Zamboni v. Vandenberg

257 F. Supp. 80, 150 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 93, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9695
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedAugust 5, 1965
DocketNo. 63-260-FW
StatusPublished

This text of 257 F. Supp. 80 (Zamboni v. Vandenberg) 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
Zamboni v. Vandenberg, 257 F. Supp. 80, 150 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 93, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9695 (S.D. Cal. 1965).

Opinion

OPINION

WHELAN, District Judge.

This is an action for alleged patent infringement. The Court has jurisdiction under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1338.

Plaintiff holds letters patent No. 2,-642,679 for an ice rink resurfacing machine for smoothing and renewing the surface of the ice in a skating rink after the ice has been cut up and roughened by skaters.

The defendant has manufactured and uses, and has offered to manufacture and sell to others, an ice rink resurfacing machine which plaintiff alleges infringes six claims of plaintiff’s patent.

Defendant has brought a counterclaim in which he contends that plaintiff’s patent is invalid. Defendant contends inter alia;

(1) that his machine does not infringe plaintiff’s patent;

(2) that by the cancellation in the Patent Office proceedings of Claim 12 of the application resulting in the patent in suit, plaintiff is estopped to contend that the claims of the patent are infringed by defendant’s machine;

(3) that the claims charged to be infringed do not recite patentable subject matter under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 103;

(4) that Claims 3, 6, 7 and 8 are invalid as calling for an aggregation of ice shaving means and water distributing means and that claims of the patent charged to be infringed are invalid as being directed to an old and exhausted combination of ice shaving means and removal means;

(5) that the patent'is not valid by virtue of prior art; and

(6) that the patent in suit is invalid by virtue of public use more than one year prior to the filing date of May 16, 1949, under 35 U.S.C. § 102.

THE PATENT IN SUIT

The patent in suit discloses an ice rink resurfacing machine comprising a motor driven vehicle having a receptacle attached thereto, a frame connected to said vehicle to be towed thereby, same frame resting directly on the ice when said machine is in operation, a sharp-edged blade mounted on said frame generally transverse to the direction of forward travel and disposed to take a light, accurately controlled shaving cut on the ice to remove shallow scratches and surface roughness caused by skate blades, conveyor means driven by the vehicle motor for clearing away the shaved ice from in front of said blade and depositing the ice in the before-mentioned receptacle; and with a water tank attached to the motor-driven vehicle, and means for distributing the water in said tank in a thin film over the surface of the ice behind the blade so as to fill up deep scratches and cavities extending below the cutting edge of the blade and to restore to the ice surface a volume of water approximately equal to the volume of ice removed by the blade, whereby the thickness of the ice after resurfacing is substantially the same as before.

The properties of the machine of plaintiff are set out in detail in Claims 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 13 of the patent in suit, which claims defendant is alleged to have infringed.

Plaintiff’s machine can be operated by one man. It has means for shaving a specific width of ice by means of an adjustable shaving blade, coextensive in width with a frame which slides on the ice and supports the blade and which also carries a cross conveyor which is just ahead of the blade and removes the shavings as they are made, conveys those shavings to a central point where there is a vertical conveyor which removes the cut ice to the receptacle therefor on the machine. The horizontal conveyor is coextensive in length with the blade and supporting frame. Behind the blade is a water distributing means which by a controlled arrangement spreads the water in a length which is commensurate [82]*82with the length or width of the blade. All of these operations are performed substantially simultaneously over a given section of the ice; and the machine is moved progressively around the skating rink until the entire surface has been treated.

Defendant contends that the elements permitting the operation are old in the prior art. The Court is of the opinion that even if this be so, the elements acting in concert combine to produce a new and useful result and some unusual or surprising consequence. Cf. Troy Company v. Products Research Company (CA 9, 1964) 339 F.2d 364 and International Manufacturing Co., Inc. v. Landon, Inc. (CA 9, 1964) 336 F.2d 723.

Prior to the Zamboni machine ice rinks were resurfaced by several independent steps, requiring the labor of three men for about 90 minutes to do the same job done by the Zamboni machine in approximately 15 minutes with the labor of only one man. Furthermore the Zamboni machine reproduces a more smooth, even surface of ice which, because it is not as thick as that reproduced by the old methods, provides greater efficiency in the operation of the refrigeration system of the ice rink maintaining the frozen surface of the ice.

The elements of the machine of plaintiff act in concert to produce the new and useful. The position of the blade behind the conveyor contributes to the efficiency of the conveyor; the shaving blade contributes to the efficiency of the water distributing means; and the water distributing means contributes to an efficient use of the blade. In short, all of these elements co-operate to improve each other’s operation and to provide a superior result not previously obtained. Plaintiff’s machine attains a significant advance and is a patentable combination. None of the prior art teaches plaintiff’s combination, and do not anticipate plaintiff’s invention.

Also it should be observed that the evidence supports the inference that defendant copied plaintiff’s machine. This fact is some evidence of invention by plaintiff. Cf. Troy Company v. Products Research Company, supra, 339 F.2d at p. 367. While there is ample proof of the commercial success of the Zamboni invention, the Court does not base its decision in any way upon such fact.

RE FILE WRAPPER ESTOPPEL

Defendant contends that because of plaintiff’s cancellation of Claim 12 of his application for patent, plaintiff is estopped to claim that the patented claims of plaintiff are patentable. There is no merit to this contention. Here there was no acceptance of a narrow claim by plaintiff and an attempt by plaintiff to enlarge the scope of the claim. Here patent claim 2 was application claim 2; patent claim 3 was application claim 3; patent claim 6 was application claim 6; patent claim 8 was application claim 8. Cf. International Manufacturing Co., Inc. v. Landon, Inc., (CA 9, 1964) 336 F.2d 723, 727.

RE PUBLIC USE MORE THAN ONE YEAR PRIOR TO FILING OF PATENT APPLICATION

There is a conflict of evidence as to whether plaintiff had made public use of his machine more than one year prior to filing his application for patent. While defendant called many witnesses to support his contention of such public use, the Court is not persuaded by them that any public use of the machine within the meaning of Title 35, U.S.C. § 102 (b) did occur. Plaintiff’s proof on this point is more convincing to the effect that there was no such public use, and that the only use earlier than one year prior to his filing was for experimental purposes only.

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Related

Troy Co. v. Products Research Co.
339 F.2d 364 (Ninth Circuit, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
257 F. Supp. 80, 150 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 93, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zamboni-v-vandenberg-casd-1965.