Rite-Hite Corp. v. Kelley Co., Inc.
Decision Date | 05 March 1986 |
Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 83-C-434. |
Citation | 629 F. Supp. 1042 |
Parties | RITE-HITE CORPORATION, Acme Dock Specialists, Inc., Allied Equipment Corp., Anderson Material Handling Co., Applied Handling, Inc., C & L Equipment Corporation, W.E. Carlson Corporation, R.B. Curlin, Inc., Equipment Systems, Inc., Great Northern Industrial Prod., Inc., HOJ Engineering & Sales Co., Inc., Indy Equipment Company, Inc., Johnson Equipment Co., Keller Equipment Co., Inc., King Industrial Equipment, Inc., Loading Dock Equipment Co., Inc., McCormick Equipment Company, Inc., Metro Dock Specialists, Inc., Mid-Atlantic Handling Systems, Inc., Niehaus Industrial Sales, Inc., Northway Material Handling Co., Inc., Rice Equipment Co., Stokes Equipment Company, Inc., Timbers & Associates, Inc., Todd Equipment Corporation, U.S. Materials Handling Corp., John L & Associates, Inc., and Stordox Equipment Co., Plaintiffs, v. KELLEY COMPANY, INC., Defendant. |
Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Wisconsin |
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Theodore W. Anderson, Arthur W. Olson, Jr., Lawrence E. Apolzon & Roger H. Stein, Neuman, Williams, Anderson & Olson, Chicago, Ill. and Gilbert W. Church, Foley & Lardner, Milwaukee, Wis., for plaintiffs.
Glenn O. Starke, Andrus, Sceales, Starke & Sawall, and Matthew J. Flynn, Quarles & Brady, Milwaukee, Wis., for defendant.
DECISION AND ORDER
This is an action in patent infringement and unfair competition. Federal jurisdiction derives from 28 U.S.C. § 1338. The plaintiffs Rite-Hite Corporation ("Rite-Hite") and its independent representatives seek a judgment that a truck restraining device manufactured and distributed by defendant Kelley Company, Inc. ("Kelley") infringes a patent owned by Rite-Hite, and that Kelley has competed unfairly by its use of a promotional film. Kelley has counterclaimed, alleging that Rite-Hite's patent is obvious in view of the prior art and is therefore void, and that Rite-Hite has competed unfairly.
The parties have agreed that the issues of liability and damages be tried separately. Rite-Hite also applied for preliminary injunctive relief with respect to its claim of unfair competition respecting Kelley's promotional film, and Kelley was enjoined from further use of unexpurgated versions of the film by the Court's order of March 16, 1984. Kelley was subject to this order at the time the issues of liability on the patent claims and Kelley's claims of unfair competition were tried to the Court.
The foregoing claims were tried to the Court between May 20 and May 29, 1985. At the close of the proceedings, I stated:
The plaintiffs were then directed to file proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, with a period of time allotted to defendant to comment thereon. The plaintiffs have filed their submission, the defendant has objected to certain provisions, and the plaintiffs have responded to the objections. Kelley has also moved for a stay of the injunction pending appeal, and Rite-Hite opposed this motion. I am persuaded that certain of the objections should be sustained, but that others would direct an outcome favoring the defendant and are not supported by the evidence. What follows, therefore, are essentially the findings of fact and conclusions of law proposed by plaintiffs with exceptions where a defense objection has been sustained by the Court in view of the evidence presented at trial.
1. Plaintiff Rite-Hite is a Wisconsin corporation having its principal place of business at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The other plaintiffs are Rite-Hite's independent and exclusive sales representatives throughout the country.
2. Defendant Kelley is also a Wisconsin corporation with its principal place of business at Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
3. Rite-Hite and Kelley, together, are dominant factors in the dock leveler industry and have been keen competitors since Rite-Hite was founded in 1965.
4. This is an action for patent infringement arising under the patent laws of the United States, Title 35 U.S.C. The court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a), and venue lies in this district under 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b).
