Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Supermarket Equipment Corp.

340 U.S. 147 (1950)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The claims assert an invention of a cashier's counter equipped with a three-sided frame, or rack, with no top or bottom, which, when pushed or pulled, will move groceries deposited within it by a customer to the checking clerk and leave them there when it is pushed back to repeat the operation. It is kept on the counter by guides. The device speeds the customer on his way, reduces checking costs for the merchant, has been widely adopted and successfully used. P was the assignee of the patent. P sued D for infringement. The District Court found that each element in this device was known to prior art. It also found that 'the conception of a counter with an extension to receive a bottomless self-unloading tray with which to push the contents of the tray in front of the cashier was a decidedly novel feature and constitutes a new and useful combination.' The Court of Appeals agreed with this finding of invention and affirmed it as not clearly erroneous. It identified no other new or different element to constitute invention and overcame its doubts by consideration of the need for some such device and evidence of commercial success of this one. D appealed.