Opinion ID: 428566
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Sweet-Cumming Patent

Text: 18 In May, 1963, during the course of Sweet's work on the original Sweet device, Dr. Cumming, Sweet's supervisor, directed Sweet's attention to a recording system that used a dense array of wire styluses situated above and across a specially treated paper. Trial Transcript at 100. When electrical potential was applied to an individual stylus in the array, current passed from the stylus to the specially treated paper, which produced marks that combined to form the desired character. Dr. Cumming realized that the wire styluses could be replaced with ink jets, such as those used in the original Sweet device, thereby dramatically improving the speed of the system. 19 After several brainstorming sessions, Sweet and Cumming proposed that Stanford's research laboratory develop this idea, but the research proposal was rejected. Undaunted, Sweet approached Honeywell with the idea, since Honeywell had helped Sweet in his initial patent application. On March 25, 1964, Honeywell, acting on behalf of Sweet and Cumming, filed a patent application that disclosed a device utilizing the multiple jet configuration. The original Sweet-Cumming application disclosed only a facsimile recorder, but an amendment was later filed that disclosed a character generator which enabled the Sweet-Cumming device to print characters. The Sweet-Cumming patent, No. 3,373,437, was issued on March 12, 1968. Attached as Appendix C is an illustration of the Sweet-Cumming invention. 20 The invention disclosed in the Sweet-Cumming patent is described in the patent as an improvement over the recording system disclosed and claimed in the Sweet patent. More specifically, the Sweet-Cumming device is described as utilizing the principles of the Sweet patent but being particularly adapted for presenting a display image as distinguished from a line trace. 21 The record is silent as to why Sweet and Cumming elected to file an entirely separate patent application that expressly claimed the ability to print predetermined characters with ink droplets. The trial court did not expressly draw any inference from this fact, although it did note that the Sweet-Cumming patent acknowledges an indebtedness to Sweet's prior work. 521 F.Supp. at 177. 22 Neither Sweet nor Cumming ever actually built a machine based on the techniques and apparatus disclosed in the Sweet-Cumming patent. Shortly after the patent issued, Sweet assigned his interest to A.B. Dick while Cumming assigned his interest to Mead.