Rubaloff

This is a patent infringement suit between competing manufacturers and sellers of supermarket check stands. The trial court found and concluded that the patent is invalid because of the prior art and for lack of invention. Without reaching the question of infringement, therefore, the court entered judgments for the defendants. Plaintiffs appeal.

Plaintiff Spee-Dee Checkout Systems, Inc., is the owner of United States patent No. 2,599,909, issued June 10, 1952, to Will L. George. Plaintiff William T. Alvarado Sales Co. is the exclusive licensee of this patent in the state of California. Plaintiffs joined in bringing two patent infringement suits which were thereafter consolidated for trial and have been consolidated for appeal. In one suit Sidney S. Rubaloff and Abraham M. Gross, individually and as a partnership d. b. a. Check-A-Matic Co., were named defendants. In the other the defendant is Du-More Fixture Co., Inc.

The object of the patent, as stated therein, is to provide a stand for chocking out the items of a customer’s purchase in a grocery or other retail merchandising store. The stand is designed to speed up the operation of checking each item and to reduce the…