Walt Disney Productions v. Fred A. Niles Communication Center, Inc.

253 F. Supp. 1, 149 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 328, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10298
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 16, 1966
DocketNo. 64 C 883
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 253 F. Supp. 1 (Walt Disney Productions v. Fred A. Niles Communication Center, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walt Disney Productions v. Fred A. Niles Communication Center, Inc., 253 F. Supp. 1, 149 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 328, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10298 (N.D. Ill. 1966).

Opinion

DECKER, District Judge.

This is a suit for infringement of United States Patent No. 3,118,340, entitled “Panoramic Motion Picture Camera Arrangement.” The patent was applied for on August 26, 1960, and issued on January 21, 1964, to Ub Iwerks who has assigned all right, title and interest in it to plaintiff.

Plaintiff, Walt Disney Productions, is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of California. Defendant, Fred A. Niles Communication Center, Inc., is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Illinois. Defendant Behrend’s, Inc. is also an Illinois corporation. Individual defendants Fred A. Niles and Jack Behrend are individuals residing in the State of Illinois.

Plaintiff seeks an adjudication that Claim 8 of the patent has been infringed by defendants. Defendants argue: (1) that the patent is invalid because it fails the test of nonobviousness under 35 U.S.C. § 103; (2) that its specification and claims are insufficient under 35 U.S.C. § 112; and (3) that there was no infringment even if the patent is valid. Defendants also counterclaim for unfair competition.

This Court has jurisdiction of this suit based upon the patent laws of the United States, 35 U.S.C. §§ 271 and 281, and 28 U.S.C. § 1338.

A trial was held by the Court, and this opinion is based upon the evidence introduced at that trial and the briefs filed by the parties.

I.

The patent contains eight claims; but they may all fairly be represented by Claim 8, which reads as follows:

“A motion picture camera assembly for photographing a panoramic scene comprising:
“a support;
“a plurality of motion picture cameras mounted on said support, said cameras being spaced equi-distant about a substantially horizontal [3]*3circle and with their optical axes substantially vertical; and

This patented rig photographs a 360-degree panoramic motion picture through a plurality of cameras, each of which photographs one “sector field” of the panorama. The problem in 360-degree photography to which the patent is addressed is the difficulty in matching adjacent sector fields at their boundaries.

In the prior “back-to-back” 360-degree rigs, cameras are mounted horizontally around a circle, each pointing directly away from the center of the circle. Since each camera lens is displaced from the circle’s center by several inches, each photographs its sector field from a slightly different positon than the others, resulting in the problems of parallax. At points near the camera, adjacent sector fields are separated by gaps; at points distant from the camera, adjacent sector fields overlap. Objects lying in a gap appear on the film of no camera and are lost in projection; distant objects lying in an overlap appear on the film in two cameras resulting in double images in projection. Such problems are unavoidable in a “back-to-back” system because it is physically impossible to place several lenses and their associated camera hardware at the single center point.

Plaintiff’s rig overcomes these problems by making the effective point-of-view of all cameras lie at the center of the circle. Mirrors fold the optical axis of each camera down into the camera below, and if the distance from mirror to camera is the same as the distance from mirror to the center of the circle, the illusion is produced of photographing from the center point. When the elements of the rig are thus properly spaced, adjacent sector field boundaries coincide: there are no gaps or overlaps. Omissions and double images are eliminated. The question is whether a rig that accomplishes these results in this way is patentable over the prior art.

The patent is presumed valid. 35 U.S.C. § 282. “This presumption is not an idle gesture * * * and is not to be overthrown except by clear and cogent evidence.” Copease Mfg. Co. v. American Photocopy Equipment Co., 298 F.2d 772, 777 (7th Cir. 1961). The presumption is strengthened where the validity of the patent is challenged on the basis of prior art cited by the Patent Office. Shumaker v. Gem Mfg. Co., 311 F.2d 273, 275 (7th Cir. 1962). Conversely, the presumption is “greatly weakened” where relevant prior art has not been cited by the Patent Office. Milton Mfg. Co. v. Potter-Weil Corp., 327 F.2d 437, 439 (7th Cir. 1964). However, where the Patent Office cites one patent but not other similar ones, the presumption is weakened only to the extent that the teaching of the uncited patents is not disclosed in the cited patent.

In accordance with these rules, a successful attack on the validity of the patent under 35 U.S.C. § 103 requires defendants to show that

« * * * ^e differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill [4]*4in the art to which said subject matter pertains.

The requirements of § 103 must be strictly observed. Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 86 S.Ct. 684, 15 L.Ed.2d 545 (1966).

Complete anticipation in the prior art need not be shown, nor by the very terms of § 103 need a single prior art patent be cited which contains all of the elements of the patented device. Graham v. John Deere Co., supra at 86 S.Ct. 684; Pleatmaster, Inc. v. Golding Mfg. Co., 240 F.2d 894, 897 (7th Cir. 1957). For patents such as the one in suit, which cover a combination of known elements, § 103 imposes a “rather severe test.” Toro Mfg. Co. v. Jacobsen Mfg.

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Bluebook (online)
253 F. Supp. 1, 149 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 328, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10298, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walt-disney-productions-v-fred-a-niles-communication-center-inc-ilnd-1966.