Tate Engineering, Inc. v. United States
| Decision Date | 11 May 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 336-69.,336-69. |
| Parties | TATE ENGINEERING, INC. v. The UNITED STATES and Severn Products, Inc., Third-Party Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Claims Court |
Robert C. Miller, Washington, D. C., for plaintiff ; Robert F. Conrad, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., atty. of record ; Shaffert & Miller, Washington, D. C., of counsel.
J. Walter Schilpp, Philadelphia, Pa., atty. of record, for third-party defendant.
Louise O'Neil, Washington, D. C., with whom was Asst. Atty. Gen. Harlington Wood, Jr., for defendant.
Before COWEN, Chief Judge, and DAVIS, SKELTON, NICHOLS, KASHIWA, KUNZIG and BENNETT, Judges.
This case comes before the court on plaintiff's exceptions to a recommended decision filed August 1, 1972, by Trial Commissioner Joseph V. Colaianni pursuant to Rule 134(h). The court has considered the case on the briefs and oral argument of counsel. Since the court agrees with the decision, as hereinafter set forth, it hereby affirms and adopts the same as the basis for its judgment in this case. Therefore, it is concluded that plaintiff is not entitled to recover and the petition is dismissed.
COLAIANNI, Commissioner:
This is a patent suit under 28 U.S.C. § 1498. Plaintiff, Tate Engineering, Inc., seeks "reasonable and entire compensation" for unauthorized use by the Government of plaintiff's patented invention. Only the issue of liability is before the court; accounting, if any, is deferred to later proceedings. The patent in suit is U.S. Patent 3,236,018 (hereinafter the "Graham" patent), issued on February 22, 1966, to Donald C. Graham, Dale E. Hein and George H. Stram on an invention entitled "Load-Supporting Metallic Floor Panels." All rights to the panel were assigned by the inventors to plaintiff on July 14, 1963, and plaintiff has continuously been the sole and exclusive owner of the patent.
Plaintiff moved to join Severn Products, Inc. (hereinafter "Severn"), on the ground that Severn allegedly supplied to the Government, under contract, products embodying the invention described and claimed in the Graham patent and actively induced infringement by the Government of the Graham patent. Severn entered the case as a third-party defendant and was represented by counsel during the entire pendency of the case before this court. Shortly after issue was joined, Severn and the Government filed a joint motion for summary judgment on the grounds that the accused product sold by Severn to the Government did not infringe any of the claims of the Graham patent. The trial commissioner recommended that the motion be denied. Tate Engineering, Inc. v. United States, 166 USPQ 329 (1970). The court affirmed, Tate Engineering, Inc. v. United States, 193 Ct.Cl. 1088 (1970), and remanded the case "to the trial commissioner for further appropriate proceedings."
This case raises the usual issues of infringement and validity. The Graham patent has eight claims, but plaintiff concedes that claims 1 through 4, 7 and 8 are not infringed by defendants. The issues to be decided include : (1) whether claims 5 and 6 of the Graham patent are infringed by the Severn product ; (2) whether these two claims are invalid because they do not meet the standards set forth in 35 U.S.C. § 102 or § 103; (3) whether these claims are unenforceable and/or invalid by reason of plaintiff's failure to disclose to the Patent Office during prosecution of the Graham patent allegedly pertinent prior art of which it had knowledge ; and (4) whether the claims are invalid because the patent fails to "particularly point out and distinctly claim" the invention as required by 35 U.S.C. § 112.
During the trial, defendants introduced prior art which had not been considered by the Patent Office, and which was not relied upon in their motion for summary judgment. Defendants rely primarily upon this additional prior art to support their joint position relative to the above issues. For reasons expressed below, claims 5 and 6 are held to be not infringed.
Prior to the invention of the Graham panel, plaintiff was not engaged in the manufacture and/or sale of elevated flooring, although several other firms were then in the field. Based on a market study, plaintiff decided to enter the field and contracted with Graham Engineering, Inc., a consulting engineering firm, to develop a unique floor panel. The Graham panel was invented under this contract by Graham Engineering employees, and all patent rights in the panel were assigned to plaintiff on July 15, 1963, one day before the Graham application was filed in the Patent Office. Plaintiff began manufacturing and selling the Graham panel in late 1962 or early 1963.
The invention disclosed by the Graham patent relates to a metal panel that can be combined with similar panels to form a load-supporting elevated floor. Individual panels, generally square in plan view, are usually supported above a subflooring by pedestals at each corner. The principal objective of such a panel is to support heavy loads without itself being of prohibitive thickness and weight. By way of example, elevated metal flooring is frequently used in connection with computer installations. Heavy computer equipment is easily supported on the elevated flooring, and the many interconnecting power and signal-carrying cables are conveniently routed through the space provided between the elevated flooring and subflooring.
The panel disclosed by the Graham patent is formed from two superimposed flat metal sheets. The upper sheet is imperforate throughout its entire area and supports the load upon its top surface. In the preferred embodiment, however, a finishing material, such as linoleum or floor tiling, is affixed to the top surface. The lower sheet is positioned directly beneath the upper sheet and after a number of incisions and bends, a pattern of square openings arranged in parallel rows and columns is formed in the lower sheet. The rows and columns of square openings are separated by a gridwork of parallel rows and columns of straight metal tension strips that remain in the plane of the lower sheet. These tension strips extend between opposite edges of the lower sheet.
Furthermore, as a result of the incisions and bends, struts are provided at the edges of the openings. The struts project toward the upper sheet, and their terminal ends are bent for attachment to the undersurface of the upper sheet. By design, it is intended that loads applied to the upper sheet will be transmitted through the struts, to the tension strips of the lower sheet. The load-supporting capability of a panel is proportional to the cube of the distance between the upper and lower sheets. Thus, by increasing the length of the struts, the load-supporting capability of a panel will be increased. In addition, the strength of a panel is dependent upon the number of struts and amount of contact area between the struts and the undersurface of the upper sheet.
While the preferred embodiment of the Graham panel has struts formed integral with only two edges of each opening, alternate embodiments of the invention have struts formed integral with all four edges of the openings. However, in all cases no waste occurs and all of the material which is cut and bent in the formation of the openings is utilized.
The edge of the Graham panel is constructed such that an upper bracing flange is formed by bending the edges of the upper sheet toward the lower sheet, and, at the same time, a lower bracing flange is formed by bending the edges of the lower sheet toward the upper sheet. The patent drawings show (see Fig. 5 appended hereto) that the upper bracing flange fits inside of and, for purposes of rigidity and strength, is welded to the lower bracing flange. Finally, the terminal portion of the lower bracing flange is bent outwardly and upwardly to form a vertical rib extending about the periphery of the panel and spaced slightly from the upper bracing flange. In the instances where a finishing material is applied to the upper sheet, a channel-shaped finishing material can be mounted upon this projecting rib.
The desired goals of the patented invention, as expressed in the patent specification, include the provision of: (1) a structural panel of minimum thickness relative to load-sustaining area and having the capability of supporting substantial concentrated loads in comparison with the weight of such a panel, (2) a plurality of different patterns of struts cut from the lower sheet, and (3) continuous edge flanges on both upper and lower sheets connected together to provide stiffening of the edges of the panel, and, as well, to provide finished surfaces for the edges of the panel.
Claim 5 of the Graham patent reads:
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