Fmc Corporation v. The City of Greensboro

HAYNSWORTH, Circuit Judge:

Because the defendant departs from the patented process at the very point where novelty is claimed, we find no infringement of the patent. We, therefore, do not consider the question of the validity of this process patent or the defendant’s claim of its misuse. The infringement question is not understandable, however, without some reference, to the prior art in the treatment of sewage sludge, the subject of the patent.

In plants for the disposal of sewage from municipal systems, the raw sewage is delivered first to settling basins or tanks, in which a large proportion…