1/31/11 : Graham v. John Deere (kyergler)
Case 1: Graham v. John Deere
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Case 2 : Calmar, Inc. v. Cook Chemical Co., and Colgate-Palmolive Co. v. Cook Chemical Co.
- Cook Chemical contends that the invention encompasses a unique combination of admittedly old elements that that patentability is found in the results produced. Its expert testified that the invention was "the first commercially successful, inexpensive integrated shipping closure pump unit which permitted automated assembly with a container of household insecticide or similar liquids to produce a practical, ready-to-use package which could be shipped without external leakage and which was so organized that the pump unit with its hold-down cap could be itself assembled and sealed and the later assembled and sealed on the container without breaking of the first seal.
- Cook Chemical stressed the "long-felt need in the industry for such a device"
- Calmar says "the device as a whole would have been obvious at the time of its invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art."
- The Livingstone arrangement was similar to the patent-at-hand, even though the intention was different (to cover and protect pouring spouts).
- The Scoggin invention rests upon exceedingly small and quite nontechnical mechanical differences in a device which was old in the art. At the latest, those differences were rendered apparent in 1953 by the appearance of the Livingstone patent, and unsuccessful attempts to reach a solution to the problems confronting Scoggin made before that time became wholly irrelevant.
