Opinion ID: 291699
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the erroneous standard of proof.

Text: 6 The first ground for reversal advanced by Escambia is that the district court applied an erroneous standard of proof in making its findings in the instant case. Here the attack principally centers upon Conclusion 3, which reads: 7 'The aforesaid patent in suit is entitled to the presumption of validity under 35 U.S.C. 282, and the proof offered to overcome this presumption of validity must be such as to prove invalidity beyond a reasonable doubt.' 8 Escambia develops two salients in this assault-- (1) the conclusion erroneously imposes a standard of proof 'beyond a reasonable doubt', and (2) equally wrongly, it requires proof of invalidity-- a question of law to which no standard of proof is appropriate. 9 We consider first the challenged requirement: 'to prove invalidity'. In Graham v. John Deere Company, 383 U.S. 1, 86 S.Ct. 684, 15 L.Ed.2d 545 (1966), the Supreme Court discussed for the first time the enactment of 35 U.S.C.A. 103 (1954) which was added to the patent law in 1952. It ruled that Section 103 codifies the requirement of 'invention' imposed by the court in a line of cases beginning with Hotchkiss v. Greenwood, 11 How. (52 U.S.) 248, 13 L.Ed. 683 (1851). Section 103 speaks of the concept in terms of 'obviousness' rather than 'invention'. Graham establishes these procedures by which obviousness is determined: 10 'Under 103, the scope and content of the prior art are to be determined; differences between the prior art and the claims at issue are to be ascertained; and the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art resolved. Against this background, the obviousness or non-obviousness of the subject matter is determined.' 383 U.S. at 17, 86 S.Ct. at 693. 11 Thus obviousness is a question of law determined against the factual background of the state of the prior art and the claimed improvement on it. See Anderson's Black Rock, Inc. v. Pavement Salvage Co., 396 U.S. 57, 90 S.Ct. 305, 24 L.Ed.2d 258 (1969); Johns-Manville Corp. v. Cement Asbestos Products Co., 428 F.2d 1381 (5th Cir. 1970); Swofford v. B & W, Inc., 395 F.2d 362 (5th Cir. 1968), cert. denied 393 U.S. 935, 89 S.Ct. 296, 21 L.Ed.2d 272 (1968), reh. denied 393 U.S. 1060, 89 S.Ct. 677, 21 L.Ed.2d 703 (1969). Technically read, Conclusion 3 quoted above could be said to set down a standard of proof for a question of law, but this semantic sortie will not carry the point for Escambia. In the first place, numerous cases of this and other courts have loosely spoken in terms of 'proving' or 'disproving' the validity of a patent. See e.g. Fairchild v. Poe, 259 F.2d 329 (5th Cir. 1958); Harman v. Scott, 90 F.Supp. 486 (S.D.Ohio 1950), aff'd 195 F.2d 916 (6th Cir. 1952), cert. denied 343 U.S. 965, 72 S.Ct. 1059, 96 L.Ed. 1362 (1952); Grand Union Co. v. Kingston Mfg. Co., 292 F.Supp. 483 (D.N.H.1968); Consolidated Car Heating Co. v. Chrome-Gold Alloys Corp., 109 F.Supp. 652 (N.D.N.Y.1952); Galion Iron Works & Mfg. Co. v. Buffalo-Springfield Roller Co., 108 F.Supp. 811 (S.D.Ohio 1952). There is another answer. In the broad overall context of its opinion the court's wording here is no more than elliptical. Under the more facile and practical construction to which this conclusion is entitled, the words 'the facts which establish' should be understood to come between 'prove' and 'invalidity.' Because what is dealt with is such an integrated question of fact-made law anyway, we cannot say it constituted reversible error for the court to couch its conclusion in terms of proving patent invalidity. 12 The other prong of Escambia's attack on Conclusion 3 takes aim upon the civil suit stranger-- proof 'beyond a reasonable doubt.' In evaluating the validity of this thrust we need to consider two other conclusions which also refer to the standard of proof. Conclusion 23 states: 13 'Evidence of simultaneous work by others on solutions to the problem similar to that devised by the inventor of the patent in suit must be clear and convincing if offered as evidence of obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103.' And Conclusion 29 states: 14 'The proof and evidence offered established that the patent in suit has been infringed by Defendant, and is insufficient to overcome the presumption of validity of the patent to which it is entitled under 35 U.S.C. 282. The defenses of 'obviousness,' 'on sale' and lack of invention presented by Defendant are not sustained by the evidence.' 