Blackmore v. Ford Motor Co.

HICKS, Circuit Judge.

Suit for infringement of claims 1 to 10, inclusive, and 22 to 29, inclusive, of Black-more patent No. 1,437,390, granted December 5, 1922, for “Lock for Automobiles and the Like.” Claims 10 and 22 are printed in the margin.1

The defenses are: (1) Lack of invention; (2) anticipation; and (3) noninfringement. We think the claims in suit were infringed if they were valid. The District Court found them invalid.

Long before the patent issued, it was common practice to secure curtain rods to automobile doors by fashioning the rods with square shanks and inserting them into…