Jones v. Vefo Inc.

609 F.2d 409 204 U.S.P.Q. 535 Robert L. JONES, an Individual, Labrado, Inc., a corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. VEFO INC., DFC Company, Harco Products Company, Superior Concrete Accessories, Corporations; Harry Fox, Alex Fox, and Laurie Fox, Individuals, Defendants-Appellees. No. 76-1885. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Dec. 10, 1979. Robert E. Strauss, Long Beach, Cal., for plaintiffs-appellants. Joseph E. Mueth, Wills, Green & Mueth, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Before BARNES, WALLACE and TANG, Circuit Judges. TANG, Circuit Judge: 1 The plaintiffs Robert Jones and Labrado, Inc. sued the defendants for infringement of Patents Nos. 3,515,799 and 3,702,180. The district court, holding that the patents were invalid, granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment, and the plaintiffs appealed. We reverse. 2 Jones is the inventor of Patents '779 and '180. He assigned an undivided one-half interest in the patents to James Palm who in turn granted an exclusive license of his interest to Jones and Labrado. 3 The patented inventions involve the use of molded…