Ramirez v. Perez

• Decision Date: 09 April 1971
• Docket Number: No. 30185.,30185.
• Citation: Ramirez v. Perez, 440 F.2d 1072 (5th Cir. 1971)
• Parties: Miguel A. RAMIREZ, Sr., Individually and Maret, Incorporated, a corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Antonio PEREZ, Individually, and d/b/a La Mexicana Tortilla Company, and Heliodoro Valadez, Individually, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

440 F.2d 1072 (1971)

Miguel A. RAMIREZ, Sr., Individually and Maret, Incorporated, a corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Antonio PEREZ, Individually, and d/b/a La Mexicana Tortilla Company, and Heliodoro Valadez, Individually, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 30185.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

April 9, 1971.

H. Tati Santiesteban, Paul T. Caruthers, Marshall I. Yaker, Paxson & Santiesteban, El Paso, Tex., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Robert T. Schwarzbach, Harry Lee Hudspeth, El Paso, Tex., for defendants-appellees.

Before SKELTON^*, Judge of the Court of Claims, and MORGAN and CLARK, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

The opinion of the district court in this action involving claims for infringement of a combination patent, fails to articulate any findings of fact. Based upon Anderson's-Black Rock, Inc. v. Pavement Salvage Co., Inc., 396 U.S. 57, 90 S.Ct. 305, 24 L.Ed.2d 258 (1969), the court declared the patents of plaintiffs and defendants to be invalid insofar as they contemplated or purported to include a hot plate system for the processing of flour tortillas. We are thus left with no means to review the basis for the apparent determination of obviousness in this portion of these devices.

In Ag Pro, Inc. v. Sakraida, 437 F.2d 99 (5th Cir. 1971), we pointed to the teaching of Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 86 S.Ct. 684, 15 L.Ed.2d 545 (1965), which highlighted the need for exceptionally diligent attention by the district court to the facts related to a determination of patentability. No class of cases known in the law can be said to be as uniquely fact-oriented as those involving patents. Trial...