Opinion ID: 1563058
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Disclaimer:

Text: The appellees and cross-appellants claim that if the patents in question are confined to the invention for the use of soft rubber the claims of the Sherwood patents in suit are broad enough to include hard rubber as well as soft rubber and that the plaintiffs being advised by the prior art disclosed at the trial in 1930 and by the statements of their own counsel at the time of the trial that the patent was confined to soft rubber was under the duty of disclaimer as to hard rubber, although the litigation was still in progress. Before the master's report was made such a disclaimer was filed as to patent 1,416,988. No such disclaimer was filed as to 1,510,804. The court sustained both patents as to soft rubber, erroneously assuming that the disclaimer applied to both. The cross-appellants urge that the delay in filing this disclaimer invalidates both the patents under the provisions of 35 U.S.C.A. §§ 65, 71. See Judge Mack's decision in Otis Elevator Co. v. Pacific Finance Corp., 9 Cir., 68 F.2d 664, 665. We conclude that no disclaimer was necessary in either case. Patent No. 1,376,043 showing the use of both a hard rubber bearing and a soft rubber spiral attached to the journal makes it clear that the applicant was claiming invention only in the use of soft rubber on the journal as the bearing surface. In the copending application for 1,510,804, referring specifically to the other two applications, the claimant makes it clear that he was describing elastic or soft rubber in all his claims. We conclude that it is not necessary for the plaintiffs to have filed a disclaimer as to the use of hard rubber bearings in patent 1,416,988 because the patent in its entirety shows that it was not intended to claim the use of such rubber as an invention. The use of the word rubber in the claims is necessarily explained and limited by the patent drawings and specifications. The cross-appellants further claim that if the patents in suit be limited to the use of soft rubber the patents are void because of the failure to disclose the degree of softness or the method of manufacture of the soft rubber. It is assumed in this contention that there is rubber so soft that it would not be usable according to the teaching of the patents. This claim of invalidity is not made in the pleadings and we think it is hypercritical. There is nothing in evidence to show that a rubber manufacturer would not be able to produce rubber of a degree of hardness necessary to support the shaft in a journal if he were advised as to the weight involved in the structure. It is a fair assumption, in the absence of any pleading or evidence to the contrary, that this can be done as a mere matter of mechanical skill. This attack upon the patents fails.