may be made the subject of different patents.”

_ In Expanded Metal Co. v. Bradford, 214. U. S. 366, 29 Sup. Ct. 652, 53 L. Ed. 1034, the patent in suit was for an improvement in the method of making expanded sheet metal. The state of the art at the time the patent was issued included a method of making open meshes in metal sheets or plates by simultaneously cutting and stretching the metal. The method described in the patent showed a method by which the metal was first slit, bent, and stretched, and then a second operation co-ordinating with the first in slitting, bending, and stretching in places alternate to the first-mentioned portions. The two operations combined produced a new and useful result in a sheet or plate of metal of the same length as the original sheet'or plate. The operation could also be applied to much heavier metal than could be successfully manipulated by the old process. This was held to be a substantial improvement of the art involving mechanical operations, and producing a new and useful result independently of the particular mechanism for performing such process and was held to be valid by the court.

At the date of complainant's invention or discovery in the present case, the state of the art had not advanced beyond covering wooden moldings and other forms of wood with metal by first partially forming the metal for the casing by hand or in a separate machine, and reducing the front end of the wooden molding or other forms of wood, and then forming the metal around the reduced front end so that it would pass through the forming die. In thus covering the moldings the reduced end which was first put through the die by hand, and afterwards pulled through with grapping tongs, would he of smaller size than the other portion of the finished molding, and this reduced end had to be cut off by hand, so that the molding would be of uniform appearance when used. It took time to reduce the end of the molding, and to form up the metal thereon so that it would pass through the forming die. It also took time to partially form the metal on the reduced end, and afterwards cut it off, and, in addition, there was considerable waste in the wooden molding and in the metal cut off from the reduced end. It was the object of complainant's art or process to cover the molding or other form of wood with metal by one machine, and without having any portion of the covered molding reduced in size so as to unfit it for use. There was, therefore, in the new' method a saving of time and material which is the proper subject of a patent. Corning v. Burden, 15 How. 252. 268, 14 L. Ed. 683; Fermentation Co. v. Maus, 122 U. S. 413, 7 Sup. Ct. 1304, 30 L. Ed. 1193.

The defendant contended that complainant's invention or discovery had been anticipated, and introduced as evidence of such anticipation the following patents; No. 617,363, granted to G. Skogse, January 10, 1899, for a machine for rolling metal tubes. . No. 432,726, granted to W. H. Gosper, July, 22, 1890, for a machine for manufacturing weather stripping. No. 157,867, granted to Frederick Pollard, December 15, 1874, machines for sheathing moldings with sheet metal. [520]*520No. 700,468, granted to W. P. Appleyard, assignor, to Metal Plated Car & Number Company, May 20^ 1902, for a machine for covering strips of timber with metal. No. 43,008, granted to A. J. Campbell, June 7, 1864, for improved tool for manufacturing metallic-covered sashes for show cases. No. 70,847, granted to R. Howdien, November 12,' 1867, for an improved molding-facing machine. No. 383,238, granted to J. S. Palmer, May 22, 1888, for a method of preparing hollow stock for the manufacture of jewelry.

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Bluebook (online)
195 F. 516, 115 C.C.A. 426, 1912 U.S. App. LEXIS 1413, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/san-francisco-cornice-co-v-beyrle-ca9-1912.