Court Opinion

ID: 9457642
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:28:27.041524+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:26.569832
License: Public Domain

PICKETT, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
In reversing the trial court and sustaining the patent in this case, I think we are guilty of weighing the evidence and failing to observe the “clearly erroneous” rule. The patent defines a compressed feed block for cattle containing sodium chloride (salt), dehydrated molasses, mineral oil or edible fat, wet molasses, and phenothiazine. It is agreed that all of these elements were known in the prior art and were not invented by Staley, and that the patent in suit was issued as a result of a combination of these elements. Generally, when old elements are combined together in a manner which secures a new and useful result, or an old result in a more facile, economical *740and efficient manner, the result is patentable. Scaramucci v. Dresser Industries, Inc., 427 F.2d 1309 (10th Cir. 1970); Eimco Corporation v. Peterson Filters and Engineering Co., 406 F.2d 431, 434 (10th Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 963, 89 S.Ct. 2105, 23 L.Ed.2d 749 (1969). The essentials of patentability are that the invention be (1) useful, (2) new, and (3) nonobvious to a person skilled in the art. 35 U.S.C. §§ 101, 102, 103; Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 12, 86 S.Ct. 684, 15 L.Ed.2d 545 (1966). A mere aggregation of old elements which performs no new function or produces no different result than that previously produced is not patentable. Scaramucci v. Dresser Industries, Inc., supra. The issues of novelty and nonobviousness present questions of fact to be determined by the trial court and these findings are not to be disturbed on appeal unless clearly erroneous. Boutell v. Volk & Wilson-Volk, Inc., 449 F.2d 673 (10th Cir., 1971); Scaramucci v. Dresser Industries, Inc., supra; Eimco Corporation v. Peterson Filters and Engineering Co., supra; Graham v. John Deere Co., supra.1
Although there was other evidence, the parties to this litigation relied primarily on the testimony of expert witnesses. The trial court made detailed and exhaustive findings relating to the novelty and nonobviousness of the patent. It was specifically found that the prior art revealed the concept of varying the quantity of salt in mixtures to regulate consumption of food by cattle, and that the use of molasses as a binder in making feed blocks was also known to the art. The other ingredients as used in the patentee’s feed block were found to be old. In more or less of a summary of its findings, the trial court said:
“In making the foregoing findings, the Court has specifically relied on the weight and credibility of the evidence, given attention to the testimony of the extremely well-qualified expert witnesses on both sides, with special credulity being imparted to defendant’s expert witness Burns as to the state of the art, which the Court found to be buttressed with an abundance of written evidence in the form of former patents and learned treatises, negativing both the novelty and non-obviousness requirements for a patentable product.”
I shall not attempt to detail the facts, but from a careful review of the record I am satisfied that the trial court’s findings are not only supported by substantial evidence, but by a preponderance of the evidence. I would affirm.

. For the purpose of suggesting some guidelines to be helpful to the trial courts in determining factual inquiries as to nonobviousness, it was said in Graham v. John Deere Go., 383 U.S. 1, at 17-18, 86 S.Ct. 684, at 694, 15 L.Ed.2d 545 (1966) :
“While the ultimate question of patent validity is one of law, A. & P. Tea Co. v. Supermarket Corp., supra, [340 U.S. 147,] at 155, [71 S.Ct. 127 at 131, 95 L.Ed. 162] the § 103 condition, which is but one of three conditions, each of which must be satisfied, lends itself to several basic factual inquiries. 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 nonobviousness of the subject matter is determined. .
“This is not to say, however, that there will not be difficulties in applying the nonobviousness test. What is obvious is not a question upon which there is likely to be uniformity of thought in every given factual context. The difficulties, however, are comparable to those encountered daily by the courts in such frames of reference as negligence and scienter, and should be amenable to a case-by-ease development. We believe that strict observance of the requirements laid down here will result in that uniformity and definiteness which Congress called for in the 1952 Act.”