Opinion ID: 272884
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The press-in feature

Text: 15 The novelty, utility, and infringement, if valid, of claims 5 and 6 embodying the press-in feature of the plaintiff's clip have also been conceded by Zegers, Inc. Thus the issue with respect to these claims is against restricted to obviousness, that is whether the use of a press-in anchoring device containing barbed members for insertion into dado grooves to retain the clip therein without the use of any other fastening device would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art. 16 The district judge found, as he had done with claims 1, 3, and 4, that the defendant failed to overcome the presumption of validity of claims 5 and 6 with sufficient evidence of obviousness and held the claims valid. In so finding, the district judge also concluded that the prior art patents relied on by the defendant were no more pertinent than those considered by the Patent Office and that therefore the presumption of validity had not been weakened. We think the disclosure of claims 5 and 6 stands on a different footing than the slotting of flanged weatherstrip, that it rises above the 'gadget' category-- in other words, that the record supports the district court's finding of validity. 17 The evidence tending to show the nonobviousness of recessing the center portion of the earlier Zegers, Inc. clip into the dado groove of a window frame and providing barbs in the recessed portion to engage the wooden sides of the dado groove thereby holding the clip securely in place was considerably stronger than that adduced in support of the nonobviousness of slotting flanged weatherstrip. 8 The plaintiff conceived his pressin clip and reduced it to practice early in 1959. The defendant did not place its version of the press-in feature on the market until three years later, during which time it admittedly experimented with many variations of its earlier flat nail-on clip, including some which incorporated barbed recessed members. Thus, even if the record does not disclose any substantial long-felt need for the pressin clip, the evidence does show that the defendant struggled with the solution to a problem already solved by the plaintiff. 18 As we have stated, the novelty and utility of the press-in feature were admitted. The plaintiff's clip affords a a faster and easier means for mounting both flangeless and flanged weatherstrip in window frames than anything previously known in the art. 9 With it, weatherstrip units may be mounted without any tools whatsoever. A workman may either press the clip into the dado groove manually and then flexibly attach the weatherstrip unit, or he may mount the clip onto the weatherstrip unit, insert the unit into the window frame, and then press the clip into the groove. Despite the advantage thus gained by utilizing the otherwise useless dado groove, the evidence showed that for two years prior to the introduction of the press-in clip, many thousands of the defendant's flat clips were nailed directly across dado grooves during the installation of window units by workmen skilled in the art without ever appreciating the savings which could be made. 19 Finally, when the defendant did come out with a clip embodying the press-in feature of claims 5 and 6 of the plaintiff's patent, a clip which contains strikingly similar details and little else and which admittedly infringes these claims, the defendant obtained another patent for it. 10 20 We have examined the prior art patents cited by the defendant and, with one exception, agree with the district court that the Patent Office did have equally relevant prior art before it in considering the plaintiff's application, and that the patents cited do not render the press-in clip obvious. The single exception is the Conlon patent, No. 2,219,382, which discloses a clip for mounting weatherstrip on automobile doors. The clip has hooked ends but is not used with detachably mounted weatherstrip. For that reason the Conlon patent was not particularly relevant to the clip in the earlier Zegers litigation, and we so stated. Zegers, Inc. v. Zegers, supra 299 F.2d at 771. But the clip does have a recessed portion with two sets of jagged members which serve to hold it in place and therefore is quite pertinent to a consideration of the plaintiff's press-in clip in this case. 11 The Conlon patent, however, does not sufficiently suggest the teachings of the plaintiff's clip to deprive it of invention. As the district court stated: 'Conlon is unlike the plaintiff's patent because the clip does not engage itself by biting into the sides of a channel, but fits through a slot in the sheet metal of the door after being compressed. This patent does not suggest shaping the clip to the channel and engaging it by using teeth to bite into the sides of the channel.' Therefore, claims 5 and 6 of the patent in suit are valid and infringed by Zegers, Inc. 21 The judgment of the district court is affirmed in part and reversed in part and the case is remanded for proceedings consistent with the views expressed herein.