Prodyne Enterprises, Inc. v. Julie Pomerantz, Inc.

Decision Date25 September 1984
Docket NumberNo. 84-684,84-684
Citation223 USPQ 477,743 F.2d 1581
PartiesPRODYNE ENTERPRISES, INC., Appellant, v. JULIE POMERANTZ, INC., Appellee. Appeal
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit

Arthur A. March, New York City, Robert E. Purcell, Rogers Hoge & Hills, Englewood, Colo., argued for appellee.

Michael J. MacDermott, Walter Eugene Tinsley and Richard A. Wallen, Los Angeles, Cal., of counsel.

Before FRIEDMAN and RICH, Circuit Judges, and COWEN, Senior Circuit Judge.

RICH, Circuit Judge.

The November 18, 1983, decision of the United States District Court for the Central District of California holding, on Julie Pomerantz, Inc.'s motion for summary judgment, that Prodyne Enterprises, Inc.'s patent is not infringed is affirmed.

Background

Prodyne Enterprises, Inc. (Prodyne) sued Julie Pomerantz, Inc. (Promerantz) for infringement of claims 6 and 7 of U.S. patent No. 3,766,817 ('817 patent) issued to Prodyne as assignee of John F. Aby et al. The preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in patent Fig. 2, reproduced below.

NOTE: OPINION CONTAINS TABLE OR OTHER DATA THAT IS NOT VIEWABLE

The patent claims a food slicing device, primarily for cheese, with a base 10 and a U-shaped bar 14 having a first leg extending into a passageway 16 of the base 10. A cutting element 18, here shown as a wire, is looped around the first leg of bar 14 in passageway 16 and extends transversely across the base 10 ending in slot 20. Wire 18 is held at the end of the second leg of bar 14 by a tensioning handle 22. The '817 patent has 7 claims, but claims 6 and 7, the only claims in issue, are directed to the attachment of the cutting element 18 to the bar 14 on the first leg extending into passageway 16. Claim 7 depends from claim 6 and merely adds the wire tensioning element.

During prosecution, to overcome a rejection under 35 U.S.C. Sec. 102, the patentee amended claim 7 of the application (now-claim 6 of the patent), in part, as follows and a cutting element attached to said [leg] bar to be received in said slot, said cutting element having one end [attached to] looped around the portion of said one leg traversing said slot, whereby said one leg forms a fulcrum for said cutting element, and said cutting element serves to hold said leg in said passageway. [Deletions bracketed, additions underlined.]

Pomerantz's allegedly infringing device does not attach the wire to the U-shaped bar by looping the wire around the bar. Rather, the wire is attached through a transverse, centrally disposed slot in the first leg of the bar and is held in position by a knot in the end of the wire.

The district court, in granting summary judgment, found that claims 6 and 7 are limited to the specific structure...

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29 cases
  • SRI Intern. v. Matsushita Elec. Corp. of America
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit
    • October 16, 1985
    ...thought there could be no infringement of the structural claims in suit. Unlike the patentees in Prodyne Enterprises, Inc. v. Julie Pomerantz, Inc., 743 F.2d 1581, 223 USPQ 477 (Fed.Cir.1984) and Builders Concrete Inc. v. Bremerton Concrete Prods. Co., 757 F.2d 255, 225 USPQ 240 (Fed.Cir.19......
  • RE Phelon Co., Inc. v. Wabash, Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana
    • July 9, 1986
    ...738 F.2d 1237, 1243, 222 USPQ 649 (Fed.Cir.1984); see also, Loctite, 781 F.2d at 871; compare, Prodyne Enterprises, Inc. v. Julie Pomerantz, Inc., 743 F.2d 1581, 223 USPQ 477 (Fed.Cir.1984); Kinzenbaw v. Deere & Co., 741 F.2d 383, 222 USPQ 929 (Fed.Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1004, 10......
  • Haworth, Inc. v. Steelcase, Inc., K85-526.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan
    • May 17, 1988
    ...741 F.2d 383, 389 (Fed.Cir.1984) cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1004, 105 S.Ct. 1357, 84 L.Ed.2d 379 (1985); Prodyne Enterprises, Inc. v. Julie Pomerantz, Inc., 743 F.2d 1581, 1583 (Fed.Cir. 1984). A fundamental tenet of patent policy is that a patent is a teaching tool which others may use as a fo......
  • Loctite Corp. v. Ultraseal Ltd.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit
    • December 17, 1985
    ...of the claimed invention in a substantially different way." SRI, at 1126.7 Compare Prodyne Enterprises, Inc. v. Julie Pomerantz, Inc., 743 F.2d 1581, 1583, 223 U.S.P.Q. 477, 478 (Fed.Cir.1984), and Kinzenbaw v. Deere & Co., 741 F.2d 383, 389, 222 U.S.P.Q. 929, 933 (Fed.Cir.1984), cert. deni......
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