Proler Steel Corporation, Inc. v. Luria Brothers & Co., Inc.

Proler Steel Corporation, Inc., plaintiff, appeals from a summary judgment for defendants in a patent infringement suit. The patent is the Proler reissue patent, Re. 25,034. Claim 9 is the only claim that is involved. It is conceded that defendants do not infringe claims 1 through 8 or claim 10. The trial court held that claim 9 is invalid on a number of grounds, and that defendants do not infringe it, assuming that it is valid. We hold that claim 9 is invalid as a matter of law, for want of invention, and we therefore do not pass upon any of the other questions presented.

On this appeal, plaintiff urges that it was error to grant summary judgment because there are genuine issues of material fact, so that there must be a trial. It does not say that on this record, claim 9 of Re. 25,034 must be found valid as a matter of law.

1. Summary judgment in a patent case.

The propriety of granting summary judgment depends upon whether “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and * * * the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Rule 56(c), F.R.Civ.P. It is well settled, in this and other circuits, that summary judgment, holding a patent claim invalid, is…