John W. Anderson and Productive Inventions, Inc., a Corporation of Indiana v. Robert C. Watson, Commissioner of Patents

Appellants filed suit against the Commissioner of Patents for a writ of mandamus to require the Commissioner to set down for hearing appellant Anderson’s motions for judgment on the record and to render decisions thereon prior to the taking of testimony in certain pending interference proceedings, the motions being based on a claim of res judicata. The District Court granted the Commissioner’s motion to dismiss and this appeal followed.

In disposing of the motion to dismiss, the District Court (Holtzoff, J.) said:

“The question whether the motion for judgment should be passed upon when made…