5. There are also claims and counterclaims for unfair competition arising under the statutory and common laws of the State of Wisconsin. The court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1338(b).
6. This action was initiated in early 1983, shortly after the patent-in-suit issued. Rite-Hite charged Kelley with infringement of U.S. Patent 4,373,847 (the '847 patent), as well as with unfair competition. On a preliminary injunction motion, the unfair competition count was heard by this Court on February 27 and 28, 1984. A decision was rendered in favor of Rite-Hite on March 16, 1984, granting a preliminary injunction enjoining use of a motion picture film which appeared to characterize unfairly Rite-Hite's Dok-Lok product.
7. Rite-Hite subsequently filed a motion for intervention on behalf of certain independent and exclusive Rite-Hite sales representatives, and the motion was granted. A trial was held before the Court in this action from May 20 through May 29, 1985. The main issues were (1) whether or not the defendant Kelley has infringed the '847 patent owned by the plaintiff Rite-Hite, and under which the other plaintiffs—Acme Dock Specialists, Inc., et al.—have certain exclusive territorial rights, and (2) whether Kelley could carry its burden that the '847 patent is invalid. The remaining issues relate to unfair competition and are mentioned further below.
8. Dock levelers, or automatic dockboards, are devices that automatically or semi-automatically bridge the gap between a truck and a dock so that forklift trucks can safely pass over that gap during the loading and unloading process. Dock levelers, in general, have replaced the loose plates that were often used when loading and unloading was done manually.
9. For years, dock leveler users and manufacturers as well as regulatory agencies recognized that a safety hazard existed because of the way that large trucks and trailers, for a variety of reasons, inadvertently separated from the dock during the loading or unloading process. If this happens a forklift can fall through the gap between the truck and dock onto the driveway below, and the results for the forklift truck and its operator can be catastrophic.
10. For instance, the forklift truck will almost always drop to the pavement if, when the truck pulls away, the forklift is parked in a position where it is supported in part by the dockboard and in part by the truck. In this situation, there is nothing at all to keep the forklift and its operator from falling through the gap between the truck and the dock.
11. The forklift truck will also be exposed to this type of accident if it is moving either into or out of the truck or trailer at the time the truck separates from the dock. In such situations, the driver may not notice the gap and drive the forklift off the truck bed, especially if he is backing up out of the truck. Another hazard exists from sudden accelerations and decelerations of a loaded forklift inside a truck. In this situation, a considerable force tending to push the truck away from the dock can produce disaster. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to by Kelley and Rite-Hite as "trailer creep."
12. Aware of these life-threatening problems, but lacking a real solution in the late 1960's and early 1970's, Rite-Hite provided its only answer at that time, its Total Dock Safety (T.D.S.) Package (PTX-3)1, which included wheel chocks, a large warning sign, and a "Dock Safety Rules" sign. But these were not an adequate remedy for the problem. Kelley worked on a somewhat similar and equally ineffective "communication" system.
13. In yet another situation, the forklift driver can suffer severe or fatal injuries even if, when the truck inadvertently separates from the dock, the forklift is parked in a stationary position on the dockboard and is fully supported by the dockboard. This is because, in normal operation, the outward or free end of the dockboard rests on the bed of the truck. When the vehicle pulls away, the end of the dockboard lip that was supported by the truck tends to drop. This, in turn, tends to tip the whole dockboard downwards and pitch the forklift, its operator, and/or its load onto the driveway.
14. To eliminate this latter hazard, dock leveler manufacturers many years ago designed safety devices into their dock levelers to limit the extent to which the dockboard could tip downwards in the event of the inadvertent separation of the truck from the dock. Kelley developed its "Panic Stop," which was patented in the middle 1960's (DTX-183-8). This device had a ratchet that was engaged to prevent the outward end of the dockboard from moving downward if the dockboard started to move down abnormally fast. This prevented the...
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