Edoco Technical Products, Inc. v. Peter Kiewit Sons' Co., and the B. F. Goodrich Company

Appellant brought suit for infringement of patent and has taken this appeal from summary judgment rendered in favor of the defendant upon the ground of lack of infringement.

The patented device relates to paving and is designed to control the cracking of pavement as it contracts on drying and to seal the cracks against the seepage of water. The device is a resilient strip that is, along the desired line of fracture, embedded in the pavement while it is being poured. In its cross section it is cruciform, the vertical arms tapering from the center to top and bottom and the horizontal arms being serrated. The top vertical arm provides a continuing band running close below the pavement surface which causes fracturing in alignment with it. The horizontal arms provide water stops so that water seeping through the facture cannot penetrate to work erosion beneath the pavement. The serrations serve to anchor the strip to the cement on either side.

The accused device is similar in function and very similar in appearance. It also, in cross section, is cruciform but without the elaborations of taper and serration. It is essentially a simple cross. It was on the basis of lack of taper and…