Copeman Laboratories Co. v. General Plastics Corp., 8674.
| Decision Date | 15 June 1945 |
| Docket Number | No. 8674.,8674. |
| Citation | 149 F.2d 962 |
| Parties | COPEMAN LABORATORIES CO. v. GENERAL PLASTICS CORPORATION et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Casper William Ooms and Edwin S. Booth, both of Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
George W. Hansen and Willard L. Pollard, both of Chicago, Ill., for appellees.
Before MAJOR, KERNER, and MINTON, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from a judgment dismissing plaintiff's complaint which sought an injunction restraining defendants from alleged infringement of United States Reissue Letters Patents Nos. 17,278 and 17,279. The reason assigned by the lower court for the dismissal was that the patents "are either anticipated by the prior art or fail to disclose patentable invention over" the same. The only question presented by this appeal is the validity of the patents.
The patents in suit are entitled "Sharp Freezing Container for Mechanical Refrigeration" and were issued to plaintiff as assignee of Lloyd G. Copeman. The patents pertain to ice cube trays used in the ordinary household refrigerator. The novelty claimed by plaintiff as the basis for invention is an ice cube tray formed of non-metallic, easily distortable, self-supporting material so that the filled tray can be distorted readily and easily in order that ice cubes therein can be released quickly and efficiently. The patents involved herein are offsprings of Patent No. 1,675,599, issued to Copeman. This patent was subjected to an interference proceeding by one Hathorne and its broad claims rejected due to an adverse ruling in the interference proceeding. In order to distinguish and limit Copeman's claims from those of Hathorne, the reissue patents herein were applied for and granted.
The patentee, Copeman, testified that in the spring of 1928 while gathering maple sap on his farm he became aware of the fact that the ice gathered on his boots was readily removed by distorting the boots. At this time Copeman had several years' experience in the problems of domestic refrigeration and was familiar with the difficulty of removing ice cubes from the tray in which they were frozen. From this observation of the ice being freed from his boots, he immediately grasped the solution of the problem for removing ice cubes from the tray. This simple fact of easily removing ice from rubber by distortion he quickly transferred to the art of domestic refrigeration. This idea blossomed into the patents now in litigation. With utmost dispatch, the patentee filed his application and the patent issued in a very short time.
The only difference in the two patents in suit is that No. 17,279 defines a means of reinforcement for the container described in No. 17,278. There are several claims relied upon, but claim 3 of No. 17,278 is typical and we quote that one:
"As a new article of manufacture, a sharp freezing container of the type adapted to be positioned in heat exchange relation with the cooling unit of a mechanical refrigerating system, said container being relatively small so as to be readily handled and manipulated by the fingers and thumb and formed of non-metallic, easily distortable, self-supporting material to which ice does not readily adhere, whereby to permit easy removal of the frozen article or articles by distortion of all or part of said container by hand."
Defendant relies upon the prior art as being anticipatory and also showing want of invention. The four prior patents chiefly relied upon are Euchenhofer No. 459,700, Coleman No. 534,633, Burger No. 1,207,852, and Hathorne No. 1,932,731. All of these, except Hathorne, deal with the art of molding chocolate confections. Plaintiff asserts that this art is non-analogous and does not negative invention.
The lower court treated it as analogous, and we are of the view that the issue raised on this appeal depends in the main on the court's finding in this respect. The sole testimony on the subject was that of an expert witness who expressed the opinion that it was non-analogous. The question must be determined from an...
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