15 Although Conclusion 3 deals with the presumption of validity in general, whereas Conclusion 23 treats with the narrower issue of an anticipation defense, there seems no reason why a different standard should be applied. Cf. Metal Arts Co. v. Fuller Co., 389 F.2d 319 (5th Cir. 1968). We understand the parties to this case to agree that the requisite standard of proof which must be met to overcome the presumption of validity is 'clear and convincing evidence.' 16 The courts have not been nearly so unanimous, indeed it may well be said the authorities are in a morass of conflict. We have collected only a few examples from the numerous cases which have dealt with the quantum of proof required to overcome the presumption of validity. But they are sufficient to show that some speak in terms of a preponderance of the evidence, e.g. Thomson Industries, Inc. v. Nippon Thompson Co., 298 F.Supp. 466 (E.D.N.Y.1968); Application of Lurelle Guild, 204 F.2d 700, 40 CCPA 996 (1954); some use clear and convincing evidence, e.g. Rooted Hair, Inc. v. Ideal Toy Corp., 329 F.2d 761 (2d Cir. 1964); Century Industries, Inc. v. Wiebloldt Stores, Inc., 263 F.2d 934 (7th Cir. 1959), cert. denied 359 U.S. 1010, 79 S.Ct. 1149, 3 L.Ed.2d 1036 (1959); Consolidated Electro-dynamics Corp. v. Midwestern Instruments, Inc., 260 F.2d 811 (10th Cir. 1958); Panduit Corp. v. Stahlin Bros. Fibre Works, Inc., 298 F.Supp. 435 (W.D.Mich.1969); and still others state that the standard is beyond reasonable doubt, e.g. Fairchild v. Poe, 259 F.2d 329 (5th Cir. 1958); Hunt Tool Co. v. Lawrence, 242 F.2d 347 (5th Cir. 1957); Cameron Iron Works v. Stekoll, 242 F.2d 17 (5th Cir. 1957); McCutchen v. Singer Co., 386 F.2d 82 (5th Cir. 1967); Foster Cathead Co. v. Hasha, 382 F.2d 761 (5th Cir. 1967), cert. denied 390 U.S. 906, 88 S.Ct. 819, 19 L.Ed.2d 872 (1947). Mr. Justice Cardozo recognized this confusion in Radio Corp. of America v. Radio Eng'ring Laboratories, Inc., 293 U.S. 1, 55 S.Ct. 928, 79 L.Ed. 163 (1934) when he said: 17 'A patent regularly issued, and even more obviously a patent issued after a hearing of all the rival claimants, is presumed to be valid until the presumption has been overcome by convincing evidence of error. The force of that presumption has found varying expression in this and other courts. Sometimes it is said that in a suit for infringement, when the defense is a prior invention, 'the burden of proof to make good this defense' is 'upon the party setting it up,' and 'every reasonable doubt should be resolved against him.'    Again it is said that 'the presumption of the validity of the patent is such that the defense of invention by another must be established by the clearest proof-- perhaps beyond reasonable doubt.'    The context suggests that in these and like phrases the courts were not defining a standard in terms of scientific accuracy or literal precision, but were offering counsel and suggestion to guide the course of judgment. Through all the verbal variances, however, there runs this common core of thought and truth, that one otherwise an infringer who assails the validity of a patent fair upon its face bears a heavy burden of persuasion, and fails unless his evidence has more than a dubious preponderance.   ' 293 U.S. at 7, 55 S.Ct. at 930. 18 Justice Cardozo thus recognized that in patent cases, at least, there is not such a great trichotomy among these three denominations for the standard of proof in this aspect of a patent case as there may be in other fields of the law. 19 The Seventh Circuit was confronted with almost the identical issue in Kraft Foods Co. v. Walther Dairy Products, 234 F.2d 279 (7th Cir. 1956), cert. denied 352 U.S. 926, 77 S.Ct. 223, 1 L.Ed.2d 161 (1956), in which they held that a statement such as that found in Conclusion 3 did not require reversal. Part of the language in Kraft is particularly apropos: 20 'Without a jury as the fact finders, the technical niceties sometimes demanded for instructions are insufficient reasons for annulling a trial judge's ultimate decision. We are unpersuaded persuaded that the evidence traced in this record hung in such delicate balance that the concept of proof mentioned by the district judge, even if subjectively held, overwhelmed his evaluation of the facts disclosed by the evidence.' 234 F.2d at 283. 21 After our examination of the record and the findings and conclusions here, we likewise decline to examine this phrase myopically. The evidence in the instant case did not hang in such a fine balance that the ultimate decision was erroneous because of the reasonable doubt standard articulated by the district judge in Conclusion 3. Had this case been tried to a jury and inconsistent standards been embodied in instructions, perhaps a different result would obtain-- on that we express no opinion. It is sufficient to say that in the case sub judice we clearly find that the presence of this phrase in Conclusion 3 is not reversible error. 22