Vanity Fair Silk Mills v. Commissioner of Patents

June AND

*Dec.5. THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.. RESPONDENT. ON APPEAL FROM THE EXCHEQUER COURT OF CANADA

THE CHIEF JUSTICE.-We have fully considered the argument addressed to us on behalf of the appellant in this case and we are satisfied that the learned President of the Exchequer Court was right in his conclusion that the invention so-called, which was the subject of claims (1) [19381 Ex. C.R. 1; [1938] 1 D.L.R. 148.

*PRESENT:-Duff CJ. and Crocket, Davis, Kerwin and Hudson JJ. S.C.R.]

-245 3 and 4 in Snader's application, constitutes no patentable advance or improvement upon what is disclosed by On behalf of the appellant it was contended that the learned President missed the point in failing to perceive _.

that Snader, in using the Adamson yarn as an instrumentality 'by which his conception of the use of narrow bands of elastic thread alternating with narrow bands of the knit basic fabric of the stocking would become practically operable, had made a definite advance over Adamson. But we think the learned President is right that Snader's procedure is an application of the ideas disclosed by Adamson which anybody familiar with and skilled in the art might be expected to arrive at without the exercise of invention in the sense of the patent law.

No doubt the Commissioner of Patents ought not to refuse an application for a patent unless it is clearly without substantial foundation. In effect both the President of the Exchequer Court and the Commissioner have held that.

Since, in -our opinion, there is no real doubt that the rejected claims are not patentable and it is not suggested that we have not before us all the pertinent material, we ought not to interfere.

The appeal should be dismissed with costs.

Appeal dismissed with costs.