R. G. Le Tourneau, Inc. v. Gar Wood Industries, Inc.

Plaintiff brought action for the infringement of certain letters patent owned by it, and prayed for injunctive relief and for an accounting of profits and damages. Defendant by its answer denied the charge of infringement, attacked the validity of the patents, and counterclaimed under the declaratory judgment statute, 28 U.S.C.A. § 400 , for affirmative relief on the ground that plaintiff had knowledge of the invalidity of the patents. A supplemental complaint alleged the reissuarice of patent No. 2,152,899 by grant of reissue patent No. 21,947. The District Court held invalid for want of invention claims 2, 5, 7, 20 and 22 of LeTourneau Patent No. 1,963,665 (1934) and claims 1, 2, 5 and 6 of Maloon Reissue Patent No. 21,947 (1941). Plaintiff’s complaint and amended complaint were dismissed. Plaintiff appeals.

*433 The LeTourneau and the Maloon patents relate to large capacity, tractor drawn, earth moving scrapers which have three functions, that is, they dig and scrape up earth from the ground, carry it to desired locations, and there discharge it and grade it simultaneously. Numerous prior- patents, including LeTourneau’s own patent 1,857,157 (1932), describe earth moving…