Titanium Metals Corp. of America v. Banner
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
778 F.2d 775 (1985)
Titanium Metals Corp. (TMCA, plaintiff) sought a patent on a titanium alloy disclosing certain newly discovered desirable properties, but a patent examiner rejected the claims as anticipated by a prior Russian publication describing a broad range of similar alloys, even though that publication was silent on at least one specific physical feature TMCA claimed; the Board of Patent Appeals affirmed based on anticipation, and after a bench trial where the patent office called no witnesses, the district court ruled for TMCA, prompting the patent office's appeal.
Whether an applicant who has discovered previously unknown properties to an otherwise anticipated product may patent that product.