Gould v. Schawlow case brief

Gould v. Schawlow case brief summary
363 F.2d 908 (1966)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Appellant junior party sought review of a decision of the Board of Patent Interferences, which awarded priority of invention to the appellees in a patent interference action.

CASE FACTS
Appellant, seeking review from a patent interference proceeding, alleged that he was entitled to priority over appellees' earlier filing date because he had an earlier date of conception of the same invention. The Board of Patent Interferences ruled for appellees.


DISCUSSION

• The court affirmed on appeal. 
• The court said that appellant had the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence on two issues, which were 
• (1) a prior date of conception of the same invention and 
• (2) reasonable diligence in reduction to practice. 
• The court ruled that appellant's proof failed on both issues. 
• Appellant's evidence of prior invention were notebooks that he kept which described the invention. 
• However, expert testimony differed as to whether the description in the notebooks was sufficient to allow a person skilled in the art to build the invention without further invention. 
• As to reasonable diligence, the court said that the inventor's own testimony required corroboration and that the testimony of appellant's family was too general to prove that unexplained lapses had not occurred.

CONCLUSION
The court affirmed the judgment for the appellees because appellant did not prove an earlier date of conception where his notes did not reflect an essential element of the invention and because appellant did not prove reasonable diligence in reduction to practice by sufficient corroboration of his own testimony.

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