IN THE MATTER OF A PETITION BY COMPAGNIE POUR LA FABRICATION DES COMPTEURS ET MATERIEL D'USINES À GAZ TO REVOKE L.P. NO. 755,462 GRANTED TO G. KROMSCHROEDER A.G.

309 REPORTS OF PATENT, DESIGN, AND TRADE MARK CASES [1959.] 9TH DECEMBER, 1959 [No. 13 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE-CHANCERY DIVISION. Before MR. JUSTICE LLOYD-JACOB. 29th and 30th June, 6th, 7th and 31st July, 1959. 5 IN THE MATTER OF A PETITION BY COMPAGNIE POUR LA FABRICATION DES COMPTEURS ET MATERIEL D'USINES A GAZ TO REVOKE L.P. No. 755,462 GRANTED TO G. KROMSCHROEDER A.G. Patent-Validity-Prior claiming-False suggestion-Petition for revocation of Convention Patent on grounds (inter alia) of ambiguity, insufficiency, anticipation, want of subject matter, prior claiming and false suggestion-Invention claimed 10 in certain claims held to have been claimed in valid claims of Patent of earlier date--Meaning of " was claimed" in Sec. 32 (1) (a)-False suggestion that foreign application was first made for invention-Refusal to exercise discretionary power to allow amendment--Failure of other grounds of objection-Order for revocation ---Costs. 15 Patents Act, 1949, Sec. 5 (4), (5), Sec. 32 (1) (a) (j). c.P.L. etc. presented a petition for the revocation of F.A.G.'s L.P. 755,462 relating to Dry Gas Meters. The grounds of invalidity alleged included want of novelty and subject matter, ambiguity, insufficiency, prior grant and false suggestion. The Patent was granted under the Convention, the application stating that the 20 first foreign application was a German application identified as K.17,996 bearing the date 7th May, 1953, and this was the priority date accorded to the British Patent 755,462. The Patentees had, however, made an earlier application in Germany, K.15,207, for an invention relating to dry gas meters, and had obtained under the Convention British L.P. 716,771 bearing the priority date 18th August, 25 1952, and on these circumstances the Petitioners based their objections of prior claiming and false suggestion. Held by Lloyd-Jacob, J. (1) That the objections of want of novelty and subject matter, ambiguity and insufficiency failed. (2) That the inventions claimed in certain claims of L.P. 753,462 had been 30 claimed in valid claims of L.P. 716,771 and that the objection of prior claiming therefore succeeded. 88551 2F 310 No. 13] REPORTS OF PATENT, DESIGN, AND TRADE MARK CASES [1959.] In the matter of a Petition to revoke L.P. No. 755,462 granted to G. Kromschroeder A.G. (3) That L.P. 753,462 were also invalid on tlze ground that they had been obtained by a false suggestion viz. ,that the German Application K.17,996 was the first foreign application made for protection of any of the inventions covered, thereby, whereas in fact certain of these inventions had been the subject of the prior German Application K.15,207. 5 (4) That in view of the finding that the Patent had been obtained by a false suggestion the Court would nOit exercise its discretionary power of permitting amendment of ,the specification. Order made for the revocation of the Patent, but operation suspended on the usual terms if notice of appeal given within six weeks. The costs were awarded 10 to the Petitioners who were given a certificate fOir all the particulars of objections. Observed, That in Sec. 32 (1) (a) the expression" was claimed" is equivalent to " has been claimed" and that the objection of prior claiming has equal force whether or not the prior Patent has expired. This was a petition for the revocation of Letters Patent No. 755,462, granted 15 to the Respondents and dated 7th May, 1054. The application claimed priority of 7th May, 1953, from a German application No. K.17,996. The Petitioners pleaded (together with various other objections, of no significance to this report, which are mentioned in the judgment) prior publication and lack of subject matter (in particular, by specifications of Estill, Thomas and Allason described in the 20 judgment); prior claiming in the Patentees' own Patent No. 716,771; and false suggestion that German Application No. K.l7,996 was the first foreign application for protection of the invention: the first being alleged to be German Application No. K.15,207, which was the application from which Patent No. 716,771 (already mentioned) claimed priority. 25 There are set out below the material parts of Complete Specifications Nos. 755,462 (in suit) and 716,771 and the agreed translation of German Application No. K.l5,207. There are also reproduced herewith the drawings (mentioned in the judgment) from pp. 1, 2 and 3 of Exhibit R.2, representing prior practice; and a sketch (also from Exhibit R.2) representing the arrangement of the prior 30 specification of A llason. " Improvements in and relating to Gas Meters". (755,462) This invention relates to a dry gas meter and in particular to the oonstruction and arrangement of the inlets and out'lets of such meters. Gas meters of conventional construction are provided at the top of the meter casing 35 with separate spaced inlets and outlets which have to be connected with a service or installation pipe line· by separate coupling elements and cOlmecting pieces. The obiect of the present invention is to provide a gas meter with an inlet and an outlet construoted and arranged in such a manner that the meter can be connected with the service or installation pipe line by a oommon coupling element, through 40 a suitable adaptor, without :altering the general internal oonstruction of the meter and the me'tering mechanism. The meter acoording to the invention is deSligned to be connected with the service or installation pipe line rthmugh an adaptor piece comprising co-axial oondu1!ts which are adapted ito be oonneoted with the inlet and outlet of the meter and which issue into separate conduits adapted to be' 45 connected direct with the service or installation pipe line. 311 [1959.] REPORTS OF PATENT, DESIGN, AND TRADE MARK CASES [No. 13 In the matter of a Petition to revoke L.P. No. 755,462 granted to G. Kromschroeder A.G. Acoording to 'thepresent invention the inlet and outlet of the meter are formed two ,~o-a~ial tubular oonnec~ing pieces one of which oommunicates directly wIth ~e lIl;tenor of the ~e'ter casIn& and the other oommunicates through a suitable condUIt wIth l1:~e metenng mechamsm,. said connecting pieces together forming a 5 common couphngelement for connectIng the meter, through a suitable adaptor to a service or installation pipe line. ' In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, various embodiments thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the acoompanying drawings wherein:10 Figs. 1 to 3 are verticaloross-sections illustrating diagrammatically three embodiments of the invention and . b~ Figs. 4 to 6 are elevations of gas meters illustrating three different applications of the invention. Referring to Fig. 1 of these drawings, ,the gas meter casing 1 is provided with 15 an opening in which is mounted a tubular connecting piece 2 forming the gas meter outlet. This conneoting piece 2 is provided at its outer end with an external 1'adi (...truncated)