Chemcast Corp. v. Arco Industries Corp. case brief

Chemcast Corp. v. Arco Industries Corp. case brief summary
913 F.2d 923 (1990)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Plaintiff corporation appealed from a judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, which held that plaintiff's patent was invalid because the inventor had failed to disclose the best mode as required by 35 U.S.C.S. § 112.

CASE FACTS
Plaintiff held a patent for a dual durometer grommet. Plaintiff sued defendant for patent infringement. After a remand, the district court held the patent invalid because the inventor had failed to disclose the best mode as required by 35 U.S.C.S. § 112.

DISCUSSION

• Plaintiff appealed, and the court affirmed. 
• The court held that the first issue was whether at the time of his patent application the inventor subjectively knew of a better mode, and the second issue was whether the inventor's disclosure was objectively adequate to enable one skilled in the art to practice the best mode. 
• The court found that given the inventor's specification, one skilled in the art could not divine the inventor's preferred material hardness for the grommet's locking portion. 
• Disclosing a list of generic potential materials was not an adequate disclosure of the only mode the inventor ever contemplated of carrying out his invention.

CONCLUSION
The court affirmed the judgment of the district court because the inventor of plaintiff's patent failed to disclose the only mode he ever contemplated of carrying out his invention. Therefore, the inventor failed to disclose the best mode as required by statute.

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