United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Sinclair & Carroll Co., Inc. v. Interchemical Corp., 325 U.S. 327 (1945)

Sinclair & Carroll Co., Inc. v. Interchemical Corporation

No. 656

Argued April 5, 1945

Decided May 21, 1945

325 U.S. 327

Syllabus

1. In suits in the federal courts for infringement of patents, the better practice usually is for the court to inquire fully into the validity of the patent. P. 325 U. S. 330.

2. It is essential to the validity of a patent that the subject matter reveal "invention," "more ingenuity . . . than the work of a mechanic skilled in the art." P. 325 U. S. 330.

3. Patent No. 2,087,190, claims 3, 10, 11, 12 and 13, to Gessler, for a printer's ink which is nonvolatile at room temperature and highly volatile when heated, which involved merely the selection of a known compound to meet known requirements, held invalid for want of invention. P. 325 U. S. 334.

144 F.2d 842, reversed.

Certiorari, 323 U.S. 705, to review a decree which, upon appeal from a decree holding a patent invalid and not infringed, 50 F.Supp. 881, held the patent valid and infringed.