Algren Watch Findings Co. v. Kalinsky, 227
| Decision Date | 27 May 1952 |
| Docket Number | Docket 22275.,No. 227,227 |
| Citation | 197 F.2d 69 |
| Parties | ALGREN WATCH FINDINGS CO., Inc. v. KALINSKY et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Emanuel R. Posnack, New York City, for plaintiff-appellant.
Russell E. Schlorff, New York City, for defendant-respondent.
Before SWAN, Chief Judge, and AUGUSTUS N. HAND and FRANK, Circuit Judges.
The plaintiff, Algren Watch Findings Co., Inc., is the present owner of United States Patent No. 2,053,841 which was issued on September 8, 1936, for an invention consisting of a method of making from wire stock a watch strap buckle frame having inside right-angle corners. The application for the patent, which was filed February 8, 1936, outlines the method of making the buckle frame in three steps as follows: the round wire stock is bent into a bow-legged U shape; the frame is then placed in a die and swedged causing the buckle to be flattened and to take its final form having right-angle inside corners; and finally, the corners of the ends are clipped so that the ends are rounded rather than square. The plaintiff and its predecessor Algren Manufacturing Co., Inc., designated the buckle produced by the patented method as the No. 800 and manufactured about $1,000,000 worth of No. 800 buckles since the discovery of this method. The complaint in this action charged the defendant with infringement of the patent by use of the method and also charged him with unfairly competing with Algren by his unauthorized use of the process to manufacture and sell buckle frames having the same distinctive design as those of Algren. The answer challenged the validity of the patent on several grounds among which was the plaintiff's public use of the patented method for more than two years prior to the filing of the patent application.1 This defense was upheld by the district court which found that the method had been commercially utilized by the plaintiff for at least four years before the application was filed. The court also found no evidence of unfair competition although it dismissed that claim for lack of jurisdiction, and awarded the defendant $2,500 counsel fees.
The process of making buckle frames from wire stock by shaping and swedging was well known at the time the plaintiff's application for the patent in suit was filed. See, e.g., U. S. Patent No. 1,543,644 granted June 23, 1925, to Art Hadley. The improvement over the prior art claimed by the plaintiff for its discovery is simply this: under its method the wire stock is bent so that the angle between the base of the U and each of its sides is greater than 90 degrees (the bow-legged U shape referred to above) whereas the earlier method had been to bend the wire stock so as to produce as nearly as possible the right-angle U shape before the swedging operation. When the bow-legged U shaped frame is placed in a die and swedged, the metal flows inward and produces the desired right-angle inside corners. We cannot see any invention involved in such a slight variance from prior art. If the trifling change had any practical advantage over what went before it was certainly within the competence of a skilled mechanic and did not rise to the requirements of invention. We are also satisfied that the district court was correct in holding the patent invalid because the method had been in public use by the plaintiff for more than two years prior to February 8, 1936. The plaintiff's president, Charles Greenberg, stated in an affidavit sworn to on November 24, 1936, and submitted during the course of a different litigation involving the same patent that 74,296 buckles had been manufactured by use of the patented method and sold by the plaintiff's predecessor in 1933. It is true that this figure was accompanied by a footnote...
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Zippo Manufacturing Company v. Rogers Imports, Inc.
...repeatedly held that the copying of an unpatented design does not in itself constitute unfair competition. Algren Watch Findings Co., Inc. v. Kalinsky, 197 F.2d 69, 70 (2nd Cir. 1952); General Time Instruments Corp. v. U. S. Time Corp., supra 2 Cir., 165 F.2d 853 at p. 854. "On the other ha......
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Darsyn Laboratories v. Lenox Laboratories
...Industries v. Crosby Naval Stores, 5 Cir., 139 F.2d 611, 612; Zalkind v. Scheinman, 2 Cir., 139 F.2d 895; Algren Watch Findings Co. v. Kalinsky, 2 Cir., 197 F.2d 69, 71, 72; Schreyer v. Casco Products Corp., 2 Cir., 190 F.2d 921, 924. We shall therefore consider only the former cause of act......
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NATIONAL MACHINERY CO. v. WATERBURY FARREL FDRY. CO.
...means of dies and punches under pressure. Cornell v. Chase Brass Copper Co., 142 F.2d 157 (2 Cir., 1944); Algren Watch Findings Co., Inc. v. Kalinsky, 197 F.2d 69, 71 (2 Cir., 1952). There was nothing new in any step in any of his claims. His method was directed to the same end as those fol......
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Hygienic Specialties Co. v. Salzman, Inc.
...repeatedly held that the copying of an unpatented design does not in itself constitute unfair competition. Algren Watch Findings Co., Inc. v. Kalinsky, 197 F.2d 69, 70 (2nd Cir. 1952); General Time Instruments Corp. v. U. S. Time Corp., supra, 165 F.2d at p. 854. On the other hand, competit......