Jaybee Mfg. Corp. v. Ajax Hardware Mfg. Corp., 16858.

• Decision Date: 06 February 1961
• Docket Number: No. 16858.,16858.
• Citation: 287 F.2d 228
• Parties: JAYBEE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, Appellant, v. AJAX HARDWARE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

287 F.2d 228 (1961)

JAYBEE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, Appellant, v. AJAX HARDWARE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, Appellee.

No. 16858.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

February 6, 1961.

Flam & Flam, Los Angeles, Cal., for appellant.

Thomas P. Mahoney, Los Angeles, Cal., for appellee.

Before BARNES and KOELSCH, Circuit Judges, and KILKENNY, District Judge.

PER CURIAM.

Action by appellee against appellant for alleged infringement of a design patent. Appellant filed a counterclaim under the declaratory judgments statutes (28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, 2202) challenging the validity of the patent and seeking injunctive relief.

Appellant and appellee are California corporations. The design patent in question is an article constructed of metal and shaped for use as a handle or drawer pull. This article has been on the market since October 1957. Application for the patent was originally made by appellee's assignor and letters patent were duly issued to the appellee for the term of 14 years on April 22, 1958. Appellant assigns error in two respects:

I. The District Court erred in holding that the design patent was valid; and

II. The District Court erred in refusing to enjoin appellee from harassing or annoying the appellant and appellant\'s customers.

I. We have carefully examined the article which was the subject of the design patent issued to appellee, and the articles which were the subject of the two references cited by the Patent Office examiner against the patent. The articles which were then known to the examiner had little in common with the design in question and it appears that the examiner had a very limited and incomplete record before him at the time he allowed said patent. The evidence is convincing that at least six prior art devices, in some instances having striking similarity to the design in question, were unknown to the Patent Office examiner at the time of the allowance. One device is identical with the exception of size and lack of a central opening. Other prior art is of approximately the same size and incorporates such an opening. No opinion evidence was offered to assist the District Court in arriving at a conclusion on the validity of the patent.

Frankly, it seems to us that the article in question is no more than a routine design of furniture or cabinet hardware. We can see nothing unique or unusual in placing a hole, irrespective of shape, in such hardware.

Generally, the action of the Patent Office in allowing the patent creates a presumption of validity. However, even one prior art reference which has not been considered by the Patent Office may overthrow this presumption. Mettler v. Peabody Engineering Corp., 9 Cir., 1935, 77 F.2d 56, 58; McClintock v. Gleason, 9 Cir., 1938, 94 F.2d 115, 116; Jacuzzi Bros. v. Berkeley Pump Co., 9 Cir., 1951, 191 F.2d 632, 634. When the most pertinent art has not been brought to the attention of the administrative body the presumption is largely dissipated. France Mfg. Co. v. Jefferson Electric Co., 6 Cir., 1939, 106 F.2d 605; Jacuzzi Bros. v. Berkeley Pump Co., supra. The facts in the present case justify the invocation of such rules.

Although the lower court found that the patent was duly issued to the appellee for a design for a handle or similar article, no place does the court find or even consider in what respect the article was the recipient of the "inventive genius" necessary to the creation of a valid "design" patent. It is well settled that the exercise of the inventive or originative faculty is required and that a person cannot be permitted to select an existing form and simply put it to a new use, anymore than he can be permitted to take a patent out for the mere double use of a machine. Smith v. Whitman Saddle Co., 148 U.S. 674, 678, 13 S.Ct. 768, 37 L.Ed. 606. While we know that it is difficult to characterize the inventive features necessary to a valid design patent, it is clear that there must be originality which is born of inventive genius. In other words, there must be more than mere mechanical skill and the completed article must rise above the ordinary. The findings do not give us light on this very essential requirement. A compelling reason for the failure to make such a finding is the fact that there is no substantial evidence in the record to support it. The fact that the article may be pleasing and streamlined is insufficient. It is arguable that the article in question, from an artistic point of view, conclusively shows an advance in design. However, not every advance flows from creative genius. Magarian v. Detroit Products Co., 9 Cir., 1942, 128 F.2d 544. It has been said that such an advance is more often to be credited to the normal progress which results when discriminating taste and judgment are applied to that which has already been discovered or created. Patriarca Manufacturing Co. v. Sosnick, 9 Cir., 1960, 278 F.2d 389, 391.

In support of the validity of the patent, appellee urges upon us the commercial success of the article. Such was the finding of the District Court. It is true that commercial success may be taken into consideration in determining the validity of the patent. The trend is to use such success in determining the validity of a patent as a makeweight only where the...