Opinion ID: 771387
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Chance Patents

Text: 4 Since the 1970s, Chance has manufactured and sold screw anchors, also known as helical anchors, for stabilizing and supporting electrical transmission over tower legs. A screw anchor consists of an elongated shaft presenting an earth-penetrating tip and a transversely extending load-bearing member. '368 patent, col. 2, ll. 32-35. In late 1988, Chance began using screw anchors with metal brackets to stabilize residential and commercial structures. The craft of stabilizing a sinking structure is known as underpinning. In March 1989, Chance engineers demonstrated a prototype of its invention to Richard Fuller and Stan Rupiper, who used a method of underpinning employing screw anchors with concrete haunches. As the district court noted, [a]t that time, neither Fuller nor Rupiper made any indication that they felt they had already designed a bracket or had already been using a bracket or a support of the same type. 5 In 1992, the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issued Chance the '368 and '107 patents, entitled Method of Underpinning Existing Structures, covering its methods for underpinning residential and commercial foundations using screw anchors and metal brackets. The '107 patent is a continuation of the '368 patent, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of patent application serial number 07/464,937 (issuing as U.S. Patent No. 5,011,336 (the '336 patent)). The Chance patents are concerned with an improved anchor apparatus designed to support and resist settling of structural foundations particularly for existing building structures having a predetermined weight and which may or has experienced settlement or movement. '368 patent, col. 1, ll. 13-20. In the method claimed in the '368 patent, the metal bracket connects the screw anchor to the foundation and transfers the dead weight and live load of the foundation to each screw anchor. See id., col. 2, ll. 20-26. Users of the method place the screw anchor adjacent to the footing, and then rotate and screw the anchor below the footing until the upper end of the shaft is adjacent the footing and a predetermined resistance to rotation of the anchor has been achieved. Id., col. 2, ll. 31-39. Upon release of rotational torque on the anchor shaft so that the anchor may return to its unstressed state, the anchor shaft and foundation and/or footing are connected via a [metal] bracket assembly to establish the desired load-bearing relationship. Id., col. 2, ll. 45-50.