Automotive Industries, Inc. v. General Motors Corp.

TALBOT SMITH, District Judge.

This patent suit involves automobile door handles, the kind commonly found on the inside panel of an automobile door, the handle serving as both an arm rest and a pull-to for closing the door. This action was filed some eleven years after the alleged infringement began, but defendant, waiving any defense of laches, urged not only that the patent was invalid but also, somewhat belatedly,1 that there was no infringement.

The patent, essentially, consists of a base in the form of a hollow plastic box, open-topped, shaped in the form of a C-, plus a cushion assembly…