Gillman v. Stern
Second Circuit Court of Appeals
114 F.2d 28 (1940)
Relevant factsFree
Gillman (plaintiff) sued Stern (defendant) for patent infringement of a quilting machine, and Stern defended by pointing to an earlier machine built by Haas, who had bound his wife and all employees to strict secrecy and limited access to the machine even during business negotiations, never disclosing its full workings to anyone outside his tightly controlled circle. The district court found Gillman's patent invalid based on Haas's earlier invention, and Gillman appealed.
IssueFree
Whether, where a prior inventor kept his invention completely secret and non-public, that invention can serve as prior art against a later-filed patent application.