Griffith Rubber Mills, a Corporation v. Henry S. Hoffar

Henry S. Hoffar sued Griffith Rubber Mills for the infringement of two patents (Nos. 2,859,830 and 2,877,860) relating to a muffler made of an elastomer. Defendant counterclaimed for a declaratory judgment of invalidity of the patents. Both were found to be valid and infringed ; Griffith appealed. Among the errors asserted was the failure of the District Court to grant Griffith’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the ground that in view of the state of the art at the time of the issuance of the patents the mufflers which they described were not within the statutory definition of patentable invention. We have concluded that “the circumstances indicate that the jury * * * departed from the relevant legal criteria” for determining invention, and that Griffith’s assignment of error is therefore well taken. In arriving at this conclusion, and in the discussion which follows, we have resolved in Hoffar’s favor any possible dispute as to those questions which this Court has earlier held to be questions of fact: the nature of the pri- or art and what Hoffar did to improve it.

Hoffar was a builder of boats. He recognized the desirability of making a muffler that would not…