AUTOMOTIVE MAINTEN. MACH. CO. v. PRECISION INST. MFG. CO., 8392.
| Decision Date | 26 June 1944 |
| Docket Number | No. 8392.,8392. |
| Citation | 143 F.2d 332 |
| Parties | AUTOMOTIVE MAINTENANCE MACH. CO. v. PRECISION INSTRUMENT MFG. CO. et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Frank Parker Davis, Harry W. Lindsey, Jr., Raymond E. Fidler, George N. Hibben, and Albert J. Smith, all of Chicago, Ill., for appellant.
Will Freeman, W. P. Bair, and Dayton Ogden, all of Chicago, Ill. (George H. Jirgal and Robert L. Grover, both of Chicago, Ill., of counsel), for defendant-appellee, Snap-On Tools Corporation.
Casper Wm. Ooms, of Chicago, Ill., for defendants-appellees, Precision Company and Kenneth L. Larson.
Before SPARKS and MAJOR, Circuit Judges, and LINDLEY, District Judge.
On June 15, 1942, plaintiff charged Precision Manufacturing Company, Kenneth Larson, and Walter Carlsen with infringement of United States patents to Larson, No. 2,279,792, and to Zimmerman, No. 2,283,888. By amended petition filed November 30, 1942, it further charged infringement of reissue patent No. 22,219 of which patent No. 2,269,503 was the original. These patents were issued, respectively, on April 14, May 19, and November 3, 1942, on applications filed respectively on October 1, 1938, November 22, 1937, and May 31, 1938. All of them relate to torque wrenches, and the applications were assigned to plaintiff.
The joint amended answer of the defendants, filed February 8, 1943, alleged that the defendant Larson had committed perjury by filing a false affidavit with the Commissioner in support of his patent, in an interference proceeding between that patent and the Zimmerman patent No. 2,283,888; that plaintiff knew of that perjury prior to December 23, 1940, and failed to divulge it to the proper authorities; that by reason of that knowledge it threatened the defendants with criminal prosecution unless the defendants would sign the contracts hereinafter referred to, and it promised defendants that it would suppress such evidence of perjury as it had, if defendants would sign the contracts; that under and by reason of those circumstances they signed the contracts against their will; that those contracts were unreasonable and unconscionable and their execution by defendants was procured by the inequitable conduct of plaintiff by which its hands were soiled to such an extent that its bill of complaint should be dismissed.
July 6, 1942, Snap-On Tools Corporation filed a petition for a declaratory decree relating to the controversy with respect to the Larson patent and the contract of December 20, 1940, which plaintiff and the defendants, Larson and Precision, had signed. In final form, by amended petition filed March 1, 1943, the facts therein alleged are substantially the same as set forth in the answers in the other suit. Automotive by way of answer and counterclaim set forth substantially the same allegations, and demanded practically the same relief as demanded in its original action.
By agreement, the two cases were consolidated for hearing on the sole question of inequitable conduct, and voluminous evidence was heard. At the close of the arguments, the District Court rendered an oral opinion on May 21, 1943, which is not in this record, and on July 12, 1943, it filed its special findings of facts, and rendered its conclusions of law thereon. At the same time it filed the following:
Upon the conclusions of law, and consistent therewith, the court rendered judgment dismissing the complaint, the amended and supplemental complaint of the first action, and the petition, amended petitions and the counterclaims of the second action, all for want of equity. It further ordered that there should be no award for costs. From that judgment Automotive has appealed. Plaintiff and the corporate defendants, including Snap-On, which is considered as a defendant herein, will be hereafter referred to respectively by the first word of their corporate names.
Prior to 1938, Automotive was engaged in the production of a torque wrench invented by Zimmerman, one of its employees, and Snap-On was one of its customers for that wrench.
In 1938, George Thomasma, one of Automotive's trusted employees, who was fully acquainted with its wrench business and with the Zimmerman developments, secretly gave information to the defendant Larson, and they, with one Carlsen, cooperated to establish a competing business with Automotive. Snap-On was approached by Larson with respect to its taking on the wrench which had been developed by him and Thomasma from the Automotive wrench.
On October 1, 1938, Larson filed his application for his patent above referred to, by Alberts, who was then attorney for both Larson and Snap-On. The application was assigned to Snap-On under the terms of an agreement between them dated September 28, 1938.
At that time the application did not claim anything that was common to the Zimmerman and Larson wrenches, but the claims, as interpreted by the disclosure, were limited to a detail which comprised a tail-piece for operating a gauge mechanism. This, we think the evidence clearly discloses, was Larson's contribution, and it was so asserted at the trial by Alberts.
On October 18, 1938, Alberts, Snap-On's patent attorney, had Larson execute for Snap-On an affidavit to the effect that no employee or ex-employee of any competitor of Snap-On had anything to do with the development of his wrench, or would be associated with Larson in the enterprise; that he alone had invented it; and that no other individual had contributed any concept or feature of it.
On October 26, 1938, Snap-On supplied Larson with a letter promising to place with him an order for a quantity of those wrenches. Larson thereupon solicited financial support for the enterprise which was calculated to take away from Automotive its wrench account with Snap-On, and in December 1938, Precision was incorporated. Larson and Thomasma were given stock for the work they had done on the wrench, and Carlsen was given stock for his services, and he also paid cash for some. Larson became president of that corporation, Thomasma was made vice-president, and Carlsen was made secretary and treasurer. The three comprised the board of directors, and Automotive's entire business from Snap-On was taken away by Precision.
Wacker, president of Automotive, had heard rumors that Thomasma, then in its employ, was one of the incorporators of Precision, and, without authority, had removed from the Automotive plant some tools and wrenches. In June 1939, he confronted Thomasma with those rumors. Thomasma denied his connection with Precision, but admitted he had removed some wrenches. Thereupon Wacker discharged him.
On August 31, 1939, the Patent Office suggested to Larson certain claims appearing in the Zimmerman application. Thereupon, Larson through Alberts copied the broad Zimmerman claims in his application, and the Patent Office declared an interference on October 11, 1939, on the counts comprising those claims copied from Zimmerman.
At the request of the Patent Office, Larson, under oath on August 5, 1940, gave the dates of his conception, disclosure, drawing, description and reduction to practice. Those dates were false and antedated Zimmerman's from one to three years.
Within a day or two after receiving a copy of Larson's preliminary statement as to his dates, Automotive authorized its attorney to conduct an examination of the facts alleged therein. For that purpose he employed an investigator who had performed similar work for him in years past.
Larson was required to produce his evidence first. Nine witnesses, including himself, were examined, and considerable documentary evidence and physical exhibits were received in evidence on his behalf, the hearing of which began October 24 and ended November 4, 1940. It substantiated Larson's early dates, and cross-examination failed to discredit it.
On November 3, 1940, the day before Larson closed his proofs, Thomasma and his attorney attempted to sell Thomasma's Precision stock to Wacker, president of Automotive. He then asserted that he had given Larson the idea of developing a wrench from the Automotive wrench, but he disclosed no specific facts with respect thereto. Wacker refused the offer.
On the evening of November 7, 1940, Thomasma voluntarily went to the home of Fidler, the attorney for Automotive, and also returned there the following evening. During those times he voluntarily made a statement with respect to his and Larson's work on the wrench. It was taken down in shorthand, transcribed, and sworn to by him on November 15, 1940, and is quite voluminous. He stated therein that Larson came to his home in November 1937, where they discussed the possibility of making a tension wrench, and at that time he showed Larson a socket, a piece of drill rod and a handle; that Larson then made some patterns, and that several wrenches were made by Larson before any drawings of the wrench were made. He further stated that he made a drawing of the device in June 1938, and that it was the same drawing offered by Larson in the interference as the work of a high school boy on May 20, 1936. Automotive, after protracted efforts and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- Westland Oil Co. v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.
-
Precision Instrument Mfg Co v. Automotive Maintenance Machinery Co
...by substantial evidence and that its conclusions of law were not supported by its findings. The judgment was accordingly reversed. 7 Cir., 143 F.2d 332. We brought the case here because of the public importance of the issues The basic facts necessary to a determination of the vital issues a......