Carlos Gsell vs. Valeriano Veloso Yap-Jue (1906 and 1909) : Facts

CARLOS GSELL vs.
VALERIANO VELOSO YAP-JUE

(1906 and 1909)
FACTS:
This case rooted from an action to enjoin infringement of a patented process for
manufacture of curved handles for canes, parasols, and umbrellas. In that case, plaintiff
established his title to a valid patent covering the process in question, and obtained
against this defendant a judgment, granting a perpetual injunction restraining its
infringement, which judgment was affirmed by this Court on appeal. The order was
couched in the following terms:
It is ordered that the defendant abstain from manufacturing canes and
umbrellas with a curved handle by means of a lamp or blowpipe fed with
mineral oil or petroleum, which process was protected by patent no.
19288, issued in favor of Henry Gsell, and by him transferred to Carlos
Gsell.
Thereafter the defendant continued to manufacture curved cane handles for walking
sticks and umbrellas by a process in all respects identical with that used by the plaintiff
under his patent, except only that he substituted for a lamp fed with petroleum or mineral
oil, a lamp fed with alcohol.
The trial court found the defendant not guilty of contempt as charged; and this court, on
appeal, held that The violation, if there has been any, was not of such a character that it
could be made patent by the mere annunciation of the acts performed by the defendant,
which are alleged to constitute the said violation. Consequently, the contempt with which
the accused is charged has not been fully and satisfactorily proved, and the order
appealed from should accordingly be affirmed in so far as it holds that the defendant is
not guilty of contempt.
(1909 case) Substantially, the same question is submitted in these new proceedings as
that submitted in the former case.
ISSUE:
Whether the use of a patented process by a third person, without license or authority
therefore, constitutes an infringement when the alleged infringer has substituted in lieu of
some unessential part of the patented process a well-known mechanical equivalent.
HELD:
Counsel for plaintiff invokes the doctrine of mechanical equivalents in support of his
contention, and indeed that doctrine is applicable to the facts of the case. This doctrine is
founded upon sound rules of reason and logic, and unless restrained or modified by law
in particular jurisdiction, is of universal application, so that it matters not whether a
patent be issued by one sovereignty or another, the doctrine may properly be invoked to
protect the patentee from colorable invasions of his patent under the guise of a
substitution of some part of his invention by some well-known mechanical equivalent.
The use of a process in all respects identical with a process protected by a valid patent,
save only that a well-known mechanical equivalent is substituted in lieu of some
particular part of the patented process is an infringement upon the rights of the owner of
the patent, which will be enjoined in appropriate proceeding, and the use of such process,
after the order enjoining its use has been issued, is a contempt, under the provision of
section 172 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
ANGEL VARGAS vs F. M. YAPTICO & CO. (Ltd.)

G.R. No. 14101, September 24, 1919
Facts:
Plaintiff Angel Vargas, a farmer, was issued patents by the US Patent Office for his socalled invention of an improved adjustable plow with the use his own native plow. A
certified copy of the patent was filed in the Division of Patents, Copyrights, and
Trademarks of the Executive Bureau, Government of the Philippine Islands.
Defendant F. M. Yaptico & Co. (Ltd.), a firm engaged in the foundry business in Iloilo
City, was a manufacturer of plow parts. It produced points, shares, shoes, and heel pieces
in a considerable amount adapted to replace worn-out parts of the Vargas plow.
Vargas filed a case in Iloilo alleging the infringement of his U.S. Patent by the defendant
Yaptico, and to recover the damages suffered by reason of this infringement.
The defendant denied the allegations and defended that the patent lacked novelty or
invention, that there was no priority of ideas or device in the principle and construction of
the plow, and that the plow had already been in public use for more than two years before
the application of the plaintiff for his patent.
The trial judge rendered judgment in favor of the defendant, declaring null and without
effect the patent in question and dismissing the suit with costs against the plaintiff.
Hence, the plaintiff appealed said judgment.
Issues:
1. Whether the patented invention is void for lack of novelty and invention?
2. Whether the patent is invalid considering that the plow had already been in public use
for over two years prior to the application for a patent.
Ruling:
1. Yes, the patent if void. The Supreme Court affirmed the trial courts conclusion that the
plow of the plaintiff is not different from the native plow, except in the material, in the
form, in the weight and the grade of the result, the said differences giving it neither a new
function nor a new result distinct from the function and the result obtained from the
native plow. Also, its production does not presuppose the exercise of the inventive faculty
but merely of mechanical skill, which does not give a right to a patent of an invention
under the provisions of the Patent Law.
2. Yes, the patent is void. Under the provisions of the statute, an inventor's creation must
not have been in public use or on sale in the United States (and the Philippine Islands) for
more than two years prior to his application.
Further, it was proved that the invention was used in public at Iloilo by others than
Vargas, the inventor, more than two years before the application for the patent thus, the
patent is invalid.

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CARLOS GSELL vs.

VALERIANO VELOSO YAP-JUE

ANGEL VARGAS vs F. M. YAPTICO & CO. (Ltd.)

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