Patents
Quick Point key ring
Aronson v. Quick Point Pencil Co., 440 U.S. 257 (1979)
(federal patent law does not pre-empt state contract law so as to prevent enforcement of a contract to pay royalties to a patent applicant where the patent is never granted)
This item was a generous gift of Professor R. Anthony Reese of the UC Irvine School of Law
Hynix and Infineon DRAM chips on circuit boards (c. 2000s)
Rambus patents litigation, incl. Rambus v. Hynix, and Rambus v. Infineon (2000 et seq.)
(one of the most controversial, highest stakes, and nastiest patent litigations in modern times, patent holder Rambus is accused of helping create industry-wide standards that it later secretly drafted patent claims to cover)
Festo magnetic rodless cylinder and SMC magnetic rodless cylinder, for industrial automation (c. 1990s – 2000s)
Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., Ltd., 535 U.S. 722 (2002)
(amending claims in a patent application creates a rebuttable presumption that the inventor surrendered the ability to use the doctrine of equivalents for the portion of the claim amended)
Aristo nylon stockings with simulated seams (c. 1920s)
Scott & Williams, Inc. v. Aristo Hosiery Co., 7 F.2d 1003 (2d Cir. 1925)
(holding a patent invalid for lack of utility where the patent claimed a seamless stocking with a simulated seam on the back, since the faux seam was “for the purposes of deception”)
Jazz Photo disposable cameras (c. 2006)
Jazz Photo Corp. v. U.S. International Trade Commission, 264 F.3d 1094 (Fed. Cir. 2001)
(disassembling and refurbishing used disposable cameras and reselling them does not infringe the patents covering the cameras)
Larami Super Soaker 100 (c. 1990)
Larami Corp. v. Amron 27 U.S.P.Q.2d 1280 (E.D. Pa. 1993)
(a case exemplifying the importance of exact language in patents; the patent holder lost an infringement suit against the Larami toy company because their Super Soaker water guns had the water tank outside the water gun’s structure, not inside.)
Wilson golf balls with icosahedral dimple pattern (c. 1990s – 2000s)
Wilson Sporting Goods Co. v. David Geoffrey & Assoc., 904 F.2d 677 (Fed. Cir. 1990)
(a patentee cannot use the doctrine of equivalents to obtain coverage that would not have been lawfully available under literal claims)