Hunter Douglas Corp. v. Lando Products, Inc. Lando Products, Inc. v. Hunter Douglas Corp

There are two appeals before us. Hunter Douglas Corporation, hereinafter referred to as Hunter, appeals from that portion of a judgment which decreed that the claims in patent No. 2,503,824 are not infringed by Lando Products, Inc., and that said claims are invalid. Lando Products, Inc., hereinafter referred to as Lando, appeals from a dismissal of its counterclaim.

The Patent Controversy

Letters patent were issued to Hunter as assignee of the inventors on April 11, 1950. The inventors perfected a process of trimming the edges of aluminum strips used in Venetian blinds so as to minimize or eliminate cracks which had heretofore been found in the finished product after rolling the strips. Application was made for a patent covering the process and the apparatus used. All of the claims were rejected because of prior art patents. On appeal the Board of Patent Appeals sustained the rejection of the claims covering the apparatus but allowed two claims covering the process. Claim 1, as stated in patent No. 2,-503,824, reads as follows:

The second claim is substantially the same as the first but with this addition, “and interposing between two of the initial rolling steps a second…