Court Opinion

ID: 9445102
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:19:32.078161+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:07.316427
License: Public Domain

FINNEGAN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The short of the matter is that we have a complex array and welter of evidence before us quite unlike the situation described in our earlier opinion reported as Davison Chemical Corp. v. Joliet Chemicals, 7 Cir., 1950, 179 F.2d 793 relied on by defendants. Rule 56(c), Fed. R.Civ.Proc., 28 U.S.C.A., requires that *601“ * * * judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits * * * show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” A summary judgment proceeding is a search, not a trial, nor a substitute for one. It is a search to determine whether genuine issues exist as to material facts. Hurd v. Sheffield Steel Corp., 8 Cir., 1950, 181 F.2d 269, 271; Dewey v. Clark, 1950, 86 U.S.App.D.C. 137, 180 F.2d 766, 772. As I read some of the affidavits submitted by defendants, there appears to be a dispute among various deponents concerning aspects of the 112-CF device, which was not produced in the court below. I am aware that defendants relied upon twin defenses grounded upon statutory bars. Yet I think that, for example, defendants cut ground from under themselves, and demonstrate the existence of factual questions lurking in this record when they state (their brief, p. 2) inter alia:
“The fact that there are publications showing the prior Model 112— CF Dispenser is important because, whether there was ever such a dispenser built, used, sold or not, makes no difference, if the publications show the essential features of the dispensers involved herein, which they unquestionably do.”
But I am satisfied, after studying the exhibits and record, that the district judge erred in summarily trying factual issues stemming from that very situation suggested by the defendant. Indeed, the court below commented: “It is true that oral testimony alone in the absence of models, drawings, or kindred evidence, particularly after a lapse of years demands close scrutiny.” Magee v. Coca-Cola Co., D.C.Ill.1955, 17 F.R.D. 30, 12. Cf. Campana Corp. v. Harrison, 7 Cir., 1943, 135 F.2d 334.
In my view the grounds asserted by defendant and on which they rely to invalidate plaintiffs’ patent must be taken and considered as denied by the plaintiff under Rule 8(d), Fed.R.Civ.Proc., 28 U. S.C.A. See: Traylor v. Black, Sivalls & Bryson, Inc., 8 Cir., 1951, 189 F.2d 213.
Without intimating any conclusion on the merits, I would reverse the judgment appealed, and remand the cause to the District Court with directions to deny defendants’ motion for summary judgment.