Kruger

This is a proceeding for a declaratory judgment brought by the manufacturer of an identification card which the defendant claims to be an infringement of his patent, No. 2,088,567, applied for October 22, 1934, and issued to him August 3, 1937, as as-signee of the inventor, John McK. Ballou. The defendant counterclaimed for infringement. The claims of the patent were based upon the printing of the identifying card with an ink that would be dissolved by any solvent which would dissolve the celluloid, or similar material in which the card was encased, thus disclosing that the card had been tampered with. The enclosing of a card with printed matter thereon in such *239 transparent material was not, and is not, claimed to be novel. It is shown in patent No. 1,071,226, issued to Goodsell and Maynard August 26, 1913. It is in the choice of ink that the patentee claims the invention lies. The evidence shows that there was no other kind of ink in existence. That is, every known ink would be so affected by any chemical capable of dissolving the transparent envelope containing the card and adhering thereto. The trial court, in a terse opinion, held that there was no invention and that if…