View source for Bonito Boats v. Thunder Craft (JWB Class)

==The Case==
*Bontio Boats (FL) develops hull shape in 1976
*Florida law prohibits direct molding in 1983
* Thunder Craft (TN) copies hull shape via direct mold, sued by Bonito Boats in 1984
*Started in Orange County Circuit Court – Trial Court dismissed Bonito Boats petition
*Florida Appellate Court  Florida Supreme Court  U.S. Supreme Court

==History of Patent Law==
Patent Clause balances the need to encourage innovation and the avoidance of monopolies which stifle competition without any concomitant advance in the “Progress of Science and useful Arts”
*Patent Act of 1790 
**granted a 14-year monopoly to any device “not before known or used” (NOVELTY)
**invention must be “sufficiently useful and important” (UTILITY)
**Thomas Jefferson, as first Secretary of State, wrote that a patent requires full disclosure – so that others can build off of it, etc.

==Patent Law Today==
*U.S. Code Title 35, Section 102: A person is entitled to a patent unless
**(a) the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before invention thereof by the applicant for the patent
***exactly ‘when’ an invention happens is difficult to pinpoint, but if it is known anywhere before that event, patent is not granted
***if patent is granted without knowledge of someone else knowing the invention, patent is invalid
***'known or used' is not a limitation for foreign countries
**(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of the application for the patent in the United States
***part (a) is in regards to knowledge before the invention, part (b) is in regards to patents/publications before the patent application
***part (b) does not specify ‘by others’, indicating you can ruin your own patent application by publishing your idea a year before your patent application
*A patent is
*# Limited by Supremacy clause
*# Policy: limited monopoly to encourage innovation
*# Novelty: supports policy (innovation); now in 35 U.S.C. 102 (U.S. Code Title 35, Section 102)
*# Non-obviousness: 35 U.S.C. 103, invention cannot be anticipated (because then it would be ‘obvious’); the differences between the prior art and the invention must not be ‘obvious’ to a person of ordinary skill in the specific field
*# Utility: usefulness
*# Disclosure: have to be willing to tell the world how it works
**grants exclusive rights to invention for 20 years after filing the patent application
***can exclude others from making, using, or selling invention (35 U.S.C. 154)

==Other Relevant Cases==
*CAFC = Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
**California CAFC Case (Federal) conflicted with this case’s decision
***Trials (such as in the U.S. District Court) are the only places where evidence is collected
***In appeals, higher courts are only looking at the record of the case; not hearing new evidence/new witnesses

==Supremacy Clause==
*Supreme Court reviewing whether or not Florida Law conflicts with Federal Law
*Supremacy Clause (Article VI of the Constitution): “The Constitution, and the laws of the United States [including patents],…shall be the supreme law of the land.”
*Congress can “promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries”
**Therefore any such State Law would be pre-empted by the Supremacy Clause
**You can keep people from using your property
*Florida Law was unconstitutional because it was inconsistent with the purpose of patent laws
**Violated Supremacy Clause