Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman
Degelman claimed invention of a wedge-shaped gusset for a snowplow. Pro-Tech Welding asserted that 30 years earlier, a pull plow incorporating a wedge-shaped gusset was publicly used in Illinois. The "Orsolini drawing" was admitted to corroborate testimony about that plow's fabrication and use in the 1970s. The jury found Degelman proved the patent-in-suit's infringement by Pro-Tech, which proved, by preponderant evidence, its invalidity. The court denied Degelman judgment as a matter of law or a new trial. As no prior motion for a directed verdict under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(a) was made, motion for judgment was waived. Despite errors in the course of litigation, and neither party's receipt of a perfect trial, the court found the record did not support finding the jury's verdict "seriously erroneous" or a "miscarriage of justice." Degelman's claimed invention was straightforward and Pro-Tech's invalidity defense was not complicated. Also, the court's instructions on the effect of evidence not considered by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in issuing the patent were consistent with the Supreme Court's holding in Microsoft v. i4i.