Moist Cold Refrigerator Co. v. Lou Johnson Co.

This matter is before us on appeal from a summary judgment for the defendants (appellees) in an action brought by appellant for infringement of reissue patent No. 23,058.

Appellant is assignee of the original patent No. 2,056,165, which was issued October 6, 1936 after protracted proceedings before the Patent Office. The patent claimed a combination of known refrigeration elements and principles to create separate refrigeration compartments for foods desired merely to be cooled and those desired to be frozen, and to eliminate the necessity of defrosting. The sole claim was to the combination. It is unnecessary for the purposes of this case further to describe the apparatus.

In 1943 Refrigeration Patents Corporation, the then assignee of all rights in the original patent, brought an action for infringement in the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the Stewart-Warner Corporation. Upon trial the jury found that the invention was patentable and produced improved results, and it awarded damages in a large sum. The question of functional claims was not presented to the jury. Stewart-Warner appealed from the judgment, and in the interim between appeal and…