In re Sackett, Patent Appeal No. 4703.
| Decision Date | 03 May 1943 |
| Docket Number | Patent Appeal No. 4703. |
| Citation | 30 CCPA 1214,136 F.2d 248 |
| Parties | In re SACKETT. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA) |
Harold R. Savage and Roberts, Cushman & Woodberry, all of Boston, Mass., and Cushman, Darby & Cushman, of Washington, D. C. (Arlon V. Cushman, of Washington, D. C., of counsel), for appellant.
W. W. Cochran, of Washington, D. C. (E. L. Reynolds, of Washington, D. C., of counsel), for the Commissioner of Patents.
Before GARRETT, Presiding Judge, and BLAND, HATFIELD, LENROOT, and JACKSON, Associate Judges.
Ernest D. Sackett appealed to this court from a decision rendered by the Board of Appeals of the United States Patent Office, affirming that of the Primary Examiner in rejecting all the claims of his application for a patent relating to "shoe soles and method of making." On April 5, 1943, this court handed down its decision affirming that of the board.
On April 24, 1943, appellant Sackett, pro se and by his attorneys, filed in this court that which, to say the least, is a most unusual motion. It is moved that this court "shall seal the record and decision of this appeal against publication, or shall take such steps as may be necessary and sufficient to prevent publication." It is stated in the motion that the publication of the decision "would in itself constitute a complete disclosure of appellant's invention, not only to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, but to any and all persons acquainted with general chemistry or with common industrial usages and practices."
Distinction has long been made between the requirements of secrecy relating to judicial records and those which are merely official records. Distinction has also been made in some cases between the right to inspect judicial records before trial and the right to inspect the record of the court after trial. We know of no authority which would warrant a court such as this one in making an order denying public inspection of its records in a case like the one at bar.
Appellant, according to the tribunals of the Patent Office and this court, has disclosed no "invention." It is not seen how, under the circumstances, he is possessed of anything, the knowledge of which this court should be called upon to protect. If appellant had a trade secret, it was his privilege to practice it in the usual manner, but when he asked for a patent on his alleged invention and brought the same into the public forum of the court, it is not such a right...
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...common law, but likewise without disapproving it, see Ex parte Drawbaugh, 2 App.D.C. at 407, quoted supra at page 1333; In re Sackett, 136 F.2d 248, 249 (C.C.P.A.1943); Werfel v. Fitzgerald, 23 A.D.2d 306, 309, 260 N.Y.S.2d 791, 795 (1965); or express what they regard as the common law rule......